the genocidal terrorism that the State of Israel has
been exercising against the Palestinian People.
March 8th is International Women's Day
International Women's Day (formerly known as International Working Women's Day) commemorates, every March 8th, the struggle of women for their participation in society and their full development as individuals, on an equal footing with men. The numeronym "8-M" is also used to refer to this commemoration, alluding to the day and month in which it is observed. Although we strive to give women equal treatment throughout the year, which is often not easy (especially when it comes to orchestra conductors, since only 10% of conductors worldwide are women), on International Women's Day we have sought to give them preferential and almost exclusive attention as a denunciation of the apartheid they have suffered throughout the centuries in the world of music and which, unfortunately, continues to be suffered in many places and human activities.
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Bianca Maria Meda (1665-1700) was an Italian Benedictine nun and composer. No mention of her life has yet been found; only her name appears for the first time in 1677 in the documents of the Benedictine convent of San Martino del Leano in Pavia . She would have been 16 years old, the age at which, according to the custom of the time, young women entered convents. When she was about 30, according to previous assumptions (1691), she published her only known compositions: " Mottetti a 1, 2, 3, e 4 voci" (Mottetti for 1, 2, 3, and 4 voices ). With this collection, Meda became one of the few nun-composers in Italy to have her work printed in the 17th century ; only Isabella Leonarda , an Ursuline nun from Novara , followed her.
Cappella Artemisia is an Italian all-female vocal group specializing in the music of 17th-century Italian convents. The group was founded by Candace Smith, an American singer and musicologist who resides in Italy . Smith also co-publishes this music with her husband, cornetist Bruce Dickey , through Artemisia Editions . The group's primary repertoire focuses on the works of the nuns themselves; however, the ensemble also performs pieces by male composers—some monks, some laymen—who dedicated works to convents.
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was a French composer, pianist, and teacher. She studied piano with Anne Soria , then with Antoine Reicha , a professor at the Paris Conservatory , who taught her musical notation (harmony and counterpoint), and later with Ignaz Moscheles and Johann Nepomuk Hummel . Farrenc taught piano at the Paris Conservatory , where she eventually received equal pay to her male colleagues. She was also supported by leading musicians of her time, such as the violinist Joseph Joachim , and twice received the Prix Chartier from the Institut de France , awarded for the best chamber music compositions, in 1861 and 1869. She died on September 15, 1875, and was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery.
Catalogue of the works of Farrenc . His works are classified by their Opus number (from the Latin opus 'work'), a term used in music to catalog the works of most composers. Since the 17th century , this form of cataloging has been used whenever a work is published, with the word Opus , or its abbreviation Op ., preceding the work's number.
Piano Quintet No. 1. Of the two piano quintets that Farrenc wrote, today we have the pleasure of presenting the third movement of No. 1, Scherzo. Presto, written in A minor and in triple meter (A_B_A) , with a " Trio " section (B) in A major. Composed between 1839 and 1842, this four-movement piece is scored for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. The section we present today is a very lively, fast, and energetic movement ("presto") , with dynamic exchanges between the piano and strings. This movement stands out for its rhythmic brilliance and the virtuosic balance between piano and strings. It is a clear example of Farrenc 's talent for combining instrumental virtuosity with classical structure and romantic expressiveness.
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847) was a composer and pianist of the early Romantic period (1810–1910). Her compositions include a piano trio, a piano quartet, an orchestral overture, four cantatas, over 125 piano pieces, and more than 250 lieder, most of which were published posthumously. Although praised for her piano playing, she rarely gave public concerts. Fanny grew up in Berlin where, along with her younger brother, Felix Mendelssohn , she received a comprehensive musical education from teachers such as Ludwig Berger and Carl Friedrich Zelter . Due to the social status of women at the time, several of her works were published under her brother's name in his Opus 8 and 9 collections.
