|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mad Songs
|
|
|
April 15, 19:00
MMDM Chamber Hall 
 The featuring of mad characters on the English stage can be traced as far back as the first dramatic performances in the Elizabethan Age, and more predominantly throughout the seventeenth century. Theatrical insanity reflects the Renaissance attraction and interest in melancholy and mental illnesses, and becomes an arena where tortured psyches interact and express themselves. Madness seems somehow related to music in the Elizabethan and Jacobean drama as part of this more generalised interest, but the reformed Restoration stage is to recall this tradition and develop it into a completely new musical achievement: the mad song. The mad song became a favored genre amongst Restoration composers, who delighted in setting their imaginations free to write inventive and impassioned music for the eloquently rambling flights of fancy of men smitten by madness, most usually caused by the bitter darts of love. This works of art offer rich texts and wild melodies that are not only entertaining, but also enlightening of the musical and psychological habits of the time.
During the evening Yulia Mikkonen (mezzo-soprano, Austria), Olga Philippova (harpsichord), Marina Katarzhnova (baroque violin) and Avgust Krepak (baroque cello) will perform English theatre songs from period of Restoration - a delightful collection of songs from 17th century British composers: Purcell, Eccles, Dowland and also Schmelzer, Biber, Froberger etc.
Henry Purcell was an English composer. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Benjamin Britten in the 20th century. The 1973 Rolling Stone review of Jethro Tull's A Passion Play compared the musical style of the album with the one of Purcell. In 2009 Pete Townshend of The Who, an English rock band that established itself in the 1960s, identified Purcell's harmonies, particularly the use of suspension and resolution that Townshend had learned from producer Kit Lambert, as an influence on the band's music (in songs such as "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971), "I Can See for Miles" (1967) and the very Purcellian intro to "Pinball Wizard"). The processional section from Purcell's "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary" was adapted for the synthesiser by Wendy Carlos to serve as the theme music for the 1971 film "A Clockwork Orange"; the music is also featured in the final scene of the 1995 film "The Young Poisoner's Handbook". In the 21st century, the 2012 film "Moonrise Kingdom" contains Benjamin Britten's version of the "Rondeau" in Purcell's "Abdelazar" created for his 1946 "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra". In 2013, the Pet Shop Boys released their single "Love Is a Bourgeois Construct" incorporating one of the same ground basses from "King Arthur" used by Nyman in his "Draughtsman's Contract" score.
John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" (the basis of Benjamin Britten's 1963 composition for guitar solo, Nocturnal after John Dowland), "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and with the 20th century's early music revival, has been a continuing source of repertoire for lutenists and classical guitarists.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer was an Austrian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. Schmelzer was one of the most important violinists of the period, and an important influence on later German and Austrian composers for violin. He made substantial contributions to the development of violin technique and promoted the use and development of sonata and suite forms in Austria and South Germany. He was the leading Austrian composer of his generation, and an influence on Heinrich Ignaz Biber.
Yulia Mikkonen - mezzo-soprano, artistic director (ensemble Bach-consort). Moscow-born, and currently based in Vienna, Yulia studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory at diploma and postgraduate levels with famous Russian choral conductor prof. Agafonnikov, specialising in choral conducting and vocal performance. Since 1998, Yulia has taught choral conducting, vocal ensemble and musical arrangement at Gnessin’s Music Academy in Moscow. In 2007 she founded the early music ensemble Bach-consort (Moscow). In 2009-10 she completed her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Anthony Rooley and Evelyn Tubb as a consort singer, specialising in Renaissance vocal polyphony, and has since been involved in several concert and recording projects with various European ensembles such as Ars Moriendi, Insula Magica, Theatre of the Ears and Opfermusik. Yulia is a regular member of the international Renaissance vocal ensemble Basiliensis. As a soloist she performs a very wide range of the Renaissance and barock repertoire from Landini to Handel. Masterclasses: Ute von Garczynski, Kai Wessel, Deborah York, Jennifer Smith, Maurice van Lieshout.
Harpsichordist Olga Filippova has received double education at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory - first as a musicologist under Professor Yuri N. Kholopov and then as a performer on historical keyboard instruments under Docent Olga Martynova. After graduation, she also took a postgraduate course in musicology at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and in harpsichord under Prof. Wolfgang Glüxam at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. As a historical keyboards' player she trained at numerous international workshops including those by Jasper Christensen, Andreas Staier, Patrick Ayrton, Christopher Stembridge, Maria Leonhardt, Rachel Podger, Davitt Moroney, Kris Verhelst, Bart van Oort and many more. She was a participant and prize winner of a number of International competitions, and in 2011 she received in ensemble with Maria Grokhotova (baroque violin) R. Weichlein Prize for the advancement of Austrian baroque music at one of the most significant early music competitions - Biber International Competition in St Florian, Austria.
Marina Katarzhnova (violin) was born in Shebekino in the Belgorod Region. In 1990–97 she studied at the Moscow Special Music School in the class of N. M. Fichtenholz. She went on to study at the Moscow Conservatory, including postgraduate studies, and took part in many master classes with Lucy van Dael Marie Leonhardt and Roger Norrington. Marina is a very active concert performer, both as soloist and in ensembles. Her repertoire includes music of the early baroque and contemporary music. She has played at many festivals, such as the Sviatoslav Richter December Nights in Moscow, the Lange Nacht der Musik in Vienna and Earlymusic in St. Petersburg. Over the years 2003-17 she has performed with the orchestra Pratum Integrum, specialising in early music. Marina also teaches. Since 2007 she has taught the baroque violin class at the Faculty of Historical and Contemporary Performing Art at the Moscow Conservatory.
Avgust Krepak (cello) was born in Moscow in 1979, from 1986 to 1998 he had studied cello playing at the of Gnesins School, in 1998 he entered the Moscow Conservatory and graduated in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, he had been trained at the Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway. Back in Moscow, he took the post-graduate courses at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Pavel Serbin, under whose leadership he began playing the baroque cello. Since 2007 he has been an invited cellist of the Pratum Integrum (the orchestra of historical instruments). He regularly participates in early music concerts in various ensembles as a chamber musician and a soloist. Since 2010, he plays a Tyrolean cello of the XVIII century.
More info
|
|
|
|
|
The virtual community for English speaking expats and Russians
