Salzburg Summer Festival

Top Classical August 1, 2021

Salzburg Summer Festival

100 years of breathtaking performances

Top Classical, August 2021
The Salzburg Festival was inaugurated on August 22, 1920, with the premiere of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s morality play Jedermann on the Domplatz, directed by Max Reinhardt. Since that time, the Salzburg Festival has established itself as the most important festival for opera, drama and concerts. During the six festival weeks in July and August, over 200 events, more than 250,000 visitors arrive to Salzburg. The various events are divided into three areas: drama, opera and concert.  

Initially the festival idea was focused in the desire to hold artistic events of the highest standard in a close relationship with the cultural tradition of Austria. After the First World War, the aim of the festival was intended to support the creation of a new Austrian identity, whereby by referring back to tradition, a cultural restoration took place.  

Traditionally, most of the Festival events take place in the heart of the historic centre: The Festival Hall, the Felsenreitschule and the Haus für Mozart. Since 1920, Jedermann by Hugo von Hofmannsthal is staged at Cathedral Square in front of the Salzburg Cathedral attracting every year thousands of festival guests to Salzburg – enjoying most innovative dramatizations and top class actors. Playing the Jederman in Salzburg is considered as one of the most prestigious stage roles within the German speaking World. Open-air and incorporating Salzburg’s historical city as breathtaking back drop, this unique success story ensures an unforgettable evening. There are also several performances scheduled at Republic nearby, the Mozarteum or the auditorium at the Faculty of Catholic Theology.  

In 2020, 100 years of the Salzburg Festival are being celebrated. Unfortunately, this year due to the corona crisis, the Salzburg Festival was not able to celebrate its hundredth anniversary as planned. However, from August 1rst to 30th, 110 performances took place in 8 locations in Salzburg under strict regulations.  

The festival’s executive director, Lukas Crepaz, recalled that the founders of the festival had planned the first one in 1920 in much more difficult conditions than today, which provided inspiration even as the organisers were aware of the risks. 

“You have to find the balance. We said we wanted a festival that makes sense artistically and is affordable but health and security is above all,” said Crepaz. 

The festival engaged a team of medical experts to provide an overview of all their plans, and, based on their recommendations, it was decided to abandon intervals in all the productions and have no refreshments for sale inside venues. One thing clear from the beginning was that singers and musicians could not feasibly practice social distancing, and the whole cast undergoes a cover swab test after every performance. 

If you’d like to be updated about the festival’s news, you can visit their website: https://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/en/

– Clara Horner

Marlboro Music

Top Classical July 13, 2021

Marlboro Music

The classical world’s most coveted retreat

Top Classical, July 2021
Marlboro Music was founded in 1951 by Rudolf Serkin, Adolf and Hermann Busch, and Marcel, Blanche, and Louis Moyse. Marlboro is a singular phenomenon. The great Austrian-born pianist Rudolf Serkin, Marlboro’s co-founder and long-time leader once declared that he wished to “create a community, almost utopian,” where artists could forget about commerce and escape into a purely musical realm.

For more over 65 years, Marlboro has had a profound influence on generations of leading chamber music artists and ensembles, recitalists, principals in the world’s major orchestras, singers, composers, artistic directors, and teachers.

Located on the tiny campus of Marlboro College, a former dairy farm, Marlboro brings together 60 to 80 musicians every July and August who explore chamber repertoire without the pressures and distractions that accompany daily life during the rest of the year.  The New Yorker Magazine describes as “The classical world’s most coveted retreat.”  Marlboro is a school that has no teachers or students — only participants, as they are called — from young professionals in their early 20s to veterans in their 80s. After three weeks of daily rehearsals, Marlboro artists begin sharing the results of their in-depth collaborations with audiences in public concerts. All the musicians are purposefully mixed in a workshop environment, which means that weekend concerts are a by-product, announced only a week or so in advance. Still, audiences travel from far and wide, appearing to welcome whatever is put in front of them. 