A nocturne is a piece of vocal or instrumental music with a sweet melody and free structure. The term "nocturne" was initially used in the 18th century to refer to a piece played intermittently, usually at evening parties, and then set aside. In its most common form (that is, as a single-movement piece generally written for solo piano), the genre was cultivated primarily in the 19th century . The first nocturnes written under that name were composed by John Field , considered the father of the Romantic nocturne , which features a characteristically melodic cantabile with an arpeggiated accompaniment. However, the most famous exponent of this music was Frédéric Chopin , who wrote 21 works in this genre.
Jure Robežnik (August 23, 1933 – October 7, 2022) was a Slovenian pianist and composer who focused primarily on jazz and popular music . Despite lacking formal musical training, he composed over 150 musical pieces.
Neža Torkar (1990) is a Slovenian accordionist who studied music and accordion in Slovenia and Germany . She has performed extensively throughout Europe as a soloist and as a member of chamber groups. She has won important European awards as an accordion soloist.
Today he is accompanied by the Slovenian female vocal group Gallina Ensemble.
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Francesca Caccini (1587–after 1641) was an Italian composer, singer, lutenist, music teacher, and poet of the early Baroque period (1600–1750). She was born in Florence ; her father, Giulio Caccini , was a famous and popular composer and a pioneer of monophonic music; from a young age, her father taught her music and composition. Her mother, Lucia Gagnolanti , was also a singer; her younger sister, Settimia , also became a composer, and she had an older brother, Pompeo Caccini , who was a singer and painter. She received a humanistic education: Latin, some Greek, as well as modern language and literature and mathematics. She was one of the few female composers of the 17th century whose works were published.
La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina is a comic opera in four scenes by Francesca Caccini , which premiered on 3 February 1625 at the Villa di Poggio Imperiale in Florence , with a libretto by Ferdinando Saracinelli , based on Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso . It is the first opera written by a woman, and was for a long time considered the first Italian opera to be performed outside of Italy . It is Francesca 's only surviving opera; it is written in the stile moderno , that is, in the style of Claudio Monteverdi , although the work owes possibly more to the work of Jacopo Peri . It uses the new stile recitativo , as well as canzonettas in the style of the Concerto delle donne .
Today it is offered to us by the musicians of the "Antonio Vivaldi" Conservatory of Alessandria under the coordination of maestro Marco Berrini
Clara Wieck (1819-1896), better known as Clara Schumann , was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. As a pianist, she was a leading figure of the 19th century and a key figure in the dissemination of the works of her husband, Robert Schumann . She was born and raised in Leipzig in a family of musicians; her mother was a renowned singer and her father a professional pianist and Clara 's teacher. Clara, a child prodigy, began to gain recognition in Europe at the age of eleven. She married Robert Schumann , and the couple had eight children. Together, they encouraged Johannes Brahms and maintained a close relationship with him. As a composer, she has left us a legacy of solo piano pieces, a Piano Concerto (which we are presenting today), chamber music, orchestral works, 30 lieder, and choral music.
Catalogue of the works of Clara Wieck . Her works are classified by their Opus number (from the Latin opus, meaning 'work'), a term used in music to catalog the works of most composers. Since the 17th century , this form of cataloging has been used whenever a work is published, with the word Opus , or its abbreviation Op ., preceding the work's number.
Piano Concerto in A minor , Op. 7. In January 1833, at the age of 13, Clara Wieck ( Clara Schumann after her marriage to Robert Schumann ) began composing a one-movement Konzertsatz , which she orchestrated herself. In February 1834, her future husband, Robert Schumann, revised the orchestration, and the 14-year-old prodigy performed it in several concerts. She then expanded the work by adding two more movements, using the " Konzertsatz " as the third movement, and re-orchestrating the entire work herself. She completed it on September 1, 1835 (before her 16th birthday) and premiered it in November 1835 with herself as soloist, accompanied by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Felix Mendelssohn . This concerto is one of the first piano concertos written by a woman and the first composed and premiered by a teenage prodigy. Clara Wieck not only composed it but was also its first performer, making her a pioneering figure. It is a work ahead of its time, anticipating mature Romanticism with sensitivity and virtuosity.
