Leticia Moreno plays Fazil Say's 1001 Nights in the Harem with ADDA orchestra under Josep Vicent in Alicante

Last night’s concert in ADDA featured a program of unusual style. The main work on offer was a half hour violin concerto, and there is nothing strange about that. This, however, was a violin concerto with a difference. But the rest of the program comprised three works by Ravel, two of them excerpts and the third, that strangely familiar experience we call Bolero. Throughout this concert featuring effectively a Spanish-Turkish sandwich, a thread linking these works was their “orientalism”, that nineteenth century concept blending mysticism and magic in the eyes of then colonial Europeans. But the orientalism imagined by Ravel was here contrasted with the voice of a contemporary Turkish composer, whose claims to authenticity were surely justified, despite his having studied in Germany and his liking for jazz. In this world, after all, everything is syncretic.

The concert started with Ravel, the Feria from Rhapsodie Espagnole. The orchestral sound, textures and ensemble were perfect throughout. This was Ravel at his most joyous, and perhaps once forgetting manacles that kept his asceticism to the fore. The playing of this piece, so familiar, was exceptional, and was duly noticed by and remarked upon, via applause and acclamation, by the audience.

In the second half, a second Ravel excerpt, the Ouverture de Féerie from Shéhérazade was, by contrast, much more restrained, much more of a conscious recreation of a scene in the composer’s mind than a depiction of a place and time.

Then, to complete the Spanish-Turkish sandwich, we heard a performance of Bolero. It is such a strange piece of music that I doubt anyone other than its composer understands what it is doing. The composer himself said there was no music in it. In some ways, it is an essay in orchestration, which is eventually one orchestral tutti played in slow motion with a drum beat. Here, the master orchestrator has the majority of the strings played pizzicato for half the piece, and some of the strings remain pizzicato until near the end. In Ravel’s music, however, you can always hear the harp.

But despite the strangeness of this music, basically two repeated melodies varied only in dynamics in texture, it has gained remarkable popularity. And this performance, as ever by the ADDA Orchestra under Josep Vicent was greeted with cheers of appreciation.

The main part of the Turkish filling in this sandwich came from the evening’s main work, which was 1001 Nights in the Harem, a violin concerto by Fazil Say. In this world, the composer mixes extended violin technique, Turkish percussion, a traditional song in the slow movement and a multiplicity of understated orchestral textures to create the quiet world in which Sheherazade might have told her bedtime stories. Leticia Moreno, who was soloist, gave a truly memorable performance of this monumental solo part in which she is rarely silent throughout the half hour duration of piece. Some of the scrapes and scratches of the first movement perhaps had the audience worried that she would have no bow left by the end, but all was well. This is virtuosity that rarely involves simply showing off. Much of the solo part is very quiet, accompanied by mere orchestral punctuation. Here is a concerto where the soloist must feel like a specimen under a microscope. There is simply no room for error whatsoever and every detail is audible. The fact that the orchestra and the soloist gave such a faultless performance of this strange and reflective work is testament to everyone concerned, Josep Vicent. Leticia Moreno, the ADDA orchestra and ADDA audience, attentive as ever. I did listen to Kopatchinskaja with Pappano in 2024 in the same work before writing this this review and I could spot no difference in interpretation or playing. Both were faultless, followed similar tempi and phrasing.

There were two encores. Having taken her bow at the end part one, Leticia Moreno returned to the stage to play Piazzolla’s Oblivion with orchestral accompaniment and then we had the final section of Bolero repeated. This was one to remember.

