THE GRAND TOUR, NAPLES, AND FRANCESCO MANCINI

The exceptionalism of eighteenth-century society marked every sector of contemporary culture, promoting not solely the liberation of humanity, but also profoundly affecting science, literature, philosophy, politics, and artistic traditions. This cultural transformation, called early on “Les Lumières,” was devoted to raising general education, while confronting superstition, dogma and prejudice. As Alexander Pope declared in the Essay on Man, “The proper study of mankind is man” indelibly locating the cultural movement in humanity itself. Yet, the Enlightenment, whose earliest stirrings were in French rationalism and English empiricism, transcended nationality and reached across European borders even to the shores of the Atlantic colonies. The relative and momentary peace in Europe after 1715 coupled to a rising prosperity and the premium placed on “knowledge,” fueled an increase in international travel. The affluent, educated, and often aristocratic travelers of the North headed south, primarily to Italy. Their collective travels to the Italian peninsula formed the “Grand Tour.”

Anthony R. DelDonna, Ph.D., Professor of Musicology - Georgetown University (Washington DC)

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YI-CHANG LIANG, RECORDER

Yi-Chang Liang (*1992) graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2016 with a Master’s De­gree (with Prof. Erik Bosgraaf & Prof. Jorge Isaac) and from the Hochschule der Künste Bern with a Spe­cialized Master’s Degree in Performance (with Prof. Michael Form) in 2018. Yi-Chang co-founded ensemble IJ SPACE, where old and newly-commissioned music for recorder is brought to life by the kaleidoscopic sounds of Japanese harpsichordist Machiko Suto. IJ SPACE has performed at the Utrecht Early Music Fes­tival 2018 (Fabulous Fringe), International Young Artist’s Presentation (IYAP, during Laus Polyphoniae 2018) and Prix Annelie de Man 2018. They also won the First Prize at the 19th edition of Biagio Marini Competi­tion for chamber music in Neuburg, Germany and the Third Prize at the International Van Wassenaer Com­petition for chamber music in Utrecht, the Netherlands (during the Utrecht Early Music Festival) in 2018.

Yi-Chang claimed the Second Prize at the prestigious Moeck/SRP Solo Recorder Playing Competition in Green­wich, London in 2011, one year before he joined The Royal Wind Music, with whom he has recorded a CD “A Cosmography of Polyphony” (PC10377) in 2016 and performed at many music festivals in Europe and the U.S., such as the MAfestival Brugge, Semana De Musica Religiosa Cuenca, Grachtenfestival, Schwelm Recorder Summit, ORDA Open Recorder Days Amsterdam and the Boston Early Music Festival.

Yi-Chang is noted for his collaboration work; in early music he has performed J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Con­certo No.4 with The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) under the baton of Maurice Steger at the De­wan Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur in 2017 and performed pieces from “Singing Garden in Venice” by Toshio Hosokawa (*1955) with “La Cetra Barockorchester Basel”, conducted by Maurice Steger, during the Internationales Kammermusikfestival in Switzerland in 2018. He also performed with the Dutch recorder quintet Seldom Sene at several music festivals, including: Bach Festival Naumburg, Festival van Zeeuwsch- Vlaanderen, November Music Festival and premiered the newly commissioned piece “Ten Dipoles” (2016) by Aspasia Nasopoulou (*1972) in 2017.

www.yichangliang.com

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ENSEMBLE IJ SPACE

IJ SPACE was founded in Amsterdam, by recorder player Yi-Chang Liang and harpsichord player Machiko Suto in 2014. They have performed at the Utrecht Early Music Festival 2018 (Fabulous Fringe), International Young Artist’s Presentation (IYAP, during Laus Polyphoniae 2018) and Prix Annelie de Man 2018. They have received awards at International competitions such as: the First Prize at the 19th edition of Biagio Marini Competition for chamber music in Neuburg, Germany and the Third Prize at the International Van Wassenaer Competition for chamber music in Utrecht, the Netherlands (during the Utrecht Early Music Festival) in 2018. So far, they have left their footprints as performers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan and will perform at the Festival Young Talent Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands , Wunderkammer Trieste in Italy and BOZAR next generation in Belgium in Spring, 2020.

Yi-Chang Liang, Recorder
Machiko Suto, Harpsichord
Asako Ueda, Lute
Chia-Hua Chiang, baroque Cello