Performer and scholar Vania Dal Maso has constructed an innovative programme exploring music for stringed keyboard instruments from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Based on the study and interpretation of sources, both on the instruments' construction and musical interpretation, she explores the profoundly different sounds and tone-colours of the clavichord, hammered clavicymbalum and clavicytherium. The music ranges widely in forms and genres from across Europe, including music sourced from the oldest-known manuscript for keyboard instruments - the Robertsbridge Codex (c. 1320) - to create the widest possible stylistic panorama of keyboard music of the time.

Of Paganini's fifteen quartets with guitar only six were published during his lifetime. They represent his finest body of chamber compositions as can be heard in the three quartets for violin, viola, guitar and cello, Op. 4. Of them, No. 3 in A major is a masterpiece, with French-styled inspiration, rich lyricism and piquant invention, while the virtuosic, almost concerto-like No. 8 in A major embodies his quatuor brillant writing, with it's Rossinian resonances. No. 12 in A minor is the most 'symphonic' of the three, containing formal originality, one of the most moving of Paganini's slow movements, and his most serious-minded finale.

Alessandro Scarlatti's Il trionfo dell'onore (The Triumph of Honour) - his only comic opera - was first performed in Naples in 1718. With it's distinctive recitatives and expressive arias, and a cast including four pairs of lovers, it can be considered one of the forerunners of opera buffa. The central character is the unrepentant seducer Riccardo Albenori, a Don Giovanni-like figure though without the villainous aura. In this opera, Scarlatti ensures not only perceptive psychology but a rich variety of arias, duets and quartets that generate the work's pathos as well as it's humour and eroticism.

Alessandro Scarlatti's Il trionfo dell'onore (The Triumph of Honour) - his only comic opera - was first performed in Naples in 1718. With it's distinctive recitatives and expressive arias, and a cast including four pairs of lovers, it can be considered one of the forerunners of opera buffa. The central character is the unrepentant seducer Riccardo Albenori, a Don Giovanni-like figure though without the villainous aura. In this opera, Scarlatti ensures not only perceptive psychology but a rich variety of arias, duets and quartets that generate the work's pathos as well as it's humour and eroticism.

Il martirio di Santa Caterina by castrato singer, composer and writer Pier Francesco Tosi is a fine example of the rich tradition of late-Baroque oratorio. It is the embodiment of Tosi's famous treatise on a vocal style that emphasised expressive authenticity over virtuoso display. This story of the martyrdom of Catherine of Alexandria for refusing to convert to paganism is filled with deeply poignant music that depicts her prodigious inner strength, representing the power of faith through grief, courage, compassion, and admiration for the fortitude of others

The popularity of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik is a testament to the work's unique elegance and refinement, maintaining it's status as one of the most popular pieces in the classical canon. The transformational skills that resulted in this masterpiece have their roots in Mozart's adolescent travels where he assimilated various musical traditions. Also featured are the three delightfully original Divertimenti, K. 136-38, which are a celebration of Mozart's experiences in Italy and a prelude to the musical treasures to follow.

Donizetti's Don Pasquale is one of a triumvirate of 19th-century Italian opere buffe - L'elisir d'amore and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia being the others - that continue to enchant the world's stages. Don Pasquale represents the high point of the opera buffa tradition, employing figures taken from commedia dell'arte - the blustering old man, his lovesick nephew, the wily widow and the scheming doctor - and brings new life to the genre in this beautifully constructed comic opera full of cabalettas, cadenzas and coloratura, gently tinged with melancholy. This production employs a new critical edition of the work and stars the seasoned baritone Roberto de Candia in the central role, alongside Giulia Mazzola as Norina.

Donizetti's Don Pasquale is one of a triumvirate of 19th-century Italian opere buffe - L'elisir d'amore and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia being the others - that continue to enchant the world's stages. Don Pasquale represents the high point of the opera buffa tradition, employing figures taken from commedia dell'arte - the blustering old man, his lovesick nephew, the wily widow and the scheming doctor - and brings new life to the genre in this beautifully constructed comic opera full of cabalettas, cadenzas and coloratura, gently tinged with melancholy. This production employs a new critical edition of the work and stars the seasoned baritone Roberto de Candia in the central role, alongside Giulia Mazzola as Norina.