ADDA orchestra under Darrell Ang plays Brahms and Zhou Tian with Albert Gionovart as soloist

Zhou Tian’s Concerto for Orchestra was written in 2016. It was commissioned and premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and their recording of it received a Grammy nomination. In Zhou Tian’s own words: ‘My Concerto for Orchestra is a love letter to the symphony orchestra, featuring passages that range from epic to intimate. It is scored lushly through four parts: “Glow,” a journey to splendor through two contrasting themes; “Indigo,” a musical postcard from a walk in the forest one late summer night; “Seeker’s Scherzo,” a retro miniature; and “Intermezzo – Allegro,” a fierce rhapsody that begins with a lyrical fugue. Beneath the power and edginess, there is an unmistakable sense of romanticism in the music.’

So, what we heard last night in a performance by the ADDA orchestra in Alicante was, in all but name, a rather conventional Romantic symphony following the usual four movement pattern of allegro, adagio, scherzo and allegro-finale. The fact that it was titled Concerto for Orchestra indicates that the composer tried to highlight the individual sonorities and capabilities of each instrument and instrumental grouping of the orchestra. And the composer did just that. The fourth movement, for instance, starts with effectively a string quartet which, late Shostakovich style, angularly introduces the themes of the fugue that builds via woodwind to an orchestral tutti. The writing for timpani in this section is prominent. Zhou Tian explains that ‘in the fourth a fugue builds’ where ‘occasional touches of jazz syncopation and harmony are mixed with folksy tunes in perpetual motion’.

But there are also difficulties for the listener. In the first movement, for instance, alongside orchestral climaxes, the harp is playing arpeggios that cannot possibly be heard. Later on, the composer does make use of the harp’s individual sonority. Overall, I found that contrasting sonorities were often lost in a similar broad brush of orchestral colour. In that first movement, Zhou Tian states that ‘Keen listeners may discover hidden homages to some of the great concerti for orchestra from the past.’ I did find myself sifting through memories to locate references, but, as will be seen later, my mind was otherwise engaged. One did sense that the composer, however, did use quotation liberally, even, at one stage near the end, Messiaen’s Turangalila.

Of the second movement, the composer says that ‘Plush strings, lyrical oboe solo, dashing flutes and harp, and dark brass paint shades of blue into indigo…’ The use of colour to express sound is relevant here in a movement that sounds like it could have been written at any time in the last century, or perhaps before.

There follows a conventional short scherzo. The third movement ‘draws inspiration from the classical form while incorporating new turns and twists, constantly exploring different colors and timbre’.  Zhou Tian used the term ‘a retro miniature’ in his own description, and apart from ‘miniature’ hardly applying to a work scored for large forces, the term ‘retro’ could be applied to the whole work. Stylistically, it might draw on jazz, popular music, film music and other things, but essentially this is music of and from the past. It is no criticism to state that, but anyone coming to a work written in the last ten years and seeking something more “cutting edge” is going to be disappointed. The overall, impression of the work is both competent and exciting, but perhaps falling short of the memorable.

There followed an encore that conductor Darrell Ang described as a present from China, a piece that is played whenever there is something to celebrate. It was rousing.

In the first half we had heard Brahms Piano Concerto No1 played by Albert Guinovart. The soloist was a last-minute replacement for Judith Jáuregi, who was ill. At such short notice, Albert Guinovart did a superhuman job. This work is no mean feat for anyone, let alone someone who has had a minimal amount of time to prepare. The ADDA audience was wholly appreciative of the soloist’s efforts and the performance was enjoyed by all.

Albert Guinovart offered two short preludes of his own composition as an encore, the first a homage to Chopin, the second, as he himself described it, “original”. It was here that for just a short while we heard the true artistry of the performer. As ever, of course, and throughout, the ADDA orchestra was superb.

My own mind from the start was somewhat distracted by the trills that Brahms used to open the work. My mind immediately recalled another piece, but what? I have to admit that I spent much of the first half sifting through my musical memory to locate it, but locate it I did. Those trills are reminiscent of the opening of Berthold Goldschmidt’s opera Beatrice Cenci, so similar in fact that the later composer must have had the Brahms in mind when he wrote the score in 1949. The work waited until 1988 for a first performance and was not staged until 1994. It is, for the record, written in a late-Romantic style that very much pre-dated the year of its composition. The memory itself proved prescient.  

