History

La Sfera Armoniosa, founded in 1991, is specialized in the performance of music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In a short time this successful ensemble (‘La Sfera Armoniosa  is one of the most interesting Dutch ensembles of the last 10 years. NRC 2006) has managed to gain itself a considerable reputation. (‘Tonight La Sfera Armoniosa proved that it belongs amongst  the leading Baroque orchestras’. Operapoint.com 2008.)  A permanent continuo section of three players forms the core of the ensemble, which can be expanded to involve as many as forty musicians, depending on the demands of the repertoire. In addition to performing  the music of famous composers such as Monteverdi, Handel and Pergolesi, the ensemble conducts research into manuscripts and early printed works in order to provide a rich spectrum of music by lesser-known composers.

La Sfera Armoniosa has appeared in major festivals and concert halls such as: Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival d'Ambronay, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Cremona Monteverdi Festival, Musiekcentrum Vredenburg, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Festival Musica Antiqua Bruges and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 2006 La Sfera Armoniosa performed under the direction of Mike Fentross, as a jubilee production of the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, the opera l’Ipermestra by Francesco Cavalli. This occasion saw the creation of La Sfera Armoniosa Orchestra.

La Sfera has been responsible for two further modern-day revivals of works long forgotten: of the opera La Rosinda by Cavalli (Bayreuth, Vantaa, Potsdam Sanssouci in 2008) and of one of the first examples of Dutch music theatre, Granida by P.C. Hooft, in 2009.
The English music magazine Gramophone wrote about their first CD: “How soon will we hear the enchanting La Sfera Armoniosa again, and what fresh buried treasure will they unearth?” La Sfera’s second CD, Senhora del Mundo, received an Edison nomination and this year two new CDs will be released: unknown cantatas by Handel with the famous contralto Sonia Prina and a live CD production of Cavalli’s  La Rosinda.