About
Ensemble Marquise
Ensemble Marquise presents early music concerts in full Rococo costume with period instruments. The Ensemble was founded in 2004 by the soprano singer-couple, László Blaskovics and Judit Felszeghy. Since that time we’ve been working and performing together with our professional musicians, so the ensemble is very much like a musical family! Our repertoire is very broad, from early Baroque composers right through to Mozart. Since 2004 we have performed more than 300 amazing and unique concerts; appearing in prestigious festivals, concert halls and castles in Hungary and throughout Europe.In Hungary we are the regular ensemble of the Baroque Theatre in Royal Palace of Gödöllö.
In our concerts we perform arias and duets for two sopranos with baroque chamber accompaniment – harpsichord, cello and baroque recorder - and you can also hear instrumental pieces - solos and trios. The harmonic combination of a male soprano and a coloratura soprano voices provides a beautifully refined sound, and gives a unique musical experience. Our Master of Ceremonies introduces the pieces with poems and narrative texts, sets the scene and also takes part in the acting.
The Marquise programmes are built around varied themes, and each one has its own story. Our programmes are pasticcios, in that, gems of the baroque music “assembled” from works by different composers are loosely woven together to form a story. We believe that the whole experience should combine visual, dramatic and musical elements. The concerts evoke the atmosphere of the 17-18 century with period dress, poise, deportment and scenic accessories inspired by paintings of that era to complement and dramatize the musical experience.
Our aim is to bring the wonderful music and style of the Baroque era closer to the audience of the 21st century. To show an authentic picture, we’ve been studying the way of life in the 17th-18th century, and our costumes were inspired, patterned and created after original paintings. We believe that though the world has changed a lot, the personal emotions and thoughts remained the same throughout the centuries, so on the wings of the music they are enjoyable and perceivable just as much today as they were when they were written..
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In 2021 Ensemble Marquise's leaders established the Music Palace Festival (Zenél a Kastély Fesztivál) at Royal Palace of GödöllÅ‘. The festival is yearly one week at summertime with about 30-40 concerts and 4-8 masterclasses.
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