 

Gülsin Onay at the Denia International Piano Festival gives an exquisite performance

 

At 8pm on November 26, 2025 in the Centro Social in Denia, we heard Gülsin Onay play the piano.

Programa 

Johann Sebastian Bach - Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Sonata in A major, KV331

Ahmed Adnan Saygun - 2 preludes in Aksak rhythm, op.45 nos.4 & 12

Frédéric Chopin - Sonata in B minor, op.58

I am breaking a self-imposed rule not to review concerts that I have been partly responsible for presenting. In the past, there were a lot of opportunities to do so, and I became repetitive. But the reason for this departure from the norm is to pay some homage to the exceptional talent, artistry and musicality of Gülsin Onay, who performed for us last night in the Denia International Piano Festival, courtesy of a group that I assist with, arsaltacultural.com.

On the face of it, the concert did not look like it was to be so memorable an experience. Notwithstanding two short pieces by a contemporary Turkish composer, the program looked rather conventional, a Bach partita, a widely played Mozart sonata and the Op58 Chopin sonata. But appearances can be deceptive. With live music, there is always the possibility that it will surprise and, on this chilly evening in November, there proved to be nothing conventional about the playing of our soloist, Gülsin Onay.

From the moment she started the Bach Partita No1, BWV825, the audience could collectively sense that they were in the presence of a true artist. The touch, the phrasing, and the sheer musicality of the playing immediately communicated that Gülsin Onay was a supreme storyteller. The plot of the musical story was always uppermost in her playing of the Bach Partita, which in other hands can so often seem like a procession of unrelated notes, if played unsympathetically. Here, the shape of the story, the juxtaposition of dances with harmonic and rhythmic complexity was crystal clear, so clear that many people listening were really experiencing the music for the first time, no matter how many times they had heard it before.

The Mozart Sonata, that followed, K331, is also well known. The Alla Turca rondo that forms the finale is recognizable to those who don’t even know the music of Mozart. And in the hands of this Turkish pianist, the concordance of music and performer was perfect. Indeed, the whole piece was couched in remarkably un-Mozart-like emotion. The description only holds for pianists who follow the dots religiously and do not interpret them, and this charge could never be levelled against Gülsin Onay. This is not to say that she took liberties with the score. She didn’t. But she played the everything with the insight of a true musician, a real artist.

A complete change of style was needed from Gülsin Onay for two preludes in Aksak rhythm, op45 nos4 & 12, by Ahmed Adnan Saygun. They were rhythmically interesting, rather percussive pieces, and the ease with which Gülsin Onay made the transition to a different musical world is surely testimony to the quality of her relationship with this composer’s work over the years.

But it was her playing of the Op58 Sonata of Chopin that really convinced this audience of the pianist’s artistry. It should have come as no surprise since the program notes stated that she had been awarded a state medal by Poland for her interpretation of Chopin.

Here was a work that I have heard perhaps thousands of times. On the basis of last night’s performance, however, I did not even know it, because almost every note, every phrase seemed new. It was as if we had Frederick Chopin in the auditorium explaining exactly what each phrase of the Sonata meant. The communication was that direct, and like all good stories, it captivated everyone until the last note. It was a performance of such a virtuosity and artistry that I cannot recall, after 50 years of listening to music, anything that was ever equal to it.

Gülsin Onay received a standing ovation and responded by playing two encores. Ondine from Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit is a piece that many pianists would prefer not to attempt. In her hands, it was a door to enter the private universe of Maurice Ravel, so perfectly did each phrase fit into the space revealed by Ravel’s imagination. And then the Op9 No2 Nocturne of Chopin brought the evening to a close. Again it was a familiar work, but it is rarely played like this, with communication, not mere beauty of sound uppermost. By the end, I found myself saying that Gülsin Onay was simply one of the finest pianists I had ever heard.

