la festa musicale, Voktett Hannover, Lajos Rovatkay
Biography la festa musicale, Voktett Hannover, Lajos Rovatkay
Lajos Rovatkay
The harpsichordist, organist, chamber musician, ensemble director, music researcher and educator Lajos Rovatkay studied at the conservatories of his native Budapest as well as in Frankfurt am Main, and played a prominent role in establishing historically informed performance practice in Germany. His detailed knowledge of the vocal and instrumental music of several centuries is fundamental both to his artistic work – concerts in Germany and abroad, as well as several CD recordings – and to his research activities.
The focal points of his work are the Venetian early baroque period, late baroque church music in Venice and Vienna, the Caldara pupil and Haydn predecessor Gregor Joseph Werner, as well as Agostino Steffani, whose first Hanoverian opera Henrico Leone Rovatkay presented as a modern premiere in 1989 at the 300th anniversary of the Hanover Opera House with Capella Agostino Steffani (founded by Rovatkay), and performed in concert at the Boston Early Music Festival.
In 2014 Rovatkay founded the Forum Agostino Steffani for the public communication of the high baroque musical culture of the Welf court in Hanover. He is currently focused on recording the music of Gregor Joseph Werner. As a professor of harpsichord and organ, Rovatkay taught at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, where he directed the “Studio for Early Music”, whose former participants have become indispensable pillars in renowned baroque ensembles in Germany and abroad.
la festa musicale
... is a baroque ensemble from northern Germany. Since it was founded in 2014, the young chamber orchestra has swiftly made a name for itself through its passion, stylistic accuracy and virtuosity. High motivation and the first-class artistic niveau of all its musicians are characteristic of the ensemble: they are charismatic representatives of a new generation of historical performance practice. la festa musciale has been a guest at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Handel Festival Halle, the Festival Alte Musik Knechtsteden, the Lower Saxony Music Days and the Festival Alter Musik Regensburg. The artistic direction is in the hands of the ensemble's concert master, Anne Marie Harer.
The second CD of works by Haydn‘s predecessor Gregor Joseph Werner, conducted by Lajos Rovatkay, was released in autumn 2022. This was preceded by the album “Storie di Napoli“ (a baroque-musical city tour through mythical Naples with recorder player Barbara Heindlmeier and soprano Maria Ladurner) and an internationally acclaimed production with concertos by Francesco Venturini. There are also recordings of J. S. Bach‘s motets (with the Kammerchor Hannover) as well as church music by Bonifazio Graziani (with the Collegium Vocale Hannover), Diogenio Bigaglia and Antonio Lotti (with the Knabenchor Hannover). Concerts of la festa musicale have been recorded by Bavarian Radio (BR), Deutschlandfunk and North German Radio (NDR - Norddeutscher Rundfunk).
The ensemble has performed with internationally renowned soloists and conductors such as Jörg Breiding, Anna Dennis, Peter Kooij, Joanne Lunn, Hermann Max, Klaus Mertens, Alex Potter, Andreas Scholl, Jörg Straube and Zachary Wilder.
la festa musicale is committed to passing on its own unique enthusiasm for early music to diverse and inquisitive audiences. It is particularly interested in the creation of its own programmes and performance formats. Family and children's concerts such as “Locatelli or the Eavesdropping Magnifying Glass“, programmes narrated by the ensemble itself as well as music education projects in primary schools and refugee accommodation bring performers and listeners together: a festival of clapping, singing and dancing!
As one of 16 orchestras and ensembles, la festa musicale is part of the federal funding programme “Excellente Orchesterlandschaft Deutschland“ in 2023/2024. It is an official and institutionally sponsored partner of the UNESCO City of Music Hannover, Ensemble in Residence of the Hanoverian Markuskirche and cooperation partner of the Forum Agostino Steffani.
The VOKTETT HANNOVER
was founded in 2012 by students of the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media as a mixed and double-choir vocal ensemble and has since developed into one of the leading national a cappella formations. The eight singers perform a wide variety of programmes at renowned concert series and festivals throughout Germany. These include the Bachfest Leipzig, chor.com, the Kultursommer Nordhessen, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, MDR Musiksommer, Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker, Internationale A-cappella-Woche Hannover and the Stunde der Kirchenmusik Stuttgart.
The ensemble’s extensive a cappella repertoire ranges from the beginnings of polyphonic vocal music to commissions from contemporary composers. In joint concert programmes, the VOKTETT HANNOVER also performs together with other renowned ensembles, including the baroque ensembles L’Arpeggiata, la festa musicale, Concerto Ispirato and the vocal ensemble VOCES8. The ensemble has given several performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion in small vocal formation.
The VOKTETT HANNOVER won first prize of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition in 2015 and of the German Choir Competition in 2018. The ensemble was awarded the German Record Critics’ Prize for the album Gregor Joseph Werner: Masses and Motets. Other CD releases were also met with critical acclaim and a number of concert recordings and further contributions have been aired by various public broadcasters in recent years.
VOKTETT HANNOVER has been closely associated with Hanover’s Markuskirche as its ensemble in residence for many years. Since 2024, the ensemble has received institutional funding from the city of Hanover (UNESCO City of Music).
