|
| Bi-Monthly editorial | ||
|
September and October 2006 [2006-11-05] My summer vacation ended on the 9th of September with a chamber music concert in Brussels. The program was Beethoven Folksongs with Swedish musicians with whom I often perform chamber music, pianist Love Dewinger, violinist Christian Berqvist and cellist Daniel Blendulf. Beethoven arranged for piano trio and voice folksongs from many different European countries and regions. We performed songs from Scotland, Spain, Tyrol, Russia, Sweden, and Venice. They fit well in this city of the European Union. I suppose I should explain that we performed a series of mini concerts in one evening rather than one concert. It was a very innovative concept which was greatly enhanced by the warm and clear weather that we were so lucky to have had. It was not the usual Brussels’ weather. We were in a park where three different stages had been set up and there were three different concerts going on every 45 minutes. Each program lasted 20 minutes and we performed it four times during the evening. The audience was able to go from one stage to another and enjoy all of the concerts as many times as they wanted to. We were in a very nice part of the park and the trees that lined the space for the audience made for a very cozy setting for us. The audiences were very attentive and appreciative. At the end of the evening all of the artists met on one stage at midnight for a finale. I sang the duet from Don Giovanni with my good friend Jose Van Dam who had been performing on one of the other stages. It was a pleasurable way for those who might not feel comfortable enough to go into concert halls to have access to good classical music. I absolutely insist that in concerts of this kind “popular concerts” that the repertoire must be of the same high quality as I would have in my programs in a concert hall. So it is not easy to find pieces that can withstand the distractions of the outdoors but these folksongs of Beethoven were a good choice and the quiet Swedish Lullaby was a big hit. Good friends that came by included the European Union Commissioner from Sweden, Margot Wahlström. I later did a mini tour in Poland. I was in Poznan and Krakow. It was still beautiful late summer weather and I enjoyed very much singing with the orchestras in both cities. The first concert was an all Mozart affair and highlighted young members of the Poznan Opera in the first half of the concert. I found this a good idea since it gave the audience the opportunity to discover new local talents in the end of this Mozart year. Krakow is a very beautiful city and the theme of this year’s Sacrum Profanum Festival was French music. I was impressed with the ambitious and interesting program of the entire festival. My program was one of my favorite and most frequently performed orchestral pieces, Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’été. I spent a lovely, sunny and warm weekend with my husband at the Gothenburg Book Fair. This year’s theme of Freedom of Expression, organized in cooperation with IPA (the International Publishers Association) and PEN, was interwoven throughout the Book Fair. I am happy to note that it is a theme that in the future will continue to play a prominent role at the Book Fair. I was invited by the Swedish PEN to speak during one of their many forums about the Asylum Tribunal that took place last spring in Stockholm at the Stadsteatern in which I was a member of the jury. There were many interesting authors whom I managed to hear speak about their books and the subject of Freedom of Expression. I listened to my friend Henning Mankell introduce his latest book as well as some of numerous non Nordic authors who were present such as Michel Onfray, Ayaan Ali Hirsi, and Khadra Yasmin. The brave Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya cancelled at the last minute. She was assassinated in the elevator of her apartment in Moscow shortly afterwards. One of the events of these last two months that have made want to scream. October found me in France for a jazz concert with Magnus Lindgren and the quartet in Toulouse. Afterwards I went by train to Marseille to spend some time listening to young professional singers at CNIPAL. I was very happy with the high level of my young colleagues and spoke to them about my life as an artist and as a woman. I spoke about my teacher Jennie Tourel, trying to find the right balance between family, children and work, the passion I have for my art and the responsibility that I feel as a citizen of this world. The time passed very quickly and I enjoyed it very much. I then took the TGV up to Paris. Love Derwinger and I had three recitals and the first two were in France. We began in Epernay and since this is in Champagne country there were a few bottles of champagne waiting in my dressing room. This was a very intimate concert in a very beautiful theater which has just been renovated. Two days later we went to St Germain en Laye. Our concert was a part of a Festival where ours was the only classical concert. Festival "Estival", http://www.lestival.net, offers music as well as humanitarian action. This year the festival is supporting the work of the association «LES ENFANTS DE MISSION-TOVÉ». The audience were warm and gave us a standing ovation at the end of the concert. We later ate a delicious dinner at a local restaurant with friends and enthusiastic representatives and volunteers from the festival. We spent the weekend in Paris before going on to Lisbon. Love wanted to work so I had a lazy morning and decided to go to the see a film with a close friend. When I lived in Paris this was one my major pastimes, going to see films sometimes as much as two or three times a week. This is a habit that I had developed as a student in New York City. We went to see the film AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, presented by Al Gore. The film offers a passionate and inspirational look at the ex vice president’s fervent crusade to halt deadly progress of global warming in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. It was quite scary to see how fast we are losing the great glaciers of the world. We must do something now, each and every one of us. First we must stop our own waste and give up our dependence on fossil fuels. I am all for a heavy tax on air travel even though I am forced to travel by plane. I will only travel for business and only if I can not find a viable alternative. As I said in my last newsletter I absolutely dislike airports which have become oversized shopping centers that force us to stress and run from one plane to another. Awful places. By the way where was this natural and even humorous Al Gore during the 2000 election? Lisbon is one of my favorite cities, it is beautiful, has a special light and of course, fado. This music touches me deeply and this has been the case since the first time I heard it. We ate lunch at a fish restaurant on the outskirts of town and then went to rehearse at the Gulbenkian Hall for an early 19:00 concert. The audience was great and we enjoyed very much the concert. Afterwards we were off to some dinner and to hear some good fado with some interesting young artists. I went on Switzerland where I have lived with my family for twenty years now to spend some time with my son and my daughter who was home from university in London for a week’s holiday. Some of the events that make me want to scream!!!!!
ARTE VERUM Canciones Espagnols September release in Poland and Belgium, end of October release in France and coming up will be Spain and Germany. This is very exciting for me and fun. Next month I will be recording Mélodies of Francis Poulenc that I have been singing during the years so I am preparing for my recording. December recording with the Drottningholm’s Baroque Ensemble of Handel and Purcell arias and songs. Until the end of the year I send you my warmest wishes, BH PS: I am also preparing for the world première of Fyra Kärlekssangar (Four Love songs) poems of Niklas Radström composed for me and the Jonköping Orchestra in Sweden by the Swedish composer Johan Hammerth. This will take place the first week of Dec so I still have month to finish learning it. Let’s see what the month of November and December shall bring us. |
||
|
< Back |
||