Featuring: Brett Walfish (viola), Matthew Baker (baryton) and Alex Friedhoff (cello)
The Valencia Baryton Project is a collective founded by Valencia-based barytonist Matthew Baker with the vision of performing the nearly 160 works written by Franz Joseph Haydn for the baryton as well as compositions by other composers, both modern and classical. At the heart of the ensemble is the traditional baryton trio - baryton, viola, and violoncello - for which Haydn wrote 123 works of outstanding beauty during his time as the court composer for the Prince Esterhazy of Austria.
With Matthew Baker, one of only a handful baryton performers in the world, the Valencia Baryton Project have delighted audiences in sold-out concerts throughout North, Central and South America as well as Europe with what is considered to have been the pinnacle of aristocratic instruments of the classical era. Their work has been described as ‘delightfully inventive” (The Strad) and featuring an ‘exquisite chamber music playing’ (Ritmo). In October of 2021, the trio was featured as the front cover article in Spain’s leading classical magazine, Ritmo, and they have also been in publications and programs such as Berklee Now (USA), Südwest Presse (Germany) Radio Nacional de España, BBC 3 (UK), WDR 3 (Germany), RTE (Ireland), and Arizona Public Radio (USA) amongst many others.
In 2021, the Valencia Baryton Project released Naxos Records’ first ever baryton CD, launching a new series for the label. Their debut release has been described as “a superb recording” (All Music, USA), “you can’t get enough of it” (Die Welt, Germany), “a discovery for curious ears” (Online Merker, Switzerland), and “highly recommended” (Stretto, Belgium). It was included on All Music’s Favorite Classical Albums of 2021, nominated for Best Classical CD at the 2021 Carles Santos Awards and also appeared in Gramophone’s top 20 Classical charts in the UK.
In 2023, they will release their next volume of Haydn baryton trios for Naxos Records. Beyond their work with Haydn and his contemporaries such as Lidl, Tomasini and Burgksteiner, the Valencia Baryton Project is committed to the creation of new works for this forgotten instrument and has worked with Canadian composer Steve Zink, British composers Ivan Moody and John Pickup, Spanish composer José Zárate and Argentinian composer Julian Calarco to expand the repertoire and incorporate this new soundscape to modern composition. They have also enjoyed working with guest artists such as violinist Carrie Krause (USA), theorbist Chris Hirst (UK), fellow barytonist Jeremy Brooker (UK), and soprano Paloma Friedhoff (Spain) amongst a number of others.