Tempesta di Mare – Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra & Chamber Players

Tempesta di Mare performs baroque music on baroque instruments with what the Philadelphia City Paper describes as “zest and virtuosity that transcends style and instrumentation.” Led by artistic directors Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone with concertmaster Emlyn Ngai, Tempesta’s repertoire ranges from staged opera with full orchestra to chamber music. The group performs all orchestral repertoire without a conductor, as was the practice when this music was new. Tempesta di Mare is named for baroque master Antonio Vivaldi’s concerto meaning “storm at sea,” a title reflecting music’s power to evoke drama.

Hailed by the Philadelphia Inquirer for its “off-the-grid chic factor,” Tempesta’s Greater Philadelphia Concert Series has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence since its launch in 2002, with press endorsements from Philadelphia to Paris. The ensemble has brought numerous modern world, national and regional premieres to the area and is supported by such funders as the Pew Charitable Trusts, the William Penn Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In a market dominated by European ensembles, Tempesta di Mare is the first and only American baroque music group to record for the prestigious British label Chandos. Our latest CD, Fasch Orchestral Works, Volume 2, released in November 2011, is receiving 5-star ratings and features as CD-of-the-week, both here and abroad. Our 2009 release, Scarlatti: Cantatas & Chamber Music with soprano Clara Rottsolk, was lauded by Gramophone as “unflaggingly attractive, revealing one beautifully crafted aria after another.” Our third CD, Fasch Orchestral Music (2008), an all-premieres disc recorded live on our Greater Philadelphia Concert Series, has garnered enthusiastic reviews at home and abroad. Goldberg magazine (Spain) gave the disc its top, 5-star rating, while Fanfare (US) described the performances as “fresh, vibrant and spontaneous, representing the perfect marriage between musical instinct and meticulous scholarship.” London’s Sunday Times named our second Chandos release, Flaming Rose, Handel’s German Arias with soprano Julianne Baird, (2007) “Classical CD of the Week.” Our 2004 Chandos debut is the acclaimed world-premiere recording of the complete lute concerti of Silvius Leopold Weiss.  Chandos has now invited Tempesta di Mare to produce a new CD each year. A third Fasch recording is scheduled to be out in the second half of 2012.

Tempesta has toured from Oregon to Prague and is represented by MCM Arts and Entertainment. Recent touring concerts of chamber music include the famed Göttingen Handel Festival and our New York City debut at the Frick Collection. Our full orchestra toured Germany in 2011. National broadcasts of live performances include Performance Today, Sunday Baroque, Harmonia and  SymphonyCast. Our concert recordings are also distributed worldwide via the European Broadcast Union.

For booking information, contact nchristensen@mcmarts.com at MCM.