Irish Coffee

In the dancing and vibrant Ireland of the eighteenth century, music filled every place: it rose in the church, sparkled at court, whispered in the salons and resonated in the streets. Like a musical Irish Coffee – warm, intense and refined – Café Zimmermann joins forces with tenor Zachary Wilder and brings together all the ingredients for an evening as elegant as it is exhilarating!

An imaginary character wanders through eighteenth-century Europe – Dublin, but also Edinburgh and London. Reminiscent of a journey through the imagination of James Joyce, his path unfolds as both an inner and an outer voyage: each street, each threshold crossed reveals a new soundscape. The church resounds with the solemn accents of Handel, the court glows with the brilliant concerti of Avison and Geminiani, the salons echo with popular melodies transformed by Baroque sensibility, while the tavern bursts into life with Irish dances and songs.

In a spirit of dialogue and discovery, Café Zimmermann welcomes tenor Zachary Wilder alongside an ensemble of exceptional Baroque musicians whose artistry brings together refinement and the vibrant energy of Irish tradition.

Like a musical Irish Coffee – blending elegance, passion and a touch of abandon – this programme invites the listener to wander through a world where joy and melancholy, grace and exuberance meet, in a time when music flowed freely from palaces to taverns, carrying with it the pulse and poetry of life itself.