Jordi Savall conducts Bach, Vivaldi, Lully, and Handel

Celebrated viola da gambist and ambassador of the early music movement Jordi Savall leads La Capella Reial de Catalunya and the Concert des Nations in a concert at the Chapelle Royale of the Château de Versailles celebrating the 300th anniversary of the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, which brought an end to the bloody War of Spanish Succession.

An accomplished group of soloists—sopranos Hanna Bayodi Hirt and Johannette Zomer, countertenor Damien Guillon, tenor David Munderloh, and baritone Stephan Macleod—joined Savall and his musicians for this program of masterpieces by French, German and Italian baroque composers. Highlights included Magnificats by Vivaldi and Bach, excerpts from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 and Handel’s Jubilate Deo (composed in celebration of the Peace of Utrecht itself), and Lully’s Jubilate Deo, Motet pour la paix (“Motet for Peace”).