Heinrich Biber’s astonishingly powerful and deeply emotional Mystery Sonatas represent a triumph of Baroque invention. Boston Baroque’s Christina Day Martinson delivers a technical tour de force, as she navigates the virtuosic challenges presented by the fiendishly demanding changing scordatura. Boston Classical Review described her live performance as ‘a flourish of technical complexity and musical wizardry’, whilst the Boston Globe wrote, ‘Day Martinson…didn't just survive, she triumphed.’

The adventurous use of six baroque violins in fifteen different tunings creates otherworldly soundscapes that result in a deeply moving and glorious listening experience. This highly disorientating practice reaches its pinnacle in Sonata XI (The Resurrection) where the middle two strings are crossed over each other both in the peg box and behind the bridge, so that one can literally see a cross on the violin. The fifteen sonatas have been traditionally grouped into three sets of five: five joyful mysteries, five sorrowful mysteries, and five glorious mysteries.

Boston Baroque’s founder Martin Pearlman plays organ and harpsichord, with Michael Leopold on theorbo and guitar and Michael Unterman on cello.

Christina Day Martinson serves as Concertmaster for Boston Baroque; she has been a featured soloist with Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, The Bach Ensemble, Tempesta di Mare, the Unicamp Symphony Orchestra in Brazil and the Philharmonisch Orkest Mozart in Amsterdam. She performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in 2008 and Bach’s E major Concerto in 2009 in Boston Baroque’s main series and at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. Martinson recorded Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with Boston Baroque for Telarc.

Martin Pearlman is one of America’s leading interpreters of Baroque and Classical music on period and modern instruments.

‘Remarkable technical skill, mental flexibility, physical endurance, and spiritual fortitude are necessary to perform this equally cerebral and visceral work, and Martinson’s presence and prowess astounded more and more by the minute.’ – Boston Globe

‘The many technical challenges of this music were no obstacle, as she effectively conveyed the affect and pathos of each piece, bringing out the melodic lines and subtle harmonies enabled by the scordatura.’ – Classical Scene