Milan Slijepcevic toca en el Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia - el programa por el concierto de 4 diciembre

 

Več Makropulos at the Royal Opera House in London, a triumph for Ausrine Stundyte and a convincing re-interpretation by Katie Mitchell

Več Makropulos is really a play with musical accompaniment. One wonders whether the singers would think the same! It was also the debut in the opera house of the telephone, which features in act one of any production. But here it played a central role in the establishment of a feminist interpretation of the work, an interpretation that eventually proved both successful and relevant.

Janacek’s opera was completed in 1925 and staged in 1926. The difficulty of updating the text means that most productions of the work stay in the 1920s of it’s original conception. Here in 2025 in this production the setting is contemporary, which means that when Elina Makropulos finally reveals her age, she has to add an unscripted hundred to the written 337 years. The only problematic detail that arises from the time shift revolves around the patrimony and matrimony of the central characters. In 2025 we have DNA testing to establish lineage, whereas in 1925 such things were unknown. The problem, however, has no impact on the story, since DNA testing takes time, and time, even for a 437-year-old woman, is here in short supply since the action of Vec Makropulos surely takes place over one or two days.

The long running legal case about the inheritance of an estate between the Prus and Gregor families might have been settled before a century had elapsed, let alone two, if the family lineage had been established. The lack of any will kept the dispute alive, so to speak. But until the arrival on the scene of Emilia Marti, who seems to be well informed about the history of the families, no-one involved had any idea that Baron Prus in 1827 had fathered an illegitimate child following a relationship with an opera singer called Ellian MacGregor. Emilia Marti - Ellian MacGregor 200 years on - knows the location of a will in a drawer ostensibly containing letters written by Prus to his lover. The will leaves the estate to the illegitimate son, but there is a problem with the name. As an illegitimate child, the birth registry was unable to record a true father’s name. The singer MacGregor, wary of scandal that might be attached to her fame, used Makropulos as the surname -her own original family name - but entered the name of her long dead father, Ferdinand alongside. Over years, the Mac dropped away and the family name became Gregor, but there existed no definite linkage between the illegitimate son and the name Gregor, and crucially no tangible link to prove that Baron Prus was the father. DNA testing could establish a link, but not in 48 hours.

There is also another document associated with the will. It is a single sheet and written in Greek. It is a recipe for the elixir of life that Ferdinand Makropulos prepared for the emperor Rudolf in the sixteenth century. Emilia Marti - the same woman who as a sixteen-year-old Elina Makropulos was the guinea pig for the elixir, is now reaching the end of it’s effect and, after 437 years, she needs another dose. It is her mission to track down the document that she gave to her lover 200 years before, believing that she would never need it again. Originally, she had fallen ill and the emperor refused the potion, called her father a fraud, had him imprisoned and executed. She recovered, escaped to Hungary and lived on in relative obscurity. “No-one knew I would live for a hundred years…” Then she became a singer and had several careers, several lifetimes.

437 years is a long time. Elina Makropulos has had many identities, gone through many relationships and has had several children. She is now tired of what men might do to her and for some time has preferred the company of women. But she is not one for a quiet life. She has been a famous singer throughout and has lived life in the fast lane. She drinks heavily, takes class A drugs intravenously and is into every sexual expression possible with her female partners. At the start of this production using a split stage, while Vitek and Gregor and Prus discuss the court case in a hotel cafe, Emilia Marti is on her mobile in her room setting up a date with Krista via text messages. Krista comes to the hotel and she and Emilia make love. Krista’s lines in act one describing her infatuation with Marti are here delivered by phone from Marti’s bathroom. It is utterly credible. Though the elevation of the written minor role of Krista into a significant character who drives events was a major risk, the credibility of the result is testament to the genius vision of the director, Katie Mitchell.

