Novice, članki in odmevi ...
DIALOGUES
Concert in Koper, Slovenia
http://washington.veleposlanistvo.si/fileadmin/user_upload/dkp_51_vwa/newsletter/2014/Newsletter_18-04-2014_final.pdf
Earlier that day, a parallel concert took place in Slovenia, climaxing a week-long program of musical events in conjunction with The Koper’s Music School’s Biennale Contemporary Music Festival. The New York concert, sponsored by CITE Arts NY, began with an impassioned performance of Matej Bonin’s CHANT for saxophone and percussion. Next, Demetrius Spaneas performed Uroš Rojko’s innovative work for halfclarinet, entitled Monologue for a Fallen Angel. Sandra Sprecher and Tanya Kalmanovitch then joined Spaneas for an excerpt from Larisa Vrhunc’s haunting Fabula. The first half ended with Sprecher’s virtuosic rendition of Rojko’s Škržati (Cicadas), invoking a universe of chirping insects. The second half of the program featured the American composers, all of whom incorporated multimedia elements. Sandra Sprecher’s Screaming Forests (music, video, and live improvisation) was an intense exploration of the impact of ecological dislocation. Tanya Kalmanovitch followed with a longing solo improvisation on viola, exploring intimate and soulful spaces. Stuart Diamond’s Five Bagatelles wove poetic video imagery, background audio tracks, and live electronic wind synthesizer playing into an evocative multimedia work. (One of the movements incorporated the actual bell sounds from the Koper cathedral in Slovenia.)
The concert concluded with the ensemble performing the premiere of Demetrius Spaneas’s After Calder, a memorable epilogue inspired by the mobiles of Alexander Calder. The concert title, “Dialogues,” was appropriate as the performances represented music from a variety of perspectives and aesthetics – from compositions steeped in the great European legacies to American post-modernism – from austere complexity to gentle simplicity. The audience response was significant. One member, an established musician from Estonia, found the concert thrilling – a demonstration of just how exciting and vibrant the New York new music scene is – presenting music that could embrace such an exciting variety of styles in one program.
Back in Slovenia, the students of The Koper Music School performed the works of Bonin, Diamond, Spaneas, and Sprecher, as well as several Slovenian composers: Zala Zade, Erik Kačinar, and Nastasja Ušumović, an important demonstration of the role that The Koper Music School and other music schools throughout Slovenia play in the development of art and culture, both in the present and for the future. The Festival was curated by Tatjana Jercog. The Koper Music School’s director is Iztok Babnik. Overall, the concerts in New York and Slovenia gave significant exposure, in live performance and online, of the music of an eclectic mix of Slovene and American composers. All parties involved were excited by the end results and look forward to continuing the “Dialogues.”