727 755 1917
Marly Music Presents | St. Pete Baroque
December 7 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
In conjunction with In Caravaggio’s Light, the MFA is pleased to present a special performance by St. Pete Baroque, a dynamic local ensemble devoted to reviving the spirit, spontaneity, and emotional richness of Baroque music. This program will blend exquisite musical performance with engaging historical context, giving audiences insight into the social, cultural, and artistic currents that shaped the Baroque period.
From well-known masterworks to lesser-known compositions, the program showcases the improvisatory flair, ornate style, and expressive power that defined music from 1600 – 1750, the same era that produced the dramatic, emotionally charged paintings featured in the special exhibition. Between pieces, the musicians will offer brief reflections on the Baroque era’s aesthetic values, compositional innovations, and the musical equivalents of chiaroscuro, further connecting the music to the art on view.
Marly Music Presents | St. Pete Baroque
Sunday, December 7, 2025
1:00 PM–2:00 PM
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
Marly Room
$15 for MFA Members; $35 for Not-Yet-Members
~Program~
~Viola d’Amore Concerto in D Major RV 392–Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
I. Allegro
II. Largo
III. Allegro
~Amarilli Mia Bella (1601)–Giulio Caccini (1550-1618)
~Sonata detta la Moderna (1613)–Salamone Rossi (1570-1630)
~Sì dolce è’l tormento–(1624)–Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
~Chiaconna–Antonio Bertali (1605-1669)
~Caprice No. 1 for Solo Cello–Joseph Dall’Abaco (1710-1805)
~Quanto Magis Generosa from Judith Triumphans (1716)–Antonio VIvaldi (1678, 1741).
ABOUT ST PETE BAROQUE
We are dedicated to giving new life to old masterpieces, giving a voice to newly discovered works, and bringing audiences the eccentric and improvisatory nature of baroque music.
The Baroque Period lasted the longest in western musical culture and spanned roughly 150 years from ~1600-1750. Yet we hear so little of it's music in concert halls today. Most of this music was for small ensembles with unique instruments before the standardization of the orchestra that we know today. This was a flourishing point in history when cultures and ideas began to collide rapidly. The violin family had only just been invented while many instruments of the old world (harpsichord, lute, viola da gamba, viola d'amore, and baroque winds) were still widely used. You can expect to see bizarre and rare instruments in our performances. We perform on period instruments and seek to capture music in the present as it was many years
WELCOME TO ST PETE BAROQUE!
Tampa Bay's Baroque Music Ensemble.
"[Of St Pete Baroque's debut performance] The requisite Italian Baroque characteristics were there: sunniness, serenity, and effusion in turn. Gallo’s work demands close interaction and response between players, and the ensemble – Yuan Yuan Wang, violin; Scott Kluksdahl, cello; and Urbanowicz, not on standard viola, but on the more richly voiced viola d’amore – offered a seamless performance."
Betsy Schwarm
Music Historian - Author - Arts Critic
