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Program

SALAMONE ROSSI selections from Hashirim Asher Li-Shlomo (The Songs of Solomon)

Francesco Spagnolo, Jews & Music Scholar in Residence
Richard Egarr, harpsichord

Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players
Philharmonia Chorale Octet,
Valérie Sainte-Agathe, director

About This Concert

Music of vivid detail, color and emotional resonance—Salomone
Rossi’s Ha-shirim asher li-Shlomo, The Songs of Solomon, gets a celebratory 400th anniversary performance in a concert that features select members of our amazing Chorale. A composer whose music bridged the musical worlds of late Renaissance and early Baroque, Rossi’s The Songs of Solomon (the name of which is probably a pun on the composer’s name) is unique in marrying Hebrew text with early baroque musical style. With Rossi’s music at times reminiscent of Monteverdi, it’s only appropriate that his music is also featured; with a rare chance to hear a lament from his lost opera L’Arianna. Vocal music of splendor and purity, sure to be given a thrillingly incisive performance in the hands of members of our Chorale.

Philharmonia is the only major American orchestra with a permanent initiative dedicated to exploring the relationship between Jews and music from the 17th to the 21st centuries.

Click here to learn more about Jews & Music.

SPECIAL EVENT*

*Add-on event—not part of 2023/24 subscription

Performances

12/4
The Green Room (Veterans Building), San Francisco
7:30 PM
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Jews & Music Scholar in Residence

Francesco Spagnolo

Francesco Spagnolo is a multidisciplinary scholar focusing on Jewish studies, music, and digital media. At the University of California, Berkeley, he is the Curator of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life and an Associate Adjunct Professor in the Department of Music and the Center for Jewish Studies. He is also an affiliated faculty with the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, the Institute of European
Studies, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the Religious Diversity Cluster of the Haas Institute. Dr. Spagnolo is also a host for the cultural programs of Italian National Radio (RAI) in Rome, and the Scholar in Residence for Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s Jews & Music initiative in San Francisco. Among his publications are Italian Jewish Musical Traditions (Rome-Jerusalem, 2001) and The Jewish World: 100 Treasures of Art and Culture (New York, 2014).

Intersecting textual, visual and musical cultures, Dr. Spagnolo actively contributes to academic and cultural heritage institutions, as well as live and electronic media, in Europe, Israel, and the United States. He is frequently invited to present at academic institutions worldwide, publishes on topics ranging from music to philosophy, film, and literature, and curates exhibitions and digital programs.

As a scholar, his research interests center on the intersections of music and synagogue life, particularly among Italian Jews, an arena in which Ashkenazi and Sephardic liturgical and popular musical traditions have historically come together in unique ways. As a curator, his focus is on the performative aspects of Jewish material cultures and creative expressions across the global diaspora. Where his scholarly and
curatorial work meet is in asking a variety of questions about the nature of (Jewish) cultural heritage, and the role of synagogues, archives, and museums (including their respective “rituals” and performative settings) as communal institutions in the modern period.