Today, Marlboro continues to thrive under the leadership of Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, alternating the lead role from year to year. 

“I learn a lot,” Uchida said in an interview. “For example, when you play a piano quintet in the big world, I choose that superlatively good string quartet. They come prepared, I come prepared. It is me and the quartet as one. Here when we do a quintet, it’s four separate people plus me. And everyone is in a different stage of development and come from different schools and backgrounds. And there is so much more to sort out. And we have the time to sort it out.”

Marlboro Music cancelled its 2020 summer season (which would have been its 70th anniversary season) due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The festival is planning to return for the 2021 season, scheduled for July 17 to Aug. 15 of this year, as well as a 2020-21 Musicians from Marlboro tour schedule. “We will get through this period together, looking toward that time when we will once again be healed and uplifted by the incredible beauty and inspiration of live music,” organizers said. 

Lucas Debargue

Top Classical July 1, 2021

Lucas Debargue

July 2021
Since his remarkable appearance at the 15th Tchaikovsky Competition, the largely self-taught pianist, decried by some and praised by others, leaves no one indifferent. The album “Scarlatti” was recorded live at the Salle Cortot in Paris, Debargue’s first concert in his hometown after the competition. 

The four-disc set contains the 52 Scarlatti sonatas, performed on piano. Debargue clarifies though, that he used some nods to harpsichord technique to perform. For example, he uses almost no pedal on this collection.

Ethereal delicate Scarlatti opens this album.  The liveliness of the playing is coupled with great sensitivity. His masterful and colorful command of pacing is very remarkable: he perfectly balances elegancy and rhythm with dramatic turns, in order to create a powerful but yet very personal performance. 

Under the intelligent playing of this piano phenomenon, the sonatas reveal their capricious brilliance: Debargue underlines the angles, the colors, creates unexpected turns and astonishes us with every sonata that comes from his gifted fingers.  Each sonata is a world in itself and submerges us into a wide range of emotions which sometimes contradict, and other complement each other. The subtlety of the beginning of K.206 quickly gives way to an expression of force and agony, and the octaves of the left hand are thoroughly dramatic. 

Always looking for excellence, Debargue’s performance comes from the heart. It is exactly this sincerity in playing that makes him so controversial and so attractive. He’s constantly chasing renovation which in its unpredictable, unexpected playing sometimes even confusing, but always surprising. His playful side is very prominent and goes hand in hand with the very present experimental dimension. He experiments with music, tries new approaches, and reinvents the interpretations up to the point that we might have the false feeling of improvisation. 

Awarded at the Tchaikovsky Competition for “the pianist whose incredible gift, artistic vision and creative freedom have impressed the critics as well as the audience”, What sets Lucas Debargue apart from other pianists is his personality which is clear in each of his performances. The pianist imposes himself to the music, doming it with artistry and making us participants of his genial creations.

