I
HEARD THE VOICE OF ANGELS…..
By
Elvira Bekova and Michael Humphreys
As Music@ Felcino moves into its sixth season of Masterclass
Music Citerna we have been thinking of our future. MfB wants
to grow and to develop but we also want to be true to our roots.
These are performing and working with strings and piano instrumentalists
and chamber music ensembles, but as we said last year, innovation
as well as masterpiece are both important to us. After two seasons
collaborating and performing with classical guitarists we have
thought this year to explore a new musical direction. We shall
also be joined by a new pianist. Povilas Stravinsky has performed
with us wonderfully well for the past three years but it is
a very long way to come from Seattle and MMC has taken a big
chunk out of his working life. We are grateful that he has given
us generously of his time and that he has enchanted both students
and audiences. This year Sergey Bezrodny, distinguished pianist
also of the Russian tradition, son of Elvira Bekova’s
violin teacher and her colleague in the Moscow Conservatoire,
will join us. Secondly and with reference to the somewhat unusual
title of this piece, MfB will be joined for performances during
the Masterclass by Dr. Penelope Rapson, baroque musician and
director of Fiori Musicali, the UK’s leading early music
choir. She will also conduct a choral workshop during the first
week of the Masterclass. In addition, MfB and MMC, generously
supported again by the Comune of Citerna and by Mayor Juliana
Falaschi and her colleagues, will host an international artistic
event.
Renowned international artists Ivanov
and Chan
together with award-winning British composer James
Hesford will create a 24 hour, non-stop painting video and
musical composition event on La Rocca in Citerna on the 23rd
July as part of the Masterclass. Previous events of this type
have been created in an abandoned railway roundhouse in Berlin,
a floating hut on the river Thames, at the Horse Hospital –
home of London’s avant-garde, on an uninhabited island
at the most northerly tip of the Orkney islands. The results
have been seen at major art galleries in Europe. A 2 x12 metre
circular canvas will be the centrepiece of the presentation
supported by video and sound installations. The painting which
is visible during its creation will be opened to the public
formally on completion by a concert performed by Fiori Musicali
who will sing Gabrieli’s composition “Battaglia”
and “Svyati” by Taverner. They will conclude with
the world premier of James Hesford’s “Papay Holm
Circle” for a choir of twelve voices placed in a 30-metre
circle around the canvas and surrounding violin virtuoso Elvira
Bekova. This will be an historic event of grat magnitude as
the text of “Papay Holm Circle” has been translated
into NyNorn, a reconstruction of the Orkney Norn language which
has not been spoken for more that two hundred years. A dvd will
subsequently be produced of the event.
Our title is not confined to choral music. The “voice
of angels” is also to be discerned from the instrumentalists.
Let us reflect on last year’s Masterclass and the inaugural
concert which included Beethoven’s outstanding “Archduke”
trio, on the second concert , a wonderful evening of Bach and
the “Serata Appassionata with its exciting performances
of Kodaly’s Duo for violin and violoncello and Bartok’s
“Contrasts” for piano, violin and clarinet including
our dear friend Joseph Rosen from the USA. We talked of innovation
last year and so it was. This was our evening of romantic music
interspersed with recitations of Italian poetry, staged in a
café-style setting. This, once the audience could be
induced to help themselves to food and drink, was voted an outstanding
success. All of the concerts including the final one performed
traditionally by the students attending the Masterclass course
were extremely well attended by an audience that we recognise
as loyal and appreciative. We have sought to continue the innovative
aspects of what we try to bring our audiences now in 2010. We
have already spoken of the choral and painting events which
are certainly innovative additions to the Masterclass season.
We conclude this article with a tasting of the instrumental
programme. Those who have already seen the 2010 draft programme
in our website www.felcinobianco.com will be aware that the
inaugural concert will take place onSunday 18th July at 21.00
in the Chiostro del Comune, Citerna and will include virtuoso
pieces by Bach and choral works by William Byrd. The second
concert on 21st July will include Franck’s violin sonata
arranged for violoncello, Britten’s sonata for violoncello
and Shostakovicv’ monumental Piano Trio No. 2. This will
be performed by Elvira, Alfia and Sergey. During the second
week of the Masterclass there will be concerts at Il Conventino
near Anghiari and at Felcino Bianco, Le Ville. These will be
followed by two professional concerts, the second Masterclass
concert and memorial to Igor Bezrodny at which pieces by Grieg
and Szymanowski will be performed by Elvira and Sergey, to be
followed by Tchaikowsky’s memorial masterpiece “in
memory of a great artist”, his Piano Trio in Aminor performed
by Elvira, Alfia and Sergey. The season will close with the
final concert on 30th July and is entitled “Café
de Boheme”. It will follow the same format as last year
when the Chiostro was arranged as a café with table and
chairs and little things to eat and drink in a romantic setting.
The programme will include romantic music from the 20th century
Once again, we are enormously encouraged by the willingness
of our audiences and the wish of the Comune in Citerna to support
our endeavours. We promise that you will not be disappointed.
Come, see, listen and enjoy our Voice of Angels.
Administrative
aspects:
Costs
per person attending MMC instrumental courses €500
Costs
per person (preformed ensembles) attending MMC €475
Costs
per person attending choral workshop €170
Audience
participation at either/both courses (including concert tickets)
€55 (1st week only)
€100
(both weeks)
N.B.
Musicians wishing to participate in both corses should contact
us as above.
Costs
for accommodation at the Hotel
Sobaria Citerna(per person sharing, per day): Full board
€52
Half board €39
B & B only €26
N.B.
Self-catering accommodation in the area can be found readily
(Citerna, Anghiari, Sansepolcro and area) by Internet search.
We suggest searching www.ownersdirect.co.uk
and www.tuscanyholidayvilla.com.
We are also researching the possibility of cheaper hostel-type
accommodation with self-catering facilities in the area. Our
own holiday accommodation at Felcino Bianco will be fully
occupied from 17th – 31st July.
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