The Academy Baroque Soloists – Students from the Royal Academy of Music

Zephyro Spira
16th century melodies of desire, despair, and devotion
Directed by Anna Stegmann

Inspired by Silvestro Ganassi’s idea of instruments as living voices, this programme explores the art of diminution in 16th century Venice, where instrumental music was treated as expressive speech. Vocal works by Tromboncino, Cara, Gombert, and Willaert are reimagined through improvised ornamentation in Ganassi’s style. This inaugural concert on the rare 1550s Polygonal Virginals by Annibale or Ferrante Rossi brings together historical instruments and young musicians from the Royal Academy of Music to recreate a sound world where music, breath, and rhetoric are one.

Anna Stegmann is a dedicated performer and educator of early and contemporary recorder music. She is a recorder professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and a guest teacher at Wells Cathedral School. Anna has led workshops across the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia and co-organises the biennial Open Recorder Days Amsterdam since 2012. As a soloist and chamber musician she performs internationally with prominent ensembles, including La Risonanza (Fabio Bonizzoni), L’Arpeggiata (Christina Pluhar), and the Rotterdam Philarmonisch Orkest under Jordi Sawall. She has recorded multiple albums with her own groups Ensemble Odyssee and The Royal Wind Music, including award-nominated Cds with her duo with violinist Jorge Jiménez. In 2020, she launched a digital recital series to bring performances to global audiences.