– Paul Thomas

Scarlatti – 52 sonatas
Lucas Debargue
Domenico Scarlatti
CD 1
1. Sonata K. 206 E major – Andante
2. Sonata K. 531 E major – Allegro
3. Sonata K. 404 A major – Andante
4. Sonata K. 405 A major – Allegro
5. Sonata K. 447 F-sharp minor – Allegro
6. Sonata K. 25 F-sharp minor – Allegro
7. Sonata K. 343 A major – Allegro andante
8. Sonata K. 113 A major – Allegro
9. Sonata K. 258 D major – Andante
10. Sonata K. 214 D major – Allegro vivo
11. Sonata K. 211 A major – Andantino
12. Sonata K. 212 A major – Allegro molto
13. Sonata K. 109 A minor – Adagio
CD 2
1. Sonata K. 6 F major – Allegro
2. Sonata K. 268 A major – Allegro
3. Sonata K. 443 D major – Allegro
4. Sonata K. 45 D major – Allegro
5. Sonata K. 27 B minor – Allegro
6. Sonata K. 244 B major – Allegro
7. Sonata K. 105 G major – Allegro
8. Sonata K. 260 G major – Allegro
9. Sonata K. 491 D major – Allegro
10. Sonata K. 414 D major – Allegro
11. Sonata K. 534 D major – Cantabile
12. Sonata K. 535 D major – Allegro
13. Sonata K. 32 D minor – Aria
CD 3
1. K 431 G major – Allegro
2. K 125 G major – Vivo
3. K 308 C major – Cantabile
4. K 461 C major – Allegro
5. K 196 G minor – Allegro
6. K 477 G major – Allegrissimo
7. K 115 C minor – Allegro
8. K 526 C minor – Allegro comodo
9. K 462 F minor – Andante
10. K 438 F major – Allegro
11. K 106 F major – Allegro
12. K 107 F major – Allegro
13. K 69 F minor
CD 4
1. K 468 F major – Allegro
2. K 469 F major – Allegro molto
3. K 302 C minor – Andante
4. K 242 C major – Vivo
5. K 521 G major – Allegro
6. K 14 G major – Presto
7. K 474 E-flat major – Andante cantabile
8. K 253 E-flat major – Allegro
9. K 172 B-flat major – Allegro
10. K 545 B-flat major – Prestissimo
11. K 192 E-flat major – Allegro
12. K 193 E-flat major – Allegro
13. K 247 C-sharp minor – Allegro

Alicia de Larrocha

Top Classical June 30, 2021

Alicia de Larrocha

Pure humanity and sensitivity

Top Classical, June 2021
September 25th 2019, was the tenth anniversary of the death of the great pianist, one of the most admired and recognized of the twentieth century. The artist Alicia de Larrocha has been one of the most exalted figures of piano performance of the twentieth century. With an extensive and fruitful career, which led her to travel the world, the Catalan pianist has been a model in terms of refinement and interpretive honesty. 

Born in Barcelona in 1923 Alicia de Larrocha gave her first recital at the age of six and she made his orchestral debut in 1934, when he was eleven, at the Palau de la Música, playing Mozart.  

During the three years of the Spanish Civil War, She took advantage of the time break on her career to study new works and to compose some pieces. According to her disciple Marta Zabaleta, Alicia de Larrocha began composing at the age of six and continued to compose throughout her life: “We are amused by how well done her works are. Hadn’t she been as successful as a pianist, she might have make it as a composer. We’d never know. ” 

In 1953 Alicia made her debut in London and two years later jumped to the United States, where her career continued uninterrupted until the end.  At the age of eighty she decided to make one last farewell tour to say goodbye to her audience. However, she carried on playing until her death, at the age of eighty-six. The distinctions and awards received throughout her long career were innumerable, but she always believed them undeserved and thanked them full of humility. She was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (Madrid, 1982), the Fundación Guerrero de Música Española prize (Madrid, 1999) and UNESCO (Paris, 1995) among many other distinctions. 

Her repertoire was extensive, not only Spanish, but also Central European: Schumann, Mozart, Beethoven and the Impressionists Ravel, Debussy, Fauré… But it has her interpretation of Albéniz’s Iberian Suite, was made her an internationally recognized pianist. She gave to the piece a fully new dimension, although she always had small hands for a score that required a remarkable extension of the fingers. Sitting at the grand piano she looked like a lost girl, but as soon as she started playing, she transformed herself in the extraordinarily mature artist who was never allowed the slightest concession.  

Her interpretation was something natural, as if she was touched by the gift of grace to bring scores to life in the most exquisite and refined way. 

Alicia de Larrocha was born to play the piano and beautify the world with her music, leaving an extraordinary legacy for the history of music.

