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About us
We are a chamber music ensemble specialising in the recovery of the European instrumental repertoire of the early 18th century. Our work is driven by our inquiring minds and the constant need to grasp the essence of Historically Informed Performance practice. We seek to give life to completely unknown works and rediscover the forgotten musical language of the Baroque period. It is a language which breaks with the established music tradition, a language which gives a new lease of life to each musical act. An ever-changing speech – fresh, yet emerging from a deep understanding of the past and inviting the Audience to experience music in a new way. Rooted in the art of persuasion, rhetorical music the way we deliver it is there to teach, move and delight.
bio
Scaramuccia was founded in 2013 on the initiative of the violinist and musicologist Javier Lupiáñez with the intention of rediscovering the lesser known baroque repertoire. Throughout their career, the ensemble has been praised by critics and audiences for the liveliness and expressiveness of their performances, their closeness to the audience and the originality of their programmes. The in-depth research work behind each programme allows Scaramuccia to often have the opportunity and the pleasure of performing unpublished and forgotten musical treasures that are hidden among the most standard baroque repertoire.
Scaramuccia has established as a unique and original project in the European Early Music scene. Their musical discourse has been praised for its sincerity combined with an intellectual approach. Among other festivals and concert halls, they have performed at Oude Muziek Festival Utrecht, Internationaal Kamermuziek Festival Utrecht – Janine Jansen and Friends, Kasteelconcerten, and Musica Antica da Camera (Netherlands), Fora do Lugar, Encontros de Música Antiga Francisco Rosado in Loulé, and Sente a História (Portugal), Festival Internacional de Arte Sacro de Madrid, Festival de Música Antigua de Xixón, Ciclo de Música Antigua de Cambados, Temporada de Música Antigua de Guadalajara, and Teatro Kursaal de Melilla (Spain), Goethe Gesellschaft Nordenham Konzerte (Germany ), Museum Vleeshuis, Automne Musical de Spa, and Philarmonie de Namur (Belgium), Maldon Festival of Arts (UK), Seviqc Brezice Festival (Slovenia), Lednice|Valtice Music Festival (Czech Republic), Echi Lontani Festival (Italy), and Festival Młoda Muzyka Dawna (Poland).
In its zeal to discover new music, Scaramuccia had the privilege of being the first ensemble to have attributed the RV 820 and the RV 205/2 to Vivaldi and performing both pieces as a world première in an interview and a live concert broadcast in the programme De Musyck Kamer of the Dutch radio station Concertzender in the summer of 2014. These works, together with other lately-discovered pieces by Vivaldi for violin and basso continuo, were recorded for Ayros in 2015 as part of the ensemble’s first album.
1717. Memories of a Journey to Italy, released in 2018, is the second disc of the ensemble. It has been acclaimed by reviewers all over Europe and nominated for the 2019 ICMA Awards. Their latest album, Pisendel. Neue Sonaten, was released in December 2020 and has got six nominations for the 2021 Opus Klassik awards edition and one for the 2022 ICMA Awards. In June 2023, their latest album, L’altra Venezia, was released, with world premieres by Venetian composers, among which two new sonatas by Albinoni stand out. Since 2018 Scaramuccia has been producing their discography with their own label: Snakewood Editions.
In 2016 Scaramuccia was unanimously chosen by the public as the best ensemble in the Göttinger Reihe Historischer Musik International Competition 2015/2016 (Germany). In 2022 their project The Cabinet II Project was finalist on the REMA European Early Music Awards in the Heritage and Repertoire category.
Artists
Javier Lupiáñez
Violin and direction
the firmly eloquent violin of Javier Lupiáñez” GRAMOPHONE, March 2012
“Francisco Javier Lupiáñez possède un jeu diabolique, quelque part entre Paganini et Méphistophélès. Son archet déploie tous les motifs de la séduction: rubatos enjôleurs, glissandos imperceptibles, rythmes ensorceleurs… Ces audaces esthétiques s’appuient sur une technique impeccable” Pierre-Carl Langlais, Qbuz
“le violon virtuose et goûteux de Francisco Javier Lupiañez”, ODB-Opéra
After studying hard and going to many classes, Javier treasures a large number of papers: Advanced Diploma in Music for the modern violin at the Superior Conservatory of Salamanca, baroque violin bachelor and master’s degree (with distinction) under the tutelage of Enrico Gatti at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Master’s degree in musicology from the University of Salamanca and doctorate in musicology (laureate) from the University of Guanajuato.
As a performer he has won some awards such as the Internationaal van Wassenaer Concours or the Göttinger Reihe Historischer Musik, in 2021 he is nominated for best performer of the year and revelation artist of the year at the Opus Klassik awards. His recordings have been nominated several times for the ICMA and the Opus Klassik and have received several critical awards from the international press.
He has performed as a soloist in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Belgium, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Czech Republic… well, almost in all Europe and in Japan and United States, and has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Ayros, Snakewood Editions, France Musique, Musiqu3, among others. Javier has very good memories of concerts with figures such as Frans Brüggen, Sigiswald Kuijken, Amandine Beyer, Olivia Centurioni, Enrico Onofri, Enrico Gatti, Emilio Moreno, Peter Van Heyghen, Francois Fernandez, Dmitry Sinkovsky, Johannes Pramsohler, Inés Salinas, and many others other wonderful musicians.