Structure . The Concerto is structured in three movements: I (0'02") ALLEGRO MAESTOSO: A dramatic movement, influenced by the Romantic style of Hummel, Mendelssohn , and her future husband Robert Schumann , in which Clara already demonstrates great pianistic maturity with virtuosic writing and a clear expressive intention. The piano and orchestra engage in intense dialogue, with brilliant passages for the soloist. II (6'52") ROMANZE. ANDANTE NON TROPPO CON GRAZIA. An intimate and lyrical movement, written for piano and cello only. It showcases Clara 's melodic sensitivity and her interest in chamber music . This movement stands out for its emotional delicacy. III (11'05") FINALE: ALLEGRO NON TROPPO – ALLEGRO MOLTO. A brilliant, agile and brave movement in which Clara takes up the energy of the first movement and brings it to a joyful and vital conclusion.
Today's version is presented by pianist Michal Tal accompanied by the orchestra conducted by maestro Keren Kagarlitsky .
Alma Deutscher (2005) is an English composer, child prodigy, pianist, and violinist. Born in Basingstoke , UK , to music-loving parents, she began playing the piano at age two, the violin at three, improvising on the piano at four, and writing her own compositions at five. At six, she composed her first sonata ; at seven, her first short opera , The Sweeper of Dreams ; at nine, a violin concerto ; at ten, a full-length opera, Cinderella; and at twelve, she premiered her first piano concerto with the composer herself at the piano. All of this while receiving private instrumental instruction in piano and violin from two teachers at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey , England.
The concerto is a musical form written for one or more solo instruments accompanied by an instrumental ensemble. It was Vivaldi who established the fundamental basis of its structure with three movements ( I fast-II slow-III fast ) and presented it as a dialogue between the soloists and the instrumental ensemble. From the Classical period onward, especially following the foundations laid by C.P.E. Bach , the first movement is constructed according to the patterns of sonata form (exposition, development, and recapitulation) , while the second and third movements adopt free and specific forms. Frequently, at the end of the first and/or third movement, the soloists have an unaccompanied cadenza with which to showcase their virtuosity.
The version we present today of Alma Deutscher 's Violin Concerto in G minor , It was performed at the Carinthian Summer Festival with Alma as soloist (when she was only 12 years old) accompanied by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra conducted by the Japanese maestro Joji Hattori . The concerto is structured in three movements: I (0'22'') ALLEGRO MAESTOSO ( cadenza 12'24'') .-. II (15'39'') ROMANZA .-. III (24'35'') ALLEGRO SCHERZANDO ( cadenza 32'14'').
Sofia Gubaidulina (1931) is a Russian composer born in Tatarstan . She studied piano and composition at the Kazan Conservatory ; in 1954 she moved to Moscow where she continued her studies, graduating in 1963. Her music was criticized for its exploration of alternative tunings, although Shostakovich encouraged her to continue forging her own path. Her violin concerto, Offertory, performed by Gidon Kremer, brought her critical acclaim. She is a deeply religious woman, as evidenced by her catalog of works and especially her Johannes Passion . In 2002, she received the Polar Music Prize , awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music .
Quasi Hoquetus is a work by Sofia Gubaidulina, composed in 1984–85 (edited by Hans Sikorski ), that displays several typical features of her mature style: the union of tradition and experimentation, spiritual symbolism, attention to timbre and silence, and a certain tension between fragmentation and continuity. The word Hoquetus alludes to the medieval “ hocket ,” a technique that consists of fragmenting a melody and distributing these fragments among several voices in a disjointed manner (“leaping”), producing an effect of interruption/intercalation. In Quasi Hoquetus , Gubaidulina does not limit herself to applying the hocket to the melody, but extends the idea to the realm of harmony and timbre as well.
