Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
February 25, 2018

Catalan viola da gambist, scholar, teacher, conductor and UNESCO Artist for Peace Jordi Savall is one of the biggest names in early music, with several hundred recordings to his name, swathes of honorary doctorates and awards, and a reputation for bringing vibrant new life to unusual or neglected corners of music history. But despite the prestige of the headliner of this concert in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, the star himself was a low-key director, sitting off to the side of the combined forces of his ensemble Hespèrion XXI and Mexican group Tembembe Ensamble Continuo. As Limelight’s Editor at Large Clive Paget put it when he saw Savall’s The Routes of Slavery in New York last year, he was “a benign and constant presence”.

Jordi Savall. Photo © Ken Leanfore

Savall was most recently in Australia in 2014 with his Jerusalem Project, which conjured up the diverse musical traditions swirling around the city (and took out a Helpmann Award). A more intimate project, this tour’s Folías Antiguas & Criollas (From the Ancient to the New World) – in Sydney...