Giovanna Baviera

“Cantar allo strumento” - singing to an instrument

Singing while accompanying oneself with a lute, viola da gamba or keyboard instrument was a common practice in the 16th and 17th centuries. While today the practice has all but disappeared, self-accompaniment is a precious tool that opens up new expressive and creative approaches to historical repertoire: these new pathways into the music are both valuable in and of themselves, but they also feed back into one’s practice as a singer or instrumentalist ‘alone’.

Through a practical approach, grounded in the relevant historical sources, this course is aimed at those who either already self-accompany, with the goal to go deeper in their practice, or to those who want to, provided they have a grounding in either singing (if they are instrumentalists and would like to sing to their instrument) or an instrument (if they are singers who are learning to self-accompany).

Musical coaching for singers in Renaissance/ Early Baroque repertoire

These musical coaching sessions offer an opportunity for singers to work on the kaleidoscopic musical aspects of repertoire from roughly 1500 to 1650. The sessions are intended for singers who wish to concentrate exclusively on the musical, stylistic and textual aspects of this repertoire (not the technical/vocal). The focus will be on performance aspects (text, ornamentation, diminution, etc.)  as well as finding an individual approach to refine and amplify each student’s creativity and expression in performance.

Giovanna Baviera, an Italian-Irish musician, studied viola da gamba with Paolo Pandolfo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, where she obtained her master's degree in 2016. At the same time, she trained as a singer, fascinated by the historical art of singing accompanied by the viola da gamba.

She is a member of various ensembles, including Concerto di Margherita, Profeti della Quinta and Voces Suaves. Her concert career has taken her to numerous festivals and concert halls, including Oude Muziek Utrecht, Amuz, Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik, Thüringer Bachwochen and York Early Music Festival.

Her research into new ways of singing on the viola led her to rework historical repertoires that could be performed in this way. In addition, Giovanna Baviera has collaborated with several composers to create contemporary works dedicated to this art form. The result is her first recording, Soloindue, an album dedicated to the art of singing on the viola da gamba and released by Albus Fair Editions in February 2024.