Collection of music videos

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), was an Italian composer, viola player, singer, choir director and priest. He composed both secular and sacred music and marked the transition between the polyphonic and madrigal tradition of the 16th century and the birth of lyrical drama and opera in the 17th century . He is a crucial figure in the transition between Renaissance and Baroque music. Born in Cremona , where he carried out his first musical studies and compositions, at the age of 16 he published his first works. He spent his career first at the court of Mantua and then, until his death, in the Republic of Venice .

The madrigal is a composition of three to six voices over a secular text, often in Italian. It had its peak in the Renaissance and early Baroque . Musically it recognizes origins in the frottola , it has lyrics in the Italian language with secular themes, popular character and contrapuntal harmony; composed mostly for a cappella voices and in some cases with instruments doubling the vocal parts.

Monteverdi's Madrigals occupy a prominent place in the history of music, mainly choral music, and represent the culmination of the madrigalesque genre. Throughout these books it is possible to appreciate the evolution of Monteverdi 's music, from the polyphonic style of Renaissance music to the use of the accompanied monody characteristic of the Baroque . The first four books of madrigals, composed for five a cappella voices, are situated within the Prima pratica, the traditional polyphonic style, although Monteverdi uses increasingly innovative harmonic language, with bolder dissonances as the series progresses.

The Fifth Book of Madrigals was published in 1605 dedicated to his patron, Duke Vicenzo Gonzaga of Mantua and constitutes the turning point towards the Seconda pratica , where music is subordinated to the emotional expression of the poetic text, in line with the nascent opera and the principles of Florentine humanism, with more varied combinations of voices and solo parts, and with the instrumental accompaniment of the basso continuo, where "words are owners of harmony, not slaves." On the other hand, the traditional five-voice madrigal is transformed in this book into a madrigale concertato , introducing the instrumental accompaniment of the basso continuo.

I. Cruda Amarilli (00:00) II. O Mirtillo, Mirtill'anima Mia (03:01) III. It was L'anima Mia (05:45) IV. Ecco, Silvio, Colei (09:21) V. Ch'io T'ami (24:43) VI. Che Dar Più Vi Poss'io? (33:16) VII. M'è Più Dolce Il Penar Per Amarilli (36:37) VIII. There, Eat A Vague Sun Cortese Giro (40:18) IX. Troppo Ben Può Questo Tiranno Amore! (45:13) X. Love, Be Giusto Sei (48:52) XI. T'amo, Mia Vita! (52:41) XII. E Così, A Poco (55:42) XIII. Questi Vaghi Concenti (59:08)

Jesús Guridi (1886-1961) was born in Vitoria-Gazteiz into a musical family. After the family moved to Madrid , Guridi entered the Conservatory ; However, the economy did not go well for the parents, so they moved to Bilbao , where thanks to the patron, the Count of Zubiría , they were able to move to Paris and enter the Schola Cantorum to study piano, organ, counterpoint and composition. After finishing his studies, he went through Belgium , Cologne and Munich to delve deeper into them. Returning to Bilbao , at the age of 21, he took charge, as director, of the Bilbao Choral Society , a job that he combined with that of organist at the Basilica (now Cathedral) of Santiago . In 1939 he returned to Madrid , as director of the Conservatory , where he died at the age of 75.

El Caserío is an early 20th century zarzuela written by Federico Romero and Guillermo Fernández-Shaw , with music by Jesús Guridi . It premiered at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid on November 11, 1926. El Caserío , a lyrical comedy in three acts with much of its music inspired by Basque folklore, is one of Guridi 's most important compositions; of a traditional character, in it we are exposed to the daily life of an imaginary peasant village, Arrigorri , with its typical stereotyped characters: the priest, the mayor, the secretary, the rich Indian, the tavern keeper... Today we offer its Prelude conducted by the illustrious Toresan teacher Jesús López Cobos .

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was a French composer, harpsichordist and musical theorist, highly influential in the Baroque era, replacing Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera. Rameau 's lyrical work constitutes the majority of his musical contribution and marks the apogee of the French Baroque with his best-known work, the opera-ballet Les Indes galantes . Despite everything, his lyrical works were forgotten until the mid -20th century as they benefited from the movement of rediscovery of early music; his works for harpsichord, however, were always present. Rameau is generally considered the most important French musician before the 19th century ; He died in 1764 at the age of 81.

Castor et Pollux (Castor and Pollux, in Spanish) is a baroque opera structured in a prologue and five acts with music by Jean Philippe Rameau and a French libretto by Pierre-Joseph Bernard (Gentil-Bernard). It was premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris on October 24, 1737. This tragédie en musique had subsequent versions in 1754 and 1764; It was a great success, with numerous revivals at the Paris Opera . Rameau made substantial cuts and modifications, adding new material to the opera for its revival in 1754. This opera is rarely performed today; In Operabase statistics it appears as number 928 of the operas performed in the period 2005-2010, being the 128th in France and the ninth by Rameau , with 2 performances.