When Marti joins the others in the cafe to discuss law, Krista stays behind in the hotel room, riffles through Martin’s bags in search of valuables and communicates her findings via texts to her boyfriend Janek, Baron Prus’s son, who researches and values possible loot.

Thus we have a perfect storm. Everyone on stage is now in competition with everyone else in order to establish advantage, both personal and financial. These are all people who are not nice to one another. The fact that Krista shoots Janek, rather than him committing suicide after a tiff with his father, might stretch credibility, but Krista now regards him as a liability that might threaten her own chances, which are now identified as staying with Emilia Marti to take advantage of her wealth and celebrity. It all makes such sense, given these characters’ propensity for lethal competition.

There are several aspects of the libretto that give rise to a feminist interpretation. Emilia Marti reveals the multiple scars, physical scars, that men have inflicted over the years. She feigns sleep when Gregor tries to rape her. She regards having sex with Prus to get her hands on the elixir recipe as a purely business transaction. It’s all there, despite having been written by the potentially misogynistic Leo’s Janacek. So all this production does is emphasize a thread of the characterization, rather than invent it.

There are several points here where time stands still or at least runs slow. The action on stage mirrors this, and these moments happen when Marti, feeling the weight of years, starts to run low on energy. Jakub Hrůša’s phenomenal understanding of the score allows him to bring this off musically by adjusting tempi, without interrupting the musical flow or sounding clumsy even in an ear that knows the score.

In the denouement, Marti has the elixir formula from Prus, has told Gregor his history, has declared her original name, Elina Makropulos, and has finally run out of energy. It is Krista, the opportunist, who receives the elixir when Marti declares she is no longer interested in a life that has delivered only suffering for so long. Krista can profit and she does, totally, and in this production in character.

Performances do matter, however dominant the plot and Ausrine Stundyte as Emilia Marti plays a more than pivotal role. Not only is she on stage almost all the time, but she is also more often than not singing. In this production, when Emilia Marti is not centre stage, she is still on stage and still acting. As conceived in this production, the role thus becomes demanding throughout the one and a half hours of the three acts, played here without any interval. Sean Pannikar as Gregor is almost impossibly wild and flighty, and John Reuter as Prus is quietly confident, assertive, powerful but almost always wrong. A special mention should be made of Alan Oke who sung Count Hauk-Sendorf, the old man with dementia who remembers wild Spanish adventures with a woman called Eugenia Montez. Who else? Heather Engebretson and Daniel Matousek who play Krista and Janek had to act quite a lot. Their parts did not require them to sing a lot, but in this production their relationship is central to the plot and they are both on stage for a good deal longer than their vocal parts might suggest.

An experiment in reshaping a masterpiece it was. And the experiment was successful.

Denia International Piano Festival - programa 26 noviembre - Gülsin Onay

 

Torino - Andrés Orozco Estrada conducts RAI Torino in Rossini, Mozart and Berlioz with Michael Barenboim as soloist

There were some famous musical names associated with Orchestra Sinphonica della RAI, Torino in last night’s programme. Previous conductors of the orchestra had surnames Pretre and Sinopoli and the night’s soloist was a Barenboim. The current principal conductor of Orchestra Sinphonica della RAI, Torino is Andrés Orozco Estrada and it was he who directed them in this concert in Alicante’s ADDA auditorium.

The concert began with one of the most well-known and rousing of Rossini’s overtures. Everyone knows the theme of the William Tell Overture’s final section, but Rossini was always episodic in his compositional style and the quiet sections that preceded allowed the orchestra to show off some of its solo playing. Starting a concert with the sound of a solo cello is hardly likely to be a showstopper, but that is clearly what Rossini wanted for his master work, perhaps indicating that all heroes have first to be born and many of them humbly.

Michael Barenboim was then soloist in Mozart K218 Violin Concerto. This, especially after the tutti at the end of the William Tell Overture was quiet, playful, witty and precise. I can never imagine that Mozart, even as a nineteen-year-old was taking his audience seriously when he wrote these notes. I always feel that the phrase “This is what they can cope with” must have been running through the composer’s mind. Basically, I don’t trust Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It has been a lifelong relationship, and there have been undoubted pleasures along the way.