Dance With Me

Top Classical June 25, 2021

Dance With Me

June 2021
Step onto the dance floor of musical enchantment as Barbara Hannigan and the Ludwig Orchestra deliver a spellbinding performance in their album “Dance With Me.” Unearthing the roots of this album, we venture back to a serendipitous night during the Ludwig Orchestra’s tour in Birmingham, England. There, the orchestra’s visionary director, Peppie Wiersma, stumbled upon a bustling club where a jubilant crowd was swaying to the rhythm of ballroom dances. Inspired by the effervescence and jubilation of the moment, Wiersma ventured into a trove of dance band charts, which ultimately sparked the genesis of this vibrant collection.

With each of the twelve tracks pulsating with life, the Ludwig Orchestra deftly navigates beyond the confines of their ‘traditional’ repertoire, relishing in the joy of exploring these varied dance tunes from the twentieth century. In a musical landscape often cluttered with classical musicians attempting ‘popular’ renditions with stilted precision, this ensemble defies convention, seamlessly integrating themselves into the essence of each piece.

Barbara Hannigan, the ever-versatile soprano, emerges as the true chameleon of the album, embodying every nuance and emotion of the diverse repertoire. Her rendition of “Moonlight Serenade” exudes a beguiling naiveté, transporting listeners to a dreamy realm. Meanwhile, the sultry performance of Weill’s “Youkali” places us at the heart of a smoky Berlin cabaret, each note laden with emotion.

While some may have yearned to hear Hannigan’s take on the iconic “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow, they are instead treated to the tantalizing trumpet of Lucienne Rénaudin-Vary in Greg Anthony Rassens’ intoxicating salsa arrangement. A fusion of Broadway roots and Viennese waltz sophistication awaits in Bill Elliott’s enchanting rendition of “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady.”

As the album culminates with Leo Artok’s arrangement of Elgar’s “Salut d’amour,” we bid farewell to this captivating journey, left with imagery of contented dancers departing the hall, wrapped in the tender glow of shared memories.

In its relatively concise 46-minute duration, “Dance With Me” may leave fans craving more, but the quality of the performances compensates for any brevity. Hannigan admirers will undoubtedly cherish this release, even though her vocals grace just four of the twelve tracks. A healing balm for the soul, this album dismisses the artificial distinctions of ‘classical’ versus ‘popular’ or ‘serious’ versus ‘light,’ championing the only crucial separation – ‘good’ music versus ‘bad.’ And with its contagious energy and extraordinary artistry, “Dance With Me” unequivocally stands as an exemplar of ‘good’ music.

 “Dance With Me” is an exuberant and intoxicating musical endeavor, bringing together the incomparable talents of Barbara Hannigan and the Ludwig Orchestra. It not only celebrates the essence of dance but also underscores the resplendent power of music to infuse joy into our lives. With its infectious energy and impeccable performances, the album deserves wholehearted recommendations. As the final note fades, we can only hope for a future encore, eagerly awaiting their next collaborative masterpiece.

Gina Bachauer Competition

Top Classical June 6, 2021

Gina Bachauer Competition

The quest beyond perfection

Top Classical, June 2021
In 1976 the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition was founded in Salt Lake City in honour of the famous pianist. It attracts young pianists from all over the world each year. Today is the second largest piano competition in the United States and it’s housed in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.   

Founded by Dr. Paul Pollei as Brigham Young University’s Summer Piano Festival and international piano competition, the event became the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation (GBIP) after it experienced growth and success under the patronage of the Utah Symphony.  

 As an independent organization, it is now known worldwide for its dedication to “further the pianistic art, foster excellence in performance and teaching, develop opportunities for pianists beyond the scope of the organization and offer leadership in developing a musically-educated citizenry.”  The GBIP prides itself for being more than just a piano competition but a mean of education, outreach, and opportunity. 

More than 1,000 pianists have competed in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competitions and cash prizes totaling more than $300,000 have been awarded. The competition is renowned for launching the careers of duo-pianists Gail Niwa and Lori Sims. 

The competition is wiedely known to be one of the most exigent in terms of musical abilitites. Some of the past contestants claim that “It’s very difficult to qualify. You have to be insanely good. Then the competition begins.” 

