Unexpected connections and collaborations
Bratislava, 16. 5. 2023
Unexpected connections and collaborations, excellent virtuosity, and artistic boundlessness. Viva Musica! announces further concerts and artists of the 19th annual festival! This year, the opening concert of the 19th annual Viva Musica! festival will be uniquely celebratory. We will not only be celebrating the opening of the festival, but also remembering the 30th anniversary of the birth of the Slovak Republic, and the identical span of time that has passed since the division of Czechoslovakia.
Our celebration naturally must occur through the medium of music, and so we will remember this historical milestone via the music of Slovak and Czech composers. The works to be performed at the concert include Suchoň’s Sonatina for Violin and Piano Op. 11, Janáček’s Sonata for Piano 1. X. 1905, Dvořák’s Piano Trio in E minor No. 4, Op. 90 “Dumky”, and the folklore-inspired Variations on a Slovak Folk Song for Cello and Piano by Bohuslav Martinů among others. The performance of these excellent works will also be in a “Czechoslovak” spirit. Appearing at the concert will be the world-renowned Czech violinist Pavel Šporcl and the distinguished Czech cellist Jiří Bárta. Slovak artists will be represented by the accomplished mezzo soprano Jana Kurucová, soloist of the Staatsoper in Hamburg and currently the Slovak opera singer most in demand on European podia, and the pianist Marian Lapšanský, who for decades past has represented the best of Slovak piano art.
One Music
One Music is a project that is the fruit of cooperation between two renowned ensembles in the field of early music, Solamente naturalifrom Slovakia and Barokksolistene from Norway. Both ensembles, apart from focusing on historically informed performance, are linked by more than 20 years’ collaboration between their artistic directors, the violinists Miloš Valent and Bjarte Eike. In a joint programme they present compositions which, even despite the immense riches of expressiveness and rootedness that they set out from, are part of “a single music”. In one evening we will hear compositions representing early musical expressions of Slavic and northern music, preserved in music archives and performed in the historical perspective that is basic to the repertoire of both ensembles. There will also be works by contemporary authors, the Norse composer Jon Balke and the Slovak composers Michal Paľko and Daniel Matej, which originated from the inspiration of early music. This colourful mosaic of an old and new world will be complemented by the music of nationalities that are part of Slovak and Norse culture: sounding from one stage will be Roma and Jewish music as well as music of the Sami and Vikings. “I’ve known, played with and admired Miloš for more than 20 years. His endless curiosity and openness towards music, history, and in particular other people, is unique. What he and the others in Solamente naturali have created when it comes to digging up, and highlighting unknown, or forgotten historical music, and then making it relevant for a modern audience, is remarkable. The collaboration “one music” between our ensembles is thus both a natural consequence after years of mutual respect, admiration, and friendship – and also a unique opportunity to explore links between past-present, east-west, folk-baroque etc. in an even deeper way,” said Bjarte Eike. The concert will be held on July 6, 2023 at 20:00 in Forecourt of the Old Town Hall.
Unexpected connections and collaborations
The joint project of the string quartet Spectrum Quartett, led by violinist Ján Kružliak Jr., and bandleader Michal Noga’s folk ensemble Nogaband, represents an uncommon combination of classical and folk music, based on a search for mutual inspiration and combination between two apparently unassociated musical worlds. These two music groupings represent the best that is currently offered by the young generation of Slovak musicians in the genres of classical and folk. Spectrum Quartett is an ensemble whose original sound combines the experience of the individual musicians not only in the field of classical music but also in the field of jazz, world music and improvisation. Nogaband’s folk musicians are also famed for their first-class performance of traditional music. At the joint concert on July 20, 2023 at 20:00 at the Eurovea Square we will be presented with top-level dramaturgy, represented by the works of composers who were open to inspiration by the Slovak folk song. We will therefore hear folk motifs in their authentic form, and also their crafting in more complex musical forms in the work of artists such as Eugen Suchoň and Béla Bartók. Admission to the concert is free.