The illyria consort
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Bojan Čičić originally founded The Illyria Consort to explore rare repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries from the Venetian Republic and the Habsburg Empire. The group was invited to perform at early music festivals in Europe, such as Korkyra Baroque Festival in Croatia, Laus Polyphoniae Festival in Belgium, Festival de Sablé in France, Utrecht Early Music Festival in the Netherlands and York Early Music Christmas Festival in the UK.
Their recordings achieved great critical acclaim, as their debut recording of Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli: Sonate da camera Nos. 1-6 was chosen as one of Presto Classical’s “Presto Recordings of the Year” for 2017. 2019 saw the release of two projects, the second volume of Carbonelli: Sonatas Nos. 7-12 and a world première recording of Giovanni Giornovich: London Concertos. 2021 brought two further releases - an album titled Pyrotechnia showcasing virtuosic violin concertos by Vivaldi, Tartini and Locatelli, and a collaboration with Marian Consort in a recording titled Adriatic Voyage that presents music by composers born on the Croatian coast in the 16th century. This recording won them another Presto Recording of the Year Award for that year. Susequent recordings were the first ever complete recording of Johann Jakob Walther: Scherzi da Violino Solo, an album of Christmas instrumental music titled La Notte and a collaboration on two albums with the countertenor Barnaby Smith exploring the vocal works by JS Bach and GF Handel
“Hats off then to Čičić and his Illyria Consort for choosing the first six of Carbonelli’s sonatas for their debut recording, because not only is half their programme’s music previously unrecorded, but it’s all genuinely wonderful stuff... fluid perfection... bravo to the whole.”