Michael Barenboim and the orchestra’s playing, however, left nothing to be desired. It was sophisticated, accurate, witty and cute in places, secure and reflective in others. The composer’s ability to balance the solo part in the context of the orchestral accompaniment is a real achievement, for this orchestral part is no mere accompaniment, it presents a real dialogue with the soloist. Michael Barenboim gave the audience an encore of a movement of solo Bach in acknowledgment of warm applause.

The second half featured one work, Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. I confess the Berlioz is another composer whose music remains utterly baffling to me. It remains spectacularly baffling, however. Andrés Orozco Estrada had the third movement begin with woodwind played from high in the royal box, thus rendering the sound “far off”. The tubular bells that feature in the final movement gave a special sonority that I don’t recall from other performances of the work. But for someone who made his name for his orchestration to have called for two harps, just to keep them silent for most of the time, is beyond imagination. Perhaps he wrote the parts and then forgot about them. The orchestral playing was superb throughout, however, especially the muted horns, the brass, percussion and woodwind. Passages in the central movement were surely written by Mahler, sixty years before their time.

The orchestra offered a little piece of Italy to this audience in Spain as an encore. The Intermezzo from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana is a superb way to follow the over-the-top Berlioz.

Denia International Piano Festival - programa 6 noviembre - Congyu Wang

 

ADDA sets off for a tour of Japan with Rimsky-Korsakov, Rodrigo, Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian with Kaori Muraji

 

In the second concert of the new season, ADDA Simfónica under their artistic director Joep Vicent last night offered a mix of perhaps overstated bravura interspersed with one of music’s great understatements. At the start, I will say that no longer is it necessary to describe this orchestra, conductor or venue in glowing terms. Everyone in last night's audience, ADDA regulars, knows that this is now amongst the finest orchestras in the world, and that the ADDA venue approaches perfection in terms of view and acoustics. The orchestra has by now set off on a tour of Japan. Success brings the pressures of demands, but the ADDA project has become a resounding success for all concerned.

Last night’s program opened with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnole. It made a popular start to a concert that did rather concentrate on well-known favourites. But these pieces are well known and favourite because, in the right hands, they continue to deliver unforgettable experiences and this version of Capriccio Espagnole did deliver. I still find Rimsky-Korsakv’s orchestration rather heavy, however.

Then there followed the evening’s understatement. If one is trying to make a noise, then the last instrument to choose is a guitar, which is almost impossible to play forté. The beauty of good writing for the instrument, however, lies in its ability to be totally personal, apparently to make public the player’s inner most thoughts.

Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez is the best known of all guitar concertos. Its fame is often as a result of the separation of the slow movement as a lollipop to sweeten an audience. The practice is mistaken, however, because by itself it can be played mournfully, making it a sad piece of music designed to make everyone in the audience sadder. In its rightful place, between two brightly lit neoclassical allegros, the slow movement becomes merely a time to reflect. Whereas the outer movements present a sunlit landscape, the central movement describes the exact same landscape at twilight. Everything is softer, cooler, gentler, but it is never mournful. The Japanese soloist, Kaori Muraji, who performed last night and will accompany ADDA on the tour of Japan, was clearly enjoying every moment. Rodrigo’s brilliant and sympathetic orchestration never drowns the guitar’s small voice and overall creates a spectacular tense excitement that is never lost. Superb: superb writing, a superb work, superbly performed.

Kaori Muraji offered an encore of one of her own pieces, inspired, she told the audience, by old Japanese temples. The audience heard, I would suggest, especially in the right hand, something that reminded them of more nearby historical sites.

