Writing in a Grove Music Online article, the musicologist Christian Poché records that in the 9th-century Māwardī, the jurist of Baghdad, 'extolled its use in treating illness, a principle allowed and defended in Arab Spain by the 11th-century theologian Ibn Hazm.' The Moors occupied the latter country from 711 to 1492, bringing the oud to Western Europe. The term 'ūd, which can be literally translated as a 'twig' or even an 'aromatic stick', refers to a rich-sounding stringed instrument possessing a large soundbox with a short neck, and there are references to this remarkable guitar-like instrument stretching back before the 10th-century (A.D.). 'This can be clearly seen in Vivaldi's music, and this concept has formed the basis for these collaborative performances of 'The Four Seasons' alongside my own music with the ACO.'Įntwined too is the history of the instrument of which Tawadros is a master, the oud, with the lute for which Vivaldi wrote music for the former being the antecedent of the latter.

'I have always found that the music of the Baroque shared many similarities with Arabic music: chordal progressions, its diatonic nature, its use of ornamentation and phrasing', observes the Egyptian-born Australian musician and composer Joseph Tawadros. After playing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and their director Richard Tognetti in 2015, the oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros is reunited with this ensemble for a unique program of music of the Italian Baroque and Arabia.

Vivaldi winter piano