"A miniature Italian opera, with two faintly unlikely impersonators of the soprano and tenor – a pair of double basses."

‘How he bewildered us’, wrote a listener. Giovanni Bottesini played ‘as though he had a hundred nightingales caged in his double-bass!’

Double bass soloists were rare then as now. But contemporary reports are unanimous in their praise for Bottesini’s ‘consummate grace and finish, his fatal precision, his heavenly tone, his fine taste’. Bottesini is remembered today for his staggering virtuosity and for the showpieces he composed to display it. The Passione Amorosa is one great example, and in this performance our Principal Double Bassists Alex and Kees make their instruments sing like opera stars.

Filmed with the support of our partners at City Recital Hall

Program
Bottesini Passione Amorosa

Artists
Alex Henery Double Bass
Kees Boersma Double Bass
Cathy Davis Piano