Texture and Development : The work begins with scattered fragments that “jump” between the instruments, generating a filtered, almost filigree texture; over time, this fabric consolidates into something more continuous: a kind of unified musical line. As in other works by Gubaidulina , there is a spiritual and symbolic undercurrent. Numerical figures such as seven and thirteen are mentioned as important in this work, and there are formal/harmonic references reminiscent of tradition (even Bach ); but these traditional elements coexist with modern techniques (clusters, harmonics, highly fragmented polyphony, etc.). Harmonics are used in the viola, stops in the bassoon, piano clusters... These resources not only add color but also participate in the structural discourse and contrast with the “fragmentation,” the spaces of silence, and the sonic concentration in the densest passages. (Excerpt from the response given by ChatGPT based largely on texts appearing in El Argonauta ).
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Esperanza Emily Spalding (Portland, October 18, 1984) is an American jazz singer, double bassist, and bassist. In 2011, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist , becoming the first jazz artist to receive this honor. She began playing music professionally in her childhood, performing as a violinist with the Oregon Chamber Music Society at the age of five. Later, she became self-taught, practicing on various instruments, including the guitar and bass. Her talent earned her academic scholarships to Portland State University and Berklee College of Music, where she studied music.
He released his first album, Junjo , in 2006 through the Spanish label Avya Musica, after which he signed with the American independent label Heads Up , which released his self-titled album in 2007. His third studio album, Chamber Music Society (2010), was a commercial success, reaching number 34 on the Billboard 200 , and earned Spalding his first Grammy Award for Best New Artist ; he was also the first jazz artist to win in this category. From then on, he continued to achieve numerous awards and successes.
In addition to writing and performing music, Spalding has also worked as an instructor, first at Berklee College of Music , beginning in her 20s. In 2017, she was appointed Professor of Music Practice at Harvard University . In 2018, she received an honorary doctorate of music from her alma mater, Berklee College of Music .
Vanesa Martín (Málaga, November 14, 1980) is an Andalusian singer and songwriter. At the age of six, her father gave her her first guitar, and from then on, her passion for music began. Later, she decided to begin her guitar training through flamenco choirs, and shortly after, she started writing her first songs. By the age of fifteen, she was performing in numerous venues in Málaga and appearing on local television and radio programs. At the end of 2003, after completing degrees in Education and Pedagogy at the University of Málaga , she settled in Madrid , where she gave her first concerts at the bar El Taburete . Her first appearance on a record was on the CD El búho real (The Royal Owl). Her first album, Agua (Water ), was released in 2006. In 2009, she signed with the multinational Warner Music . To date, he has released eight studio albums, sold thousands of copies in Spain and Latin America , and performed numerous concerts throughout Spain.
Camélia Jordana (born September 15, 1992, in Toulon, France) is a French singer and actress. She rose to fame at the age of sixteen after participating in the television program Nouvelle Star in 2009, the French version of Pop Idol , where she finished in third place. Her first album, Camélia Jordana , was released in 2010, followed by Dans la peau in 2014 and Lost in 2019. That same year, she received a Victoires de la Musique award for Lost in the World Music category. Her music blends pop and French chanson with touches of world music and R&B , and a very personal sensibility stemming from her social commitment to feminism, cultural heritage, and social justice. She has also appeared in several films and recorded several music albums. In 2018, she received the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her performance in the film Le Brio . He has also made other film works such as Bird People , Curiosa , Sœurs d'armes , Les Choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait ...
Yvonne Catterfeld (1979) is a German singer and actress. At the age of 15, she began playing piano and flute, while simultaneously taking dance and voice lessons. After finishing high school, she studied pop and jazz at the Leipzig Academy of Music for two years. Following her studies, Catterfeld participated in the Stimme 2000 singing competition and in 2001 released her first official single, " Bum ," a cover of the All Saints track of the same name, but it failed to chart. It was three singles , "Komm Zurück Zu Mir," "Niemand Sonst," and "Gefühle," that helped launch Catterfeld 's popularity. Boosting her television presence, Yvonne finally found mainstream success with her fourth single, "Für Dich ," which reached number one in Germany, Austria , and Switzerland . Her debut album , Meine Welt, achieved similar success, going platinum . A year later, she repeated the feat with "Du Hast Mein Herz Gebrochen " and her second album , Farben Meiner Welt . In 2005, she re-released her first English-language single, " Where Does The Love Go," in collaboration with singer Eric Benet , and in 2006, she released her fourth studio album, Aura . Throughout these years, she combined her singing career with acting, appearing in various television series and films of different genres.
