Ensemble Jupiter and Musica Eclectica

    Painting by Evaristo Baschenis (1617 -1677) of Baroque instruments, including a cittern, viola da gamba, violin, and two lutes wikipeida.org/public domain

    Ensemble Jupiter is a group of young musicians who play with great flair and incomparable French élan. Here they are from a performance last summer, with an eclectic offering from Vivaldi’s 17th century Italian baroque to the more contemporary Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre’s (or just Rodrigo’s) Concierto de Aranjuez, composed in 1939, just as the world was to go to war. They top it off with quite the encore. The ensemble has all my favorite instruments – guitar, violin, viola, mandolin (she arrives eventually). Sit back, or put it on in the background, but glance now and again at the natural joy on the faces of these performers. Grace builds on nature, and we may hope that beauty might – just might – yet save the world.