The Valencia Baryton Project was formed by colleagues from the opera of the Palau de les Arts and the Orchestre Nationale Montpellier with the vision of performing the nearly 160 works written by Franz Joseph Haydn as well as compositions by other composers, both modern and classical. At the heart of the ensemble is the traditional formation in trio – baryton, viola, and violoncello – for which Haydn wrote 123 works of outstanding beauty during his time as the court composer for the Prince Esterhazy of Austria.
Featuring Matthew Baker, baryton, Estevan de Alameida Reis, viola, and Alex Friedhoff, cello.
As Haydn was not limited to writing trios, likewise the Valencia Baryton Project has from the beginning been a flexible ensemble, adapting from 2 to 8 players to fit anything from duos of 2 barytons to mixed quintets and octets.
Beyond the over 160 works by Haydn for this instrument, the ensemble has added to their repertoire works by numerous other contemporaries of Haydn such as Tomasini, Lidl, Neumann and Bergsteiner as well as working with modern day composers such as Steve Zink, John Pickup and Baptiste Bailly