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Jocelyn Pook (1960) is a British violist, pianist, and composer. She studied viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London . Her projects involve experimentation with a wide variety of genres, which gives her great versatility and musical originality. Pook has composed music for theater, television, and film, making her film debut with the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick 's film Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Since then, she has continued composing film scores.
Dust is a one-act contemporary ballet about the First World War , choreographed by Akram Khan with music by Jocelyn Pook , created for the English National Ballet . It was Khan's first work with a ballet company and premiered on April 2, 2014, at the Barbican Centre in London. Akram Khan 's work, Dust , was commissioned for the English National Ballet 's mixed program, Lest We Forget , which deals with the First World War , and was one of the first commissions of artistic director Tamara Rojo .
Khan stated that the ballet is "dominated by women." The first part deals with trench warfare; Khan commented that she was intrigued by the fact that soldiers would die upon abandoning the trenches, yet they continued to build them. The middle section, performed by 12 dancers, depicts these women working in factories while their loved ones fought, and the weapons they manufactured would likely be used to kill the loved ones of others. The third and final part is a duet created by Khan and Rojo . According to Khan , it deals with the relationship between women and "their loved ones at the front." Khan chose to have the dancers perform en pointe because she needed "to delve deeper into the vocabulary of pointe work in order to discover what she wanted to convey."
Music. The ballet uses an original composition by Jocelyn Pook , who had previously collaborated with Khan on two earlier projects. For the final section, she wrote a song with lyrics from the poem " In Flanders Fields ," sung by countertenor Jonathan Peter Kenny , and also used a recording of World War I soldier Edward Dwyer describing the war and singing "we are here because we are here" to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne ."
Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) was an Austrian violinist and composer of ballet music. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory ; during this time, while composing ballet music, he also performed as a violin soloist and founded an orchestra that would rival that of the young Johann Strauss . In 1846, Minkus moved to Paris , and that same year the ballet Paquita premiered, with music by Édouard Deldevez, assisted by Minkus . Finally, in 1847, the St. Petersburg Ballet staged a version crediting Minkus for the music, and in 1881, with choreography by Marius Petipa , he created new pieces (a Pas de trois and the Grand Pas de deux ) for the new version of Paquita. In 1853, already settled in Russia , he worked as an orchestra conductor; in 1861, he joined the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra as a violinist. A year later, he became director, and two years after that, he was appointed composer for the Bolshoi Ballet . Although permanently settled in Russia , he maintained his ties with Paris and in 1866 traveled to the French capital to compose the new ballet La Source .
Marius Petipa (1818-1910) was a French choreographer, ballet master, and dancer who lived in Imperial Russia . He ushered in the era of grand Russian ballet, marking the end of the Romantic ballet period. His most notable works include Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Raymonda, Don Quixote, Paquita, and La Bayadère.
La Bayadère is a ballet created by the French choreographer Marius Petipa with music by Ludwig Minkus . Originally performed in four acts and seven scenes, the number of acts varies depending on the company and the choreographic version; sometimes two acts are performed, and other times three. The Austrian composer Minkus set music to a libretto written by Sergei Khudekov and Petipa, based on two dramas by the Indian poet Kalidasa . The ballet premiered at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 23, 1877, with Lev Ivanov in the role of Solor , while the role of Nikiya was danced by Ekaterina Vazem . Today, La Bayadère is considered one of the cornerstones of the classical ballet repertoire.