Historically, the last three rounds all take place over a three-week period in Salt Lake City, which presents a bit of accommodation problem for foreign competitors. 

All of the participants come from out of town and very few hotel rooms have grand pianos. So the foundation that runs the competition asks for volunteers who own grand pianos to share their homes with one of the competitors for 2-3 weeks. 

For the 2020 the Young Artists International Piano Competition prepared to feature 27 pianists ages 15-18.These young international pianists had to be given two Solo Round performances in Salt Lake City’s Rose Wagner Center. Five finalists would have then performed a concerto movement with the Utah Symphony in Abravanel Hall in their quest for medals and a share of $62,000 in cash prizes.  

Kary Billings, Bachauer’s executive director was thrilled with the level of the contestants: “The kids at this level are amazing. They have selected some of the most technically difficult and musically brilliant works from the piano literature that would be found in competition categories for adults. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that these young musicians will blow your mind.” 

Unfortunately, given the current circumstances, the 2020 Gina Bachauer Junior and Young Artists International Piano Competitions had to be cancelled, with the hope to be rescheduled for this June. 

Trinity College

Top Classical June 5, 2021

Trinity College

Where tradition and innovation meet

Top Classical, June 2021
On a Friday 15th June 1877, 1,118 candidates took the first external Trinity exams. Today’s music graduate exams are direct descendants of those first. 

Trinity’s institutional origins date back to 1872, when the College was created “for the advancement of Church music and the improvement of its musicians.” Trinity’s founder, Henry George Bonavia Hunt, was born in 1847. While still a law student at the London Temple, Bonavia Hunt assembled a group of influential musicians from the Church of England to establish a place for training and practice in choral and instrumental music. Trinity introduced a system of local examinations, first in theory and from 1879 in instrumental and vocal music and finally establishing the current structure of ATCL, LTCL and FTCL, which remains the “industry standard” to this day. 

40 years before married women over 30 could vote in Britain, Trinity decided that public examinations, originally only open to male members of the Church of England, should be open to all, whether men or women, college students or not. Therefore, on November 23, 1878, it was decided “that for the future, the ladies can enter for the higher TCL exams.” 

In 2005, Trinity College of Music and Laban, leading centers of music and contemporary dance, came together to form Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, becoming the UK’s first ever conservatoire of music and dance. This unique and innovative conjunction has created exciting opportunities for collaboration between instrumentalists, singers, composers, dancers and choreographers. The Faculty of Music is celebrated for its fine facilities, which include state-of-the-art practice rooms, the Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts well equipped concert halls in nearby Blackheath.  

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Overall, the student’s opinion about the college is very favorable. “Everyone is so lovely and welcoming it would be hard to not feel at home right away”, said a third year Student. However, some point out some problems with Student accommodation which is not the best, but it isn’t actually run by Trinity Laban.  

To finish with, about the courses, the general reaction is very good. When asked, one of the students reported: “In first year, some of the lessons are a bit pointless and feel like a waste of time, but from year two onwards they have improved a lot. The contact hours and one-to-one teaching mean you get more for your money than at a traditional university.” 

The historical prestige that Trinity has achieved continues in force these days and the values and ideals of their founders are already very present in each course and in every student who is admitted.

Beethoven Piano Trios

Top Classical May 26, 2021

Beethoven Piano Trios

May 2021
Beethoven wrote six trios for piano, violin, and cello. The first three are grouped in Op.1 (composed between twenty-three and twenty-five years), the next two in Op.70 (from 1808) and Op.97 Archduke, whose first version, from 1811, was revised two years later.

The music was written for a virtuoso pianist whose talents would push his string-playing colleagues to new heights of brilliance. This performance convenes musicians just as special. Daniel Barenboim – named by Fortune Magazine as one of ‘The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ – is joined by his violinist son Michael and the cellist Kian Soltani, both former members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. 

