Canta Venetia

Virtuoso Lex Eisenhardt is one of Europe's foremost experts on early guitars like the metal-strung chitarra battente and the chitarra spagnuola (Spanish guitar with gut strings). Together with soprano Maria-Luz Alvarez he performs a wonderfully diverse repertoire of songs and dances from the seventeenth century. The guitar as an accompanying instrument was extremely successful for several decades in seventeenth century Italy. The instrument could easily provide both harmony and rhythm, the mostly simple bass lines could be quickly incorporated into the pieces’ chordal framework and it was very well suited to the rapid changing of harmonies and had a strong sound. Around 1630 Giovanni Paolo Foscarini brought in an important innovation, incorporating an element of lute-playing into guitar music, the strummed pizzicato style. The so-called battuto-pizzicato style was to leave its imprint on all music for baroque guitar up to and including the time of the French School. Maria-Luz Alvarez studied with Max van Egmond, Peter Kooy and others. She has been a soloist in many oratorios and baroque operas, working with ensembles such as the Capilla Real de Madrid, Compagnia Vocale, Capella de San Pietro, Al Ayre Español and with Paul Van Nevel, Jos van Veldhoven and Ton Koopman. She is a member of the Egidius Ensemble. Lex Eisenhardtstudied lute and guitar in Utrecht. He specialises in the repertoire of the forerunners of the guitar, thanks to which he has recorded a number of CDs. Lex Eisenhardt has been invited to perform in Europe, Australia and the United States as well as for the Holland Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht and the Netwerk Oude Muziek. He teaches at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.