Duo Silva presents Duo:Duo Version 2

Two sets of instruments play music from two periods of music. This concert presents music of Robert de Visée, a lutenist in the court of Louis XIV, played by Tim Janz on one-keyed Baroque flute and Ralph Maier playing the theorbo, the long necked lute that was developed by the Florentine Camerata as a continuo instrument. In the late 18th century, the guitar had become very popular in the salons of Europe and was often paired with the transverse flute which now had developed to include a variety of extra keys. Filipo Gragnani wrote guitar and chamber music that was published in Milan around the turn of the 19th century. Come enjoy wooden flutes and plucked strings in music of two eras, sure to delight!

Ralph Maier holds a Ph.D. in musicology and is currently on faculty at the University of Calgary where he teaches classical guitar, chamber music, music history, and music in popular culture. In addition to his activities as a performer and educator, Ralph has engineered, mixed, and mastered a wide range of recording projects for many artists and ensembles, including his own solo CDs, The Art of Vihuela (2008), and Variations (2015), with performances on vihuela, baroque guitar, romantic guitar, classical guitar, and electric guitars. Ralph’s published scholarly work includes a chapter contribution to The Cambridge Companion to the Rolling Stones (2019), entitled, “The Rolling Stones’ Sound: At the Crossroads of Roots and Technology.”

Tim Janz completed a B.Mus in flute performance and then went on to do a M.Mus in music composition. While experienced in modern flute performances such as contemporary music theatre at the Banff Centre, as well as performing in orchestral settings, Tim has lately been intrigued by pre-Boehm wooden flutes. His Baroque flute is a modern copy of a one-keyed flute originally made by Willem Beukers around 1735 in Amsterdam. His Classical flute is an eight-keyed model that is a copy of the late 18th century German maker, August Grenser. While these flutes are not as powerful as the modern metal flute, they have many rich colours and timbres that can only be produced on wooden instruments.

This concert is the fourth in a series of Four Distinctive Artists Concerts during 2025 that is generously sponsored by: