Long before the cello became one of classical music’s most beloved solo instruments, a handful of pioneering musicians were discovering just how much it could do. At the heart of this programme is Domenico Gabrielli—one of the first great cello virtuosos and among the earliest composers to give the instrument a true solo voice—alongside music by Bononcini, Geminiani, Vivaldi and the Dutch-born Willem de Fesch.  Internationally renowned cellist and early-music pioneer Roel Dieltiens is joined by Bart Naessens and Ageet Zweistra on period instruments, bringing audiences remarkably close to the sound world in which the cello first stepped into the spotlight. Noble and intimate one moment, dazzlingly virtuosic the next, these works reveal a familiar instrument at the exhilarating beginning of its story. A fitting Prelude to the Brussels Cello Festival: come hear when the cello began to sing.