This album from Deutsche Grammophon, was recorded in Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, with the sound that fills the concert hall but at the same time creates the feeling of an intimate dialog between Barenboim, his son Michael, and cellist Kian Soltani.

To bring Beethoven’s opulent score to life, Daniel Barenboim’s lifetime’s experience not only in playing and conducting Beethoven, but in thinking and rethinking about this music, definitely makes the difference. The directs the operation with great musical depth, providing a prodigious catalogue of nuances, his stylistic purity and a prodigious chiaroscuro.  The understanding between the three musicians is absolute because each of them listen to each other, making authentic chamber music, listening, encouraging, and responding as equals.

The syncopated exchange between Michael Barenboim and Soltani is especially remarkable in the sixth variation of on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu and the nonchalant two-part writing, again between violin and cello, in the seventh. Soltani’s combination of the moving and commanding is notable. Throughout, detail and a sense of whole can be found in a perfect harmony. 

As a result, there’s a marvellous ensemble, which catches the essence of Beethoven’s compositions and keeps a sense of spontaneity. A rightfully popular Beethoven release, which would be cherished by classical music lovers. Highly recommended.

– David Smith

Beethoven: Piano Trios
Daniel Barenboim · Michael Barenboim · Kian Soltani
CD1
Ludwig van Beethoven
1. Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1: I. Allegro
2. Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1: II. Adagio cantabile
3. Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1: III. Scherzo. Allegro assai
4. Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1: IV. Finale. Presto
5. Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2: I. Adagio – Allegro vivace
6. Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2: II. Largo con espressione
7. Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2: III. Scherzo. Allegro
8. Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2: IV. Finale. Presto

CD2
Ludwig van Beethoven
1. Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3: I. Allegro con brio
2. Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3: II. Andante cantabile con variazioni
3. Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3: III. Menueto. Quasi allegro
4. Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3: IV. Finale. Prestissimo
5. Piano Trio No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 97 “Archduke”: I. Allegro moderato
6. Piano Trio No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 97 “Archduke”: II. Scherzo. Allegro
7. Piano Trio No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 97 “Archduke”: III. Andante cantabile, ma però con moto – Poco più adagio
8. Piano Trio No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 97 “Archduke”: IV. Allegro moderato

CD3
Ludwig van Beethoven
1. Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 “Geistertrio”: I. Allegrovivace e con brio
2. Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 “Geistertrio”: II. Largo assai ed espressivo
3. Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 “Geistertrio”: III. Presto
4. Piano Trio in E- Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2: I. Poco sostenuto – Allegro ma non troppo
5. Piano Trio in E- Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2: II. Allegretto
6. Piano Trio in E- Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2: III. Allegretto ma non troppo
7. Piano Trio in E- Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2: IV. Finale. Allegro
8. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Introduction. Adagio assai
9. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Theme. Allegretto
10. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var. I
11. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var II
12. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var III
13. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var IV
14. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var V
15. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var VI
16. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var VII
17. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var VIII
18. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var IX. Adagio espressivo
19. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Var XI. Presto
20. Piano Trio No. 11 in G Major, Op. 121a, 10 variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”: Coda. Allegretto

The Teatro Colon

Top Classical May 20, 2021

The Teatro Colon

When acoustics can’t be closer to perfection

Top Classical, May 2021
This imposing building was inaugurated on May 25, 1908 with the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi. Its great acoustics and construction have been witnesses of countless interpretations starring the most famous artists in the opera world throughout more than 100 years of existence.  

The construction of the theater took 20 years. Originally, the dome of the main hall was painted by Marcel Jambon, a French artist. The paintings were made in his atelier in Paris and depicted the god Apollo on a chariot drawn by four white steeds. That painting lasted until 1930s and in wasn’t until mid-1960s, when the dome was finally repainted. Raúl Soldi was then commissioned to decorate the dome. His work, made up of sixteen canvases covering 320 square meters, was originally made on the 11th floor of the San Martín Theater and placed on the Colón dome with a 30-meter scaffold. For its premiere, the theater authorities chose to represent “Aida”, by Giuseppe Verdi. The opera was a disaster. But a disaster on purpose: at that time, it was believed that opening a theater could attract bad luck, so the people in charge of the performance where nonprofessionals and the opening show was reported to be horrible. 

