“In the beginning there is silence, and music comes from silence. […] Music has very much to do with the spirit, with spirituality. […] What distinguishes the Florence Cathedral from a swallow’s nest? The conscious intention, the spiritual-mental work. […] I try to listen very carefully. It’s essentially a matter of following the sounds I let resonate with a third ear. The better this third ear is developed, the better the musician is. […] The piano has to sing, not the pianist.”
A. Schiff, Music comes from Silence, Conversations with Martin Meyer, Essays. Bärenreiter Publishing Company, Kassel, 2017
Since Sir András Schiff founded his Cappella Andrea Barca in 1999, Karin-Regina Florey has been a steady member of the ensemble.
The musicians of the Cappella Andrea Barca are mostly active as soloists and chamber musicians all over the world and are not bound to a steady orchestra. They were personally selected by Sir András Schiff for the complete performance of the Mozart piano concertos at the “Mozart Week” in Salzburg (A) from 1999 to 2005. Since then, the Cappella Andrea Barca has been a regular guest at the festival “Mozart Week”. Under the direction of Sir András Schiff, the orchestra’s concert activities gradually expanded: Since 1999, the Cappella Andrea Barca has regularly performed at the “Omaggio a Palladio” festival at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza (I), where it also staged three concert productions of “Cosi fan tutte” in 2001.
Das Ensemble war außerdem in den Jahren von 2004 bis 2007 zu Gast beim „Kunstfest Weimar“. Hinzu kamen Tournéen in zahlreiche europäische Metropolen wie Wien, Innsbruck, Zürich, Basel, Genf, Athen, Brüssel, Luxemburg, Köln, Essen, Frankfurt, Bremen, Baden-Baden, Budapest und Lissabon. Zwei Tournéen im Mozart-Jahr 2006 führten die Cappella Andrea Barca in die USA, wo sie für drei Konzerte in der New Yorker Carnegie Hall, außerdem im Lincoln Center und Kennedy Center zu Gast war. Beim „Beethovenfest Bonn“ 2008 und 2010 spielte die Cappella Andrea Barca weitere Konzerte.
In 2012, the Cappella Andrea Barca could be heard with the B-minor Mass by J.S. Bach at the “Lucerne Festival ” (CH). In spring 2014, the CAB performed Beethoven’s Missa solemnis there together with the Balthasar Neumann Choir conducted by Sir András Schiff. In 2014 and 2015, the Cappella Andrea Barca under Sir András Schiff was a guest at the “Schubertiade” Festival in Schwarzenberg (A) as part of a Schubert cycle, in 2016 at the “Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival”, the “Rheingau Musik Festival” (GER), and at the Festival “Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad” (CH) in 2017.
Sir András Schiffs Bestreben geht dahin, die Cappella Andrea Barca so zu präsentieren, dass sie sich in solistischen und kammermusikalischen Formationen beweisen kann, was bei den meisten etablierten Orchestern nicht realisiert werden kann. „Was ich als Dirigent mache, ist eine Erweiterung des Kammermusikalischen; die Cappella ist also ein Kammermusikensemble aus exzellenten Solisten, aber vor allem Kammermusikern. Es finden sich sehr viele Streichquartettspieler in diesem Orchester, und das Spielen im Streichquartett bedeutet für das Musizieren ein Nonplusultra.“ Überdies erachtet Sir András Schiff die menschliche und persönliche Komponente als ebenso wichtig: „Da gibt es keinen Platz für das Egoistische. Dieses Ensemble basiert auf gegenseitiger Sympathie, Verständnis, Gleichgestimmtheit, und gleichen Idealen – ästhetisch, musikalisch und menschlich.“
Text (in German) from program booklet, Dortmund, 2018
In 2018, the Cappella Andrea Barca made its debut at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (GER), the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona (ESP) and at the Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence (F). In November 2019, on the occasion of the Cappella’s 20th anniversary, Sir András Schiff and his ensemble celebrated great successes with all five Beethoven piano concertos (a.o.), on a three-week tour of Asia (China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong). During the Mozart Week in Salzburg 2020, Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” was performed in a semi-scenic concert version.
In January 2019, the ensemble Cappella Andrea Barca was awarded the Golden Mozart Medal of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg.
In 2022, a string ensemble from the Cappella Andrea Barca accompanied Sir András Schiff on a European tour featuring all six piano concertos by J.S. Bach. At the “Omaggio a Palladio” festival in Vicenza, along with piano concertos and symphonic works, a major work with choir and chamber music are performed annually. The Mozart Week in 2023 featured a semi-staged performance of W.A. Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” A new Asian tour is planned for March 2025.