The Grand Pas is a set of dances that serves as a masterpiece for principal dancers, demi-soloists, and, in some cases, the corps de ballet. It typically consists of an entrance (introduction), a grand adagio, sometimes a dance for the corps de ballet, optional variations (solo dances) for the demi-soloists, variations for the principal dancer or male dancer, or both, and a coda (sometimes called a coda générale or grand coda), which concludes the suite.
Today we offer the Grand Pas d'Action from Act II of La Bayadère in the Bolshoi Ballet version.
Alkartasuna Dantza Taldea (Alkartasuna Dance Group) After the Spanish Civil War, in the 1950s, the number of Basque dance groups increased significantly in the Basque Country . Given the political situation of the 1970s, Basque dance became one of the most powerful tools for expressing Basque sentiment, so repressed by the Franco regime . Thus, Alkartasuna Dantza Taldea was born in 1976 when a group of friends from the Bermeo Institute in Bizkaia decided to organize a performance to raise money for their school trip. The success of this performance encouraged them to continue their endeavor.
Soka Dantza. In his 1754 work , Corografía de Gipuzkoa (Chorography of Gipuzkoa) , Manuel de Larramendi passionately defended the traditions and dances of Gipuzkoa. The illustrious Jesuit wrote his defense within the context of an intense debate that erupted in the 18th century regarding the supposed harm that dances caused to the religious morality of men and women. Larramendi maintained that the traditional dances of Gipuzkoa were not only permissible but even beneficial. However, in order to avoid problems, he established certain conditions to guarantee their suitability, including the requirement that, when forming the rope for the soka-dantza , men and women hold hands using a handkerchief to prevent physical contact between the sexes. The plural nature of the soka-dantza is reflected in the name that Larramendi himself used to designate this set of dances: “(…) carricadanzas, escudanzas and other names that the common dances of Guipùzcoa have.”
Juan Ignacio Iztueta distinguished numerous modalities of soka-dantza according to the profile of the dantzaris who danced it. In addition to the gizon-dantza (men's dance), Iztueta mentions the gazte-dantza (young people's dance), the etxeandre-dantza (dance of housewives), the galaien esku-dantza (esku-dantza of gallants), the neskatxen esku-dantza (esku-dantza of young ladies) and the edate or karrika-dantza (drinking dance or street dance).
Today we attended the performance of Alkartasuna Dantza Taldea within the Semana Grande festivities of Bilbao . (Extracted from the article Soka Dantza from the Gipuzkoako dantzak Magazine)
"Shiva Shambho" is a mantra (a word, phrase, or sound repeated to focus the mind) that in Hinduism invokes the god Shiva , the transformer and regenerator of the universe, in his benevolent and auspicious form. " Shiva " refers to the principal deity, the principle of destruction and renewal, while " Shambo " (or Shambhu) means "the benevolent one" or "the giver of joy." Therefore, the mantra translates as " Shiva, the auspicious one " or " Shiva, the benevolent one ," inviting peace, healing, and spiritual transformation.
Bharatanatyam is a classical Indian dance originating in Tamil Nadu (a state in southern India ), renowned for its combination of bhava (expression), ragam (music), tala (rhythm), and natyam (dance). This ancient dance tradition, originating in Hindu temples, uses intricate footwork, symbolic hand gestures ( mudras ), and expressive facial movements to narrate religious and spiritual themes, particularly those related to Hinduism .
IndianRaga , today's featured ensemble, brings together top musicians and dancers from 60 international cities to collaborate on high-quality video productions, viewed by millions worldwide. We work with genres such as Carnatic music ( South Indian classical music), Hindustani music ( North Indian classical music), semi-classical music , contemporary and Western music , Bharatanatyam , Kuchipudi, Odissi, Mohiniattam, Kathak, ballet , tap , contemporary dance , and a wide range of instruments, including the mridangam, tabla , sitar , violin, flute/bansuri, veena, ghatam, and New Age categories such as arranging and producing music.
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Various Wikipedia articles and relevant information on Artificial Intelligence were used to prepare these texts.
The texts of Videomusicalis are written in Basque, Spanish and English.
