Biber Mystery Sonatas
Elicia Silverstein, violin
Francesco Cera, harpsichord & chamber organ
Program
H.I.F. Biber: Mystery Sonata I – The Annunciation
H.I.F. Biber: Mystery Sonata III – The Nativity
J.C. Kerll: Passacaglia for solo keyboard
H.I.F. Biber: Mystery Sonata IV – The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
H.I.F. Biber: Mystery Sonata IX – The Carrying of the Cross
G. Muffat: Passacaglia for solo keyboard
H.I.F. Biber: Mystery Sonata X – The Crucifixion
H.I.F. Biber: Mystery Sonata XI – The Resurrection
Silverstein and her esteemed musical collaborator, harpsichordist and organist Francesco Cera, explore the highly spiritual world of Biber’s Mystery Sonatas (also known as the “Rosary Sonatas”), some of the most fascinating music ever composed for the violin. Rich with symbolism, each sonata depicts one of the fifteen Mysteries of the Cross described in the Catholic liturgical tradition. With unusual scordatura tunings and symbolically charged harmonic and rhythmic devices, Biber brings each Mystery of the Cross vividly to life. The fourteen different scordatura tunings help establish the unique character of each sonata by varying the tension on the violin and thereby eliciting from the instrument a distinctive resonance, color, and affect matched to the Mystery depicted. In order to equip themselves to recreate for both themselves and modern listeners the scenery, action, and emotions of each Mystery, Silverstein and Cera have delved deeply into the liturgical texts associated with each. Their aim is nothing less than the fully immersive meditative experience they believe Biber envisioned when he composed the sonatas in the seventeenth century.
Francesco Cera

The Italian harpsichordist, organist, and conductor Francesco Cera is internationally recognized for his performances of 17th- and 18th-century keyboard music and as a leading specialist in the works of Girolamo Frescobaldi.
A student of L. Ferdinando Tagliavini and the renowned Gustav Leonhardt, Cera received his diploma from the Amsterdam Conservatory in 1991. That same year, he became the harpsichordist of the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, with whom he made numerous recordings for Teldec and performed throughout Europe. In addition to the Giardino Armonico, he has collaborated with the chamber orchestra I Solisti di Pavia (conducted by Enrico Dindo), the Cameristi della Scala, the orchestra of I Pomeriggi Musicali.
In 1996, Cera founded the Ensemble Arte Musica, specializing in Italian vocal music from Gesualdo and Monteverdi to the cantatas of the 18th century.
Cera has performed both solo recitals and as director of Ensemble Arte Musica at major venues and festivals including the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Festival of Flanders, Resonanzen in Vienna, Baroktage Melk, Philharmonie Köln, Tage Alter Musik in Herne, Lådegard in Oslo, Festival de Maguelone, Abbaye de Saint-Michel en Thiérache, Les Sommets Musicaux in Gstaad, Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio in Milan, Accademia Filarmonica in Rome, Festival Monteverdi in Cremona, Bologna Festival, and Sagra Musicale Malatestiana in Rimini. He has also performed recitals on historical organs across Europe, Scandinavia, and the United States. From 1995 to 2005, Cera collaborated regularly with Diego Fasolis and I Barocchisti in Lugano, recording for Arts, Virgin, and Decca. His other collaborations include singers Guillemette Laurens and Letizia Calandra; violinists Enrico Onofri, Marco Serino, and Elicia Silverstein; and lutenist Francesco Romano.
Cera’s extensive solo discography on both organ and harpsichord spans repertoire from 16th- and 17th-century Italian music to the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti, the French Suites, Harpsichord Concertos, and Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S. Bach, as well as works by D’Anglebert and Correa de Arauxo. His most recent recording, published by Arcana, features works by Girolamo Frescobaldi performed on nine rare historical instruments.
Cera has given masterclasses and seminars at institutions including the Royal Academy of Music in London, Yale University, Oberlin Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Smarano Organ Academy, Piccola Accademia Montisi, Academia de Órgano J. Echevarría, and the Frescobaldi Akademiet in Grimstad.
He also serves as a consultant for the restoration of historical organs in Italy and currently holds the chair of harpsichord professor at the Conservatorio “E.R. Duni” in Matera.
Other projects
Leipzig Metamorphosis
In this program, Elicia Silverstein offers the listener a window into a dialogue between the musical world of J.S. Bach and that of his Leipzig compatriot, the young Felix Mendelssohn, who, through his knowledge of the music of Bach is able to “remember the future,” as Luciano Berio later put it, forging a new musical language, informed, colored and perfumed by the past.
Harmonia Artificiosa
BIBER - BERIO - PANNI
Created by Elicia Silverstein for the Ravenna Festival 2023, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s remarkable Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa for two violins in various scordatura tunings and basso continuo, six of Luciano Berio’s 32 Duetti for two violins, and seven new duets for two violins by Berio’s longtime friend and collaborator Marcello Panni, written on commission from Ravenna Festival for this project, make up this program’s fascinating mosaic of sounds past, present and future explored by Silverstein and her most extraordinary travel companions, violinist Marco Bianchi and harpsichordist/organist Riccardo Doni.
E se sei solo?
BACH SONATAS & PARTITAS
THE REVOLUTIONARY WORLD OF J.B. VIOTTI
CHERUBINI - VIOTTI - MOZART
Elicia Silverstein celebrates the 200th anniversary of the death of J.B. Viotti, a musical figure of immeasurable impact on the critical transition that took place in music history at the turn of the nineteenth century. Though undervalued today, Viotti had a profound influence, both as violinist and composer on the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, and his lifelong friend Cherubini, as well as François Xavier Tourte, with whom he developed the modern violin bow. This program seeks to create a sort of sound “photograph” of the musical world in the years that directly surrounded the French Revolution, with Viotti as the protagonist at the center of one of the most important transformations of the western European musical language in modern history.