La Follia celebrates over 30 years as part of Austin's lively and diverse musical scene. Focusing on music of the 17th and 18th centuries, we use instruments and performing styles appropriate to that period. We delight in unearthing little-known composers and musical treasures and sharing them with our audiences. Our goal is to bring this fascinating music back to life by recreating the original sounds, which are lighter, sweeter, and more transparent than those of modern instruments, and by mastering such lost arts as ensemble improvisation. We are dedicated to blending thorough scholarship with passion and sheer fun. La Follia has appeared throughout Texas, and its members have recorded and performed throughout the world as soloists and with other ensembles. La Follia helped establish the annual Early Music Festival at the Festival-Institute at Round Top, Texas. The ensemble has performed throughout Texas and has appeared frequently on John Aielli's Eklektikos radio program on K*T, and Classical Austin on KMFA. La Follia's name comes from folia (meaning folly), the name of a 16th-century Spanish dance. The music for this dance was based on a characteristic harmonic pattern, which became associated with a particular melody in the 17th century. This dance has fascinated composers down to our own time. Variations on La Follia have been written by Alessandro Scarlatti, Marin Marais, Arcangelo Corelli, J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Luigi Cherubini, Franz Liszt, Carl Nielsen, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
