JOSUÉ MELÉNDEZ (Hochschule der Künste Bremen, Germany)
25 November @9.30-10.40 in D-411 a lecture “Grace and basic ornamentation in Music from 15th to 19th centuries”
Josué Meléndez (cornetto, recorder) began his musical studies in trombone at the Conservatorio Castella in Costa Rica. From 1991 to 1995, he studied at the Escuela Nacional de Música in Mexico, where he founded the country’s first early music festival, the Festival Santo Domingo de Música Antigua. At the festival, he conducted Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and several other productions.
In 1997, Meléndez moved to The Hague, where he earned two diplomas in recorder performance at the Royal Conservatoire, one of which recognised his outstanding achievements in contemporary music performance. From 2002 to 2006, he studied cornetto with Bruce Dickey at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland.
Since then, he has pursued an international career as a cornetto and recorder player, performing and recording with renowned early music ensembles including Concerto Palatino, La Fenice, Les Cornets Noirs, Musica Fiata, Oltremontano, Nederlandse Bach Vereniging, His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts, and the Academy of Ancient Music. He has also worked with distinguished conductors such as Ton Koopman, Jordi Savall, Gabriel Garrido, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Claudio Cavina, Philippe Herreweghe, Paul van Nevel, Thomas Hengelbrock, and Sigiswald Kuijken.
Meléndez is the founder of the ensemble I Fedeli, which won first prize at the International Artist Presentation competition in Antwerp. The ensemble has released two recordings: Lo Zuane Tedesco, featuring music by Johann Rosenmüller (Pan Classics), and Tarasconi Codex Diminuito (Passacaille).
A specialist in Baroque improvisation, Meléndez teaches cornetto and diminution at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and the University of the Arts Bremen. He has led workshops on ornamentation and diminution at numerous institutions, including the Berlin University of the Arts, the Freiburg University of Music, the National University of Mexico, the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, and the Urbino Academy. He has also published several academic articles on musical ornamentation.