The second half opened with another popular favourite. Tchaikovsky suite from Swan Lake has some of the most familiar tunes in the repertoire. What is often ignored, is how spectacular is the orchestration which, of course, the ADDA orchestra made crystal clear and exciting.

Our evening came to a close with a selection from Khachaturian’s Spartacus. If what had gone before was not sufficiently melodic or rhythmically arresting, then this selection from Khachaturian’s ballet was a perfect was the perfect solution. The grand, Romantic string theme, at least for British ears, remains associated with sailing ships on a Sunday evening, and the viciously rhythmic sections almost bit the ears. And this superb playing of the ADDA orchestra was offered twice, as they repeated the upbeat section as an encore.

Denia International Piano Festival - programme 30 oct Vasco Dantas, from Bach to Queen

 

An evening of firsts - Martin García García and Josep Vicent plus ADDA orchestra in Cano, Chopin and Tchaikovsky

In their first concert of a new season, the ADDA Orchestra under the direction of Josep Vicent began with a first performance. Composer Ximo Cano is from nearby La Nucia and his piece Ithaca Overture opened the concert. Ximo Cano’s piece embraces minimalism, but also lyricism and spectacular use of orchestral sound. Basically an overture in the Italian style of fast-slow-fast, it begins with a complex rhythmic figure in the strings which gradually disintegrates into a climax before the central slow section imposes calm on the process. There is extensive use here of the sonorous vibraphone, with the piccolo sustaining some of the higher notes’ overtones. Momentum then reasserts itself, and the piece burns bright until its end. Ximo Cano’s style could be likened to John Adams, but here there is a complexity in this work that comes across paradoxically as simplicity. This world premiere of Ximo Cano’s Ithaca Overture thus presented a perfect opening for a new season, being positive, affirmatory and celebratory.

On seeing the rest of the program, Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, this particular concert goer felt that it might seem like a repetition of works heard hundreds of times before. How wrong can you be? What we heard was both fresh and enlightening. No matter how many times you have heard a piece of music, in performance it always has the potential to surprise anew, and both these works did just that, and to an extent that this listener, with literally thousands of concerts behind him, heard both pieces as if for the first time, so surprising were their effects.

Soloist in the Chopin concerto was Martin García García, a young man still in his 20s from Gijon. To say that his touch was delightful would be to understate the pure artistry he brought to this work. His playing was not only faultless, it reached a level of communication with the audience that one rarely witnesses. Especially in the slow movement, he engendered such a degree of concentration amongst the audience that even the most pianissimo of touches were heard, absorbed within a story that unfolded, told by fingers pressing on keys. This performance rendered a familiar work newly fresh, newly moving and completely satisfying musically. Memorable? Life-changing.

An encore of Tchaikovsky’s October followed. This is Tchaikovsky using understatement, in reflective mode as mists appear and trees colour, and then shed. For the first time I noticed in this piece the main theme of Scriabin’s Prelude And Nocturne For The Left Hand. Another first. I do hope that this first time to hear the playing of Martin García García will not be my last.

And then to Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. It was for me personally to be the second time in performance in five months. Nothing from the past, however, could have prepared me for the surprise I felt during every moment of this performance by the ADDA Orchestra. Artistic director, Josep Vicent, had the orchestra sculpt literally every phrase. Nuances of feeling, musical details, and indeed overall structures within the work were revealed as if I had never heard the work before, so fresh was the approach, so energised and at the same time subtle was the playing.

Examples could fill a book, but particularly memorable was the way in which the main theme of the slow movement was phrased. It is far too easy, it seems, for an orchestra to rely on the overall beauty of the theme rather than pin down the transitional emotions that make it up. This performance did exactly that. The overall theme still worked fine, but it worked because its individual elements created an emotional journey that was complex and sophisticated, and made perfect sense.

