Baroque Instruments in the Princess's Apartment, for Twenty-Five

The ensemble is the reason to book this one. A soprano, a player covering traverso, recorder and percussion, and a player covering Spanish guitar and theorbo. These are period instruments, not a modern quartet: the theorbo is nearly two metres of neck and bass strings, the traverso is wood with no keys to speak of, and together they produce a sound built for a room of this size rather than for a hall. The music was written for exactly these forces in exactly these rooms, and hearing it in a modern concert hall is a compromise nobody usually mentions. The venue is the Secret Apartment of the Princess in Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, opened privately for the evening, with a maximum of twenty-five guests. It begins with a guided tour of the apartment in English, and the musical programme is introduced in English before the concert starts in the main drawing room. The timing is strict. Doors at 6:50 p.m., start at 7:00 p.m., and no admission after 7:15. A dinner option adds a traditional Roman meal at Il Piccolo Vicolo, Via dei Chiodaroli 16, with water and a bottle of wine for every two people. Transport is not included.