Faculty, students in music ensemble ¡Sacabuche! to travel to China

When Cathy Barbash, a specialist in Chinese culture and relations, approached Linda Pearse, founder and artistic director of the cornetto ensemble ¡Sacabuche!, about developing a music program based on the music and life of Matteo Ricci, Pearse was immediately on board.

“Cathy was running logistics in China and had the foresight to say, ‘You guys should do this project together. It would be fabulous,’” Pearse said. “The spirit of collaboration really makes this project unique.”

Through the collaborate efforts of Pearse, ¡Sacabuche! composer Huang Ruo and Ann Waltner, the director of the Institute for Advanced Study and professor of history at the University of Minnesota, the ensemble will present the international premiere of “The Map and Music of Matteo Ricci” at the China National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Dec. 12.

The multimedia performance “The Map and Music of Matteo Ricci” reanimates the exchange between Italian Jesuits and Chinese literati in 17th century China.

The program features a collection of Ricci’s 16th and 17th century music, ranging from the music he composed in Italy to the music he created while traveling to China.

The program will also feature texts from his journals, poems he wrote and writings about him from Chinese intellectuals.

The centerpiece that ties the performance together, however, is the digitalized reproduction of the first world map to include both the Eastern and Western hemispheres, created by Ricci in 1602.

This feat, along with his music and mastery of the Chinese language and culture, earned Ricci the respect of the Chinese people, and Pearse said she is excited to perform in China, where Ricci was so revered.

“It’s quite unique that Ricci was able to rise to be so esteemed by the upper echelons of Chinese society, and it was quite amazing that he reached them in such a highly regarded way,” she said.

¡Sacabuche! is a sackbut and cornetto ensemble which specializes in Baroque music from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The ensemble features faculty and student performers whose ages range from 19 to 75.

Stanley Ritchie, a Jacobs School of Music professor and a guest artist playing with the ensemble in China, said he looks forward to meeting the challenge of preparing this kind of repertoire.

“This group has become very successful in this country, and they already have a fine reputation for what they do,” Ritche said. “It will be very interesting to see how the Chinese react to the program.”

Jacobs School of Music professor Michael McCraw said ¡Sacabuche! also helps educate the world on early music by offering exciting and innovative selections.

“The ensemble itself playing this repertoire of music with this exact combination of instruments is a relatively new thing in the Jacobs School of Music,” McCraw said. “It’s very unique, and some students have gone to China before but certainly not anything from the early music department.”

Pearse said above everything, the group is just excited to bring such a significant program to life and share their music with an international audience.

“We don’t get paid to play, and we’re just all there in the interest of creating an artistic product, so that’s a really special feeling,” Pearse said.