Name: The Sebastians - Ann Arbor
Start: 2026-02-21T19:30:00-05:00
Location: St Andrews Episcopal Church

Pre-concert talk begins at 6:45 pm
Over the Alps
Over the Alps traces the remarkable migration and transformation of Italian musical style as it spread northward through Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. We begin in Italy, where composers like Castello, Frescobaldi, and Corelli forged a new language of expressive sonatas—music full of rhetorical gestures, improvisatory freedom, and emotional immediacy. These innovations captivated musicians across the Alps, particularly in Austria and southern Germany, where figures like Biber absorbed the Italian idiom and fused it with local traditions of counterpoint and affect. As the style evolved, it made its way into the cosmopolitan courts of central and northern Germany, where Handel adopted its grace and vitality, while Johann Sebastian Bach synthesized it into something altogether new—combining Italian lyricism with German depth and structure. Vivaldi’s dazzling Folia completes the circle, demonstrating how Italian music continued to reinvent itself even as it inspired others. This program explores how a distinctly Italian musical voice was echoed, transformed, and refracted across borders—becoming, in the process, the defining sound of the Baroque.
About the Artists
The Sebastians are a dynamic and vital musical ensemble specializing in music of the baroque and classical eras. Lauded as “everywhere sharp-edged and engaging” (The New York Times), the Sebastians have also been praised for their “well-thought-out articulation and phrasing” (Early Music Review) and “elegant string playing… immaculate in tuning and balance” (Early Music Today). Their 2018 unconducted St. Matthew Passion with Tenet Vocal Arts was called “shattering” and “a performance of uncommon naturalness and transparency.” The Sebastians’ recent seasons have included dozens of originally conceived programs, including collaborations with poets, choreographers, dancers, and actors; a musical installation in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; programs dealing with musical “immigration” and nationalism; and major works of J.S. Bach led from the keyboard. The Sebastians are currently in residence at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments.