Ci vedremo in Paradiso means “we will see each other in heaven” in Italian. It is mainly music created in the 17th century in Bel Paese combined with Bosnian and Yemeni folk art that will fill the programme of the concert, whose concept was created by soprano Tehila Nini Goldstein. Although Tehila was born in New York (her mother is an Israeli of Yemeni origin, and her father is an American), she spent her youth in a small village in the Judean mountains. She will be accompanied by German harpist Luise Enzian. 

The concert will begin with a performance of an atmospheric piece originally intended for lute – Toccata arpeggiata. It was written by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, an Italian composer of Austrian origin. He is a mysterious figure about whom we know very little: he was born probably in Venice as the son of an Austrian soldier and was educated in Rome. Among his contemporaries, he was known as a theorbo virtuoso, hence his nickname “Il Tedesco della Tiorba”. Another musician highly valued for his playing skills was Orazio Michi, who was referred to as “dell’Arpa”. Spera mi disse amore is a sorrowful song for soprano and harp, in which the heroine complains about her fate of unrequited love. What is known about Luigi Rosso is that he was an organist, singer and composer associated with the Roman Barberini family. He gained recognition as the author of dramatic laments. One of them is Lamento di Zaida Turca.

Johann Jakob Froberger was a German composer and virtuoso of keyboard instruments, for which he wrote pieces appreciated by his contemporaries. He travelled extensively, and during his journeys he established contacts with English, Italian and French musicians, which was reflected in the style of his works. Méditation faite sur ma mort future, laquelle se joue lentement avec discretion (Meditation on my future death, which develops slowly and discreetly) is a peaceful, meditative, vanitas-related movement in the Suite in D major FbWV 620. Tarquinio Merula was a composer, organist and violinist of the early Baroque, associated with Cremona. For about five years he also worked in Warsaw, where he was a court organist. His music was distinguished by its radicalism and avant-garde character. 

The artists will perform Canzonetta spirituale sopra alla nanna – a lullaby in which the Virgin Mary lulls the little Jesus to sleep, while at the same time envisaging with bitterness his future death on the Cross. The obsessive nature of the work is emphasised by the two-note motif, which Merula repeats 162 times throughout the piece. We will also listen to a work by the Spaniard Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz, a theologian by profession but also a composer, harpist and lutenist. His Tarantella is a stylisation of a fast Italian dance. According to folk beliefs, it had to be performed in order to recover from a tarantula bite. 

Barbara Strozzi was one of the most highly regarded singers of her time, as well as a prolific composer; her expressive lament L’Eraclito amoroso from Cantate, ariette, e duetti op. 2 will be played. The artists will also perform the witty song Chi vidde più lieto e felice di me? by Bellerofonte Castaldi, active in Modena, full of various comic effects. In addition, the concert programme will feature three folk songs. Two of them – Mi nishakani and Y’umma wa y’abba – are Yemeni pieces, while Emina is a Bosnian tune belonging to the sevdah tradition (the word means ‘love’ in Turkish).