The scherzo, also, provided its surprises. It again is easy to regard the whole movement as a piece of orchestration first and a piece of music second. We all expect to hear the episodic contrast between pizzicato strings, decorating woodwind, and firm brass. What we do not regularly hear in this work of the details that remind us of Slavonic dances, and variations of dynamics in the pizzicato of the strings that add shape and texture. I may have heard hundreds of performances of this work, but this was completely new, as if hearing it for the first time.

As an encore, Josep Vicent offered his audience Guridi’s Amorosa, a simple plea for people everywhere to share love for one another. The overall effect of this concert first was to underline yet again the fact that this ADDA Orchestra, created by the direction of Josep Vicent, is now among the first rank of world ensembles. Bravi!

Denia International Piano Festival Programme 2 oct Duo Bringuier-Monakh

 

Denia International Piano Festival 2025 - five concerts from great pianists from October to December

 

Ars Alta Cultural is pleased to announce details of this year’s Denia International Piano Festival. In its third year, for the first time this festival will receive generous support from the Ayuntamiento de Denia and Ars Alta have therefore been able to invite some very well-known pianists.

The festival starts on October 2 with a concert of music for four hands. Husband and wife team, Nicolas Bringuier and Olga Monakh will present a concert entitled “Along the Danube”, in which they will play two works written for four hands, the Mozart Sonata in D Major KV381 and Fanz Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor D940 and then Liszt’s Second Rhapsody. In part two, they will play three Hungarian Dances of Brahms, three Slavonic Dances of Dvorak and will finish with the spectacular arrangement of Smetana’s tone poem, The Moldau. Though we are aware that the Danube does not reach Prague, we are sure the Denia audience will overlook that and just listen to the music!

Sharing the same love for the repertoire of four hands, it was after their meeting in 2002 in the class of the great pedagogue Klaus Hellwig at the Berlin University of the Arts that the Nicolas Bringuier and Olga Monakh began to play together. United on stage as in life, they quickly made a name for themselves for their virtuosity and the originality of their programs. In 2005, they played at a reception given by the President of the Republic of Germany and have toured many countries, including concerts across China. Their extremely extensive repertoire includes most of the original works for four hands, as well as many transcriptions of symphonic works.

In the Denia Festival’s second concert on October 30, Ars Alta proudly presents Vasco Dantas from Portugal in an evening titled “From Bach to Queen”. A Gramophone review of a recent recording by Vasco Dantas praises “his unusual programming and captivating artistry”. In this Denia concert, he will offer a guided tour of three hundred years of writing for keyboard, including pieces from Bach’s Art of Fugue, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, a Military March of Schubert, Schumann’s Arabeske, a Chopin Polonaise and favourites of Liszt, Satie and Debussy. Prokofiev’s Montagues and Capulets will follow and then, to conclude, he will play Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. If the audience is lucky enough to receive an encore, it will surely be a Portuguese Fado.

Vasco Dantas was born in Porto in 1992 and attended London’s Royal College of Music before completing his doctorate in Münster. Since then, he has performed on all five continents is the most prestigious concert halls, receiving excellent reviews.

On November 6, in the third of this year’s International Piano Festival concerts, Ars Alta is proud to present Congyu Wang for the second time in Denia in a programme entitled “Romantic Encounter.” Singapore-born Congyu Wang trained in France and now lives in La Reunion. He will play a movement from a Concerto by Mozart and then three Chopin Nocturnes followed by the four Ballades. If that were not enough for an evening’s work, he will then play Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase, which is probably as virtuosic as it gets.

He himself says that he loves to play the classical repertoire, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Liszt, but his repertoire goes way beyond this and includes his own compositions. He also says he tries to change his repertoire in the same way a restaurant would change its menu, and concert goers in Denia can look forward to this menu based on Chopin and Liszt. Congyu Wang is a Steinway Artist.

On November 26, in a concert entitled “La Reina”, Ars Alta Cultural is proud to present the legendary Turkish pianist, Gülsin Onay. She has many years of experience at the top of the international concert circuit, is recognised as a State Artist in Turkey and