Former Argentinian President Marcelo T. de Alvear was determinate of imposing strict punctuality at the Colón. Apparently, Alvear was a regular at the theater. Until 1926, the public was not very punctual, which upset the President. So, to solve the problem, Alvear decided to stare before through his binoculars, whoever was late when they entered to the theater. Other spectators followed suit, disturbing the latecomers. And surprisingly this trick worked and changed the audience’s bad habit. 

The most famous artists have made their appearances in Teatro Colon, such as Luciano Pavarotti in 1987 with La Bohème, or Martha Argerich in 1969 and José Carreras in 1973 in La Traviata. We could also highlight the concert of the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau with the National Symphony Orchestra of 1965, the opera Carmen with the notable voices of Grace Bumbry and Jon Vickers from the 1968 season, Monserrat Caballé’s first appearance with the opera Turandot in 1965 and the debut of the Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus in the opera La Favorita in 1967. 

Between 2003 and 2010, the Colón was restored. 1500 people and $ 340 million were needed to finish the works. The greater challenge was preserving the acoustics, considered one of the best in the world. To reduce the risk of failing a private function was organized, prior to its reopening to the public on May 13, 2010, to make sure the acoustics have been entirely preserved. Luckily for its restorers, it was a resounding success. 

After almost one year closed due to the Corona pandemic, The Teatro Colón experienced this Saturday January 30th 2021 an unusual premiere. For the first time in its history, one of the best opera houses in the world began to function as an auxiliary space for the health system to collaborate in the fight against the pandemic. We hope that this majestic theater will soon recover its prominent place in the classical music world and will be able to host again the most phenomenal operas with the best international elite artist.

Yehudi Menuhin

Top Classical May 14, 2021

Yehudi Menuhin

Much more than a great musician

Top Classical, May 2021
Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York on April 22, 1916, beginning to study violin at the age of four with Sigmund Anker in San Francisco, his first teacher; and made his debut at age 7, with the Spanish Symphony. His presentation in New York at the age of 10 was a resounding success that led to his debut in Europe in 1927. In November of that same year, he presented Beethoven’s Concerto for violin opus 61 under the baton of Fritz Busch in New York, becoming the spotlight of the main newspapers in the country. He quickly arranged concert tours of the United States, Berlin (1928) and London (1929). He played around 500 concerts to servicemen and wounded soldiers throughout the Second World War and travelled to Belsen in July 1945 to play for survivors.  

Spanning seven decades, the American violinist’s career is one of the most spectacular of our time. He has performed the main international stages, first as a violinist an then also as conductor, together with the best soloists and orchestral formations. 

He founded the international Menuhin Competition and the UK’s Yehudi Menuhin School to support the next generation. When he died in Berlin in 1999 on a conducting tour, it was one of his protégés, Daniel Hope, who was the soloist; other starry alumnae of the school include violinists Nigel Kennedy, Nicola Benedetti and Alina Ibragimova. 

Yehudi Menuhin was a full teacher, not only in his musical dimension but also as a humanitarian role model. Very few would argue that he is an example to follow. 

His unparalleled talent is unarguable, but it’s especially laudable his work in the field of pedagogy, for his fight for humanitarian causes, and for his use of music as tool to improve people’s life through the promotion of values of tolerance and against discrimination. He never stopped fighting for music, peace and coexistence among men and women.   

In 1992, he promoted the establishment of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, to promote social integration of disadvantaged children through artistic activities and the defense of the rights of cultural minorities. The Foundation also had the aim to create international cooperation networks in the fields of education and culture. In January 2003, the Yehudi Menuhin Spain Foundation was awarded the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Social Solidarity, imposed by H.M. The Queen.