48° North. Caldara, From Venice To Vienna – The Banxhies

In Celtic mythology, the ‘Banshee’ is a messenger between worlds. The four musicians of The BanXhies have come together around this figure, seeking to use music as a conduit from the outer world to the inner world. For their very first album, Roxana Rastegar, Yaoré Talibart (violins), Suzanne Wolff (cello) and Louise Acabo (harpsichord) have chosen to explore the aesthetic connections between Venice and Vienna through the figure of Antonio Caldara… Vienna, 48° North: It was here that Antonio Caldara settled, at the end of a journey that began much further south, in Venice, where he was born in 1670.

Recognised from a very early age, Caldara’s career was marked by decisive encounters and constant travel. In Venice, he was influenced by the works of Giovanni Legrenzi and crossed paths with Antonio Vivaldi, who, like him, would later make the journey to Vienna. There, Caldara joined a cosmopolitan and flourishing milieu, where the influence of travelling musicians such as Georg Muffat had already paved the way for a dialogue between Italian and Germanic styles.