Today we offer it in a version by John Tessier , Castor; Edwin Crossley-Mercer , Pollux; Omo Bello , Télaïre; Michele Losier , Phoebe; Jean Teitgen , Jupiter; accompanied by Le Concert Spirituel et le Choeur du Concert Spirituel , under the direction of its owner, the French maestro Hervé Niquet .

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was a Soviet composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of recognized masterpieces in numerous musical genres, he is considered one of the leading composers of the 20th century . His works include such heard pieces as the march from The Love of Three Oranges , the suite Lieutenant Kijé , the ballet Romeo and Juliet , from which the Dance of the Knights is taken, Peter and the Wolf ... He created seven complete operas , seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, one cello concerto, and nine completed piano sonatas. After his death in 1953, Arthur Honegger proclaimed that Prokofiev "would remain for us the greatest figure in contemporary music."

Romeo and Juliet is a ballet in three acts divided into thirteen scenes, including a prologue and epilogue. It is one of the composer's most appreciated works, based on the high melodic inspiration, the great rhythmic variety and the memorable character of the main themes. The difficulty of the score prevented the composer from enjoying the success that his piece would have years later; He was criticized for a lack of lyricism and symphonic nature, as was Tchaikovsky .

Today we can see the ballet suite under the direction of Xian Zhang (1973), Chinese-American conductor, and the first woman to be chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Wales .

Kellylee Evans (1975) is a Canadian soul and jazz vocalist. Educated at Carleton University (1993-2000), it was there that she discovered jazz when she "got lost in the elevators of the Loeb Building and found the music department." He spent seven years there and earned two bachelor's degrees before beginning his master's degree in law in 1997. Those studies were put on hold while he focused on his music career. He later returned to Carleton as the university's artist-in-residence. In 2004, he won second place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition. In 2006, he released his debut album Fight or Flight? for which he was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award. After a few years of personal misfortunes, in 2019 he offered his first concert in France and a concert tour in 2020.

Christina Rosenvinge Hepworth (1964) is a Spanish singer-songwriter of rock/pop and indie music. He was born in Madrid , to Danish parents, Hans Jørgen Christian Rosenvinge (died 1991) and Daphne Ankerstjerne Hepworth (half-British ancestry), who emigrated to Spain in the 1950s. Linked to music since adolescence, she has one of the most unique careers in Spanish pop music. Former member of Ella y Los Neumáticos, Magia Blanca, Álex & Christina and Christina y Los Subterráneos , she has gone from the commercial success she obtained in the late eighties and early nineties to billing a confessional and risky style that places her as a figure of reference in current author pop .

Georges Bizet (1836-1875) was a French pianist and composer who did not have many successes during his lifetime. Bizet won several awards throughout his brilliant career as a student at the Paris Conservatoire , including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognized as an exceptional pianist, although he preferred not to take advantage of his skill and rarely played in public. His best-known opera, Carmen , achieved sensational success at its premiere that he did not enjoy as he died three months later of a heart attack at the age of 39. The rest of his works were cornered and rescued little by little in the 20th century. Despite this, he is currently considered a brilliant and imaginative composer.

Carmen is a dramatic opera in four acts with music by Georges Bizet and a French libretto by Ludovic Halévy and Henri Meilhac , based on the novel Carmen by Prosper Mérimée ; The action takes place in Seville in 1820 starring a beautiful and impulsive gypsy with a strong character. Today we present a choreographed selection of Carmen performed by two prominent figures of world ballet. Roberto Bolle (1975). is an Italian dancer who in 2003 received the title of étoile of the La Scala Theater and in 2009 principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre . On the other hand, Polina Semionova (1984) is a Russian dancer who has received important awards and recognitions since she was the prima ballerina of the Staatsballett Berlin at just 18 years old .

Mikis Theodorakis (1925-2021) was a Greek composer and intellectual, also known for his political militancy, especially as an opponent of the Board of Colonels in 1974. Born on the Island of Chios and raised within Greek folklore and Orthodox liturgy, From his childhood he began to compose before receiving music lessons or knowing how to play an instrument. At just seventeen years old, during the Second World War , young Mikis joined the resistance, first against fascist Italy and then against Nazi Germany ; although it is equally true that he had previously belonged to fascist groups of the Ioannis Metaxas regime. Helping Jewish families escape German authorities, he was arrested and tortured by the Italians in 1943.

In 1954, he obtained a scholarship to complete studies in Paris , where he enrolled in the conservatory and studied musical analysis, under the direction of Olivier Messiaen and orchestra conducting with Eugène Bigot ; In 1957 he won first prize at the Moscow Music Festival for his Suite No. 1 for piano and orchestra.

Sirtaki (Sirtáki or Syrtáki - in Greek συρτάκι) is a dance created for the film Zorba the Greek , in which slow and fast versions of the Hasapiko dance (Hasápikos, Chasápikos) are mixed; A distinctive feature of Sirtaki 's dance and music is its acceleration: the dance begins slowly, gradually becoming faster; in general it does not include jumps. Today we offer a suite of Greek dances led by Sirtaki performed by the Igor Moiseyev Ballet .