As a researcher he specializes in 18th century ornamentation and instrumental improvisation; his doctoral thesis on Vivaldi, Pisendel and ornamentation will soon be published by the Vivaldian Institute in Venice.
He has written articles on the subject in various international publications such as Studi Vivaldiani, Brepols, Quodlibet, RISM online, Journal of the National Early Music Association or Early Music Performer. He has given lectures and master classes on the subject at the Mozarteum (Austria), Conservatorio Superior de Vigo (Spain), Conservatorio Statale di Musica de Cagliari (Italy), Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini (Italy), Haliciana Schola Cantorum de Lviv ( Ukraine), among others.
In addition, his investigative work has led to the identification of works by Westhoff, Leclair, Lonati and Corelli, as well as the discovery of new works by Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Pisendel.
Javier plays a violin made in 1683 by Cornelis Kleynman, on loan from The Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.
He is co-founder of the recording label and publishing house Snakewood Editions.
Inés Salinas
Violoncello and viola da gamba
Inés specialises in the historically informed performance practice of the cello and viola da gamba. She is a founder, member and manager of the chamber music ensemble Scaramuccia as well as a co-founder of the recording label and publishing house Snakewood Editions. She collaborates with several European orchestras and ensembles, and teaches cello privately. She currently lives in The Hague (The Netherlands).
Born in 1985 in Zaragoza (SP), Inés holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from The Royal Conservatory of The Hague (NL), where she studied under the guidance of Jaap ter Linden and Lucia Swarts (historical cello) and Mieneke van der Velden (viola da gamba). She has received further advice from inspiring musicians such us Gaetano Nasillo, Hidemi Suzuki, Wieland Kuijken, Christophe Coin, Bruno Cocset, Itziar Atutxa, Rainer Zipperling, Balázs Maté, Enrico Gatti, Olivia Centurioni and Enrico Onofri.
Inés also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in classical cello at CSMA (Zaragoza, SP), where she studied with Ángel Luis Quintana, Cuarteto Casals and Cuarteto Quiroga, among others.
She is particularly fond of Italian (especially Neapolitan) music of the High Baroque period. She devoted her Master’s research to the Neapolitan cello repertoire at the turn of the 18th century, a field which she continues to research, unearthing and performing an amazing repertoire that is not yet widely known and appreciated.
Inés has performed with the Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra (UK) in a project conducted by Christophe Rousset, Orquesta Barroca Conde Duque (SP) conducted by Ángel Sampedro, as well as I Giovani della Montis Regalis 2013 (IT) conducted by Olivia Centurioni, Alessandro de Marchi and Enrico Onofri.
She has performed live for Dutch radio stations Radio 4 and Concertzender and has recorded for the labels Naïve, Ayros and Snakewood Editions.
She plays on a baroque cello made by André Mehler in 2019 after Alessandro Gagliano, Napoli 1704, a viola da gamba made by Matthew Farley in 2017 after Michel Collichon, Paris 1683, and bows by Jerôme Gastaldo and Antonino Airenti.
Patrícia Vintém
Harpsichord
Patrícia Vintém, a Portuguese harpsichordist, acknowledged her passion for music at a very young age in her hometown, Viana do Castelo, where she began her violin and harpsichord studies.
In 2009 she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in harpsichord at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon in the class of Ana Mafalda Castro. Her desire to cross borders and seek knowledge and experience in the field of Early Music brought her to The Netherlands to study harpsichord, where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree under the guidance of Jacques Ogg (2013) and a Master’s degree with Fabio Bonizzoni (2015).
During her studies she had the opportunity to share the stage with many renowned artists such as Amandine Beyer, Enrico Gatti, Fabio Bonizzoni or Kati Debretzeni.
Since 2009, Patrícia has been a founding member of Les Esprits Animaux. The ensemble has been warmly acclaimed by audiences and critics, awarded with the 1st prize at the Van Wassenaer Competition (2016, The Netherlands), and recorded three CD albums published by the labels of Ambronay and Musica Ficta.
In 2014, she became a member of Scaramuccia – an ensemble with which she recorded several CDs, all devoted to re-discovering unknown or forgotten Baroque repertoire. Together with the core members of Scaramuccia, she founded an independent recording label and publishing house: Snakewood Editions.
Patrícia has recorded for such radio stations as France Musique, Radio Klara, Concertzender Nederlands and Musiq3.
As a soloist and continuo player, she regularly performs in several venues in her home country, as well as in other countries such as Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Japan.
She is also actively engaged in music education and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Arts degree in Music Therapy at the Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam.
Programs
Our concert programmes are well designed in terms of the choice of repertoire; we also take great care of the historical and rhetorical aspects of the music we perform.
Presentation of the pieces and interaction with the Audience are crucial for us. We want the Listener to listen actively in order to become part of the Musical Act itself. We understand the performance as a journey through emotions, entailing everything from the first to the last note.
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Support
The aim of Scaramuccia is to rediscover unknown music from the past, which definitely deserves it. We are conducting thorough research and planning new, exciting projects, which will need financial support. You can become part of all of this through making a contribution. Regardless how big or small, it will be greatly appreciated!
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