As a boy, Francesco Cavalli was a member of San Marco Basilica's Chapel, then directed by Claudio Monteverdi, from whom he probably received tuition. In time Cavalli's fame as an operatic composer spread across Europe and he succeeded Monteverdi in San Marco to reach the apex of success in Venice. He also wrote sacred music, published in two great printed collections. The first collection, published in 1656, contains his Missa a 8 voci Concertata, an imposing and magnificent work of exceptional complexity for eight soloists, two four-voiced choirs and many instrumentalists. In this recording it is performed in the context of an All Saints' Day liturgy by Ensemble Locatelli, directed by Cavalli scholar, Bruno Gini.

Alfonso Rendano was at the forefront of Italy's instrumental composition renaissance in the late 19th-century but remains less well known than his near-contemporaries Giovanni Sgambati and Giuseppe Martucci. He was also a prominent pianist who performed with the illustrious violinist Joseph Joachim. The rhapsodic Piano Concerto, recorded here for the first time in it's original edition, was premiered in a version for two pianos in which the composer was joined by Franz Liszt who called it 'a vigorous, remarkable work, one I greatly appreciate'. The Allegro in A minor was rediscovered in 1969 and dates from Rendano's artistic maturity. The Piano Concerto is performed in Vito Cristofaro's edition and performed by him with Rendano's leading contemporary exponent, Daniela Roma.

Roberto Devereux is the fourth and finest of Donizetti's works dedicated to the Tudor period of English history, and is considered by many to be the ultimate masterpiece amongst his Italian operas. The tragic narrative is a tale of intrigue and vengeance in the court of the elderly and weary Queen Elisabeth I, with Donizetti's powerful score expressing all of the intense drama and sorrowful emotion demanded by the opera's finely etched characters. This star-studded Donizetti Opera Festival production received wide critical acclaim.

Nicola Vicentino was renowned in his day as a music theorist and inventor of the microtonal archicembalo keyboard instrument, but it is the striking harmonic sophistication of the madrigals that keep his name alive today. These world premiere recordings of madrigals from the Fifth Book of 1572 are interspersed with instrumental pieces that explore comparable chromatic universes, including Giovanni Maria Trabaci's remarkable Toccata e recercar cromatico, and the first instrumental canzona ever published: Canzon la Bella.

Roberto Devereux is the fourth and finest of Donizetti's works dedicated to the Tudor period of English history, and is considered by many to be the ultimate masterpiece amongst his Italian operas. The tragic narrative is a tale of intrigue and vengeance in the court of the elderly and weary Queen Elisabeth I, with Donizetti's powerful score expressing all of the intense drama and sorrowful emotion demanded by the opera's finely etched characters. This star-studded Donizetti Opera Festival production received wide critical acclaim.

Zoraida di Granata, a stirring tale of love, betrayal and reconciliation, set in the Moorish kingdom of Granada in Andalusia in 1480, gave the 24-year-old Donizetti his first major operatic triumph. It marked his establishment as a true musical dramatist with a sure sense of craftsmanship and a flair for the dramatic. The opera's virtuosic central roles, fine choruses and powerful set-pieces show Rossini's unavoidable influence, though it is more a presence rather than imitation. This performance of the 1822 edition, not the 1824 revision, is performed on original instruments by Gli Originali and conducted by Alberto Zanardi.

Born in Venice around 1652, Marc'Antonio Ziani was an eminent operatic composer who, at the zenith of his career, moved to serve the Habsburgs in Vienna, where he was to die in 1715. Damira placata is the second of his operas and it's plot centres on Damira, a queen in ancient Egypt, and her struggles to win back the love of King Creonte. Conceived for the puppet theatre, the singers and instrumentalists were hidden from sight to heighten the illusion. It is a quintessential Venetian opera - declamation melts into eloquent musical gestures, recitatives are full of pathos, arias have constant rhythm, and the central characters are strongly defined.