L'arpa festante

Period-instrument ensemble L'Arpa Festante revives overlooked instrumental and choral pieces spanning the Baroque through Romantic periods. The ensemble has issued recordings on multiple German imprints.

Established in 1983 by violinist Michi Gaigg, the group endured as one of Germany's longest-running historical-instrument organizations. Gaigg served as its director and concertmaster through 1995. At times the ensemble appeared under the fuller designation Barockorchester L'Arpa Festante or the abbreviation BOLAF, designations that receded once its repertoire extended into Classical and Romantic territory. The title L'Arpa Festante derives from a cantata by Giovanni Battista Maccioni and translates as The Festive Harp; that cantata received its first performance in 1653 during ceremonies inaugurating the institution that later became the Bavarian State Opera. In its formative period the ensemble concentrated on rarely heard German Baroque compositions, particularly those associated with members of the Bach family. Its debut recording, Lully in Deutschland, appeared in 1991 on the Amati label. In 1995 the group collaborated with the Marburger Bachchor on the Genuin label for an album devoted to Jan Dismas Zelenka; subsequent projects have linked it with additional regional German choirs in choral repertoire.

L'Arpa Festante has prioritized studio work above concert activity and maintains no independent website, though it is listed on the site of the Bach Kantaten Verein and occasionally joins that organization in performance. Following Gaigg's departure, leadership passed among several conductors, among them Fritz Näf and, from 2008 onward, Rien Voskuilen; Christoph Hesse currently holds the post of concertmaster. The ensemble normally comprises around twenty musicians yet can enlarge to forty or more when performing expansive Romantic scores. Its discography has been released on CPO, Carus, Harmonia Mundi, and additional labels. In 2023 the group joined the Arcis-Vocalisten Munich choir for a recording of the oratorio Jan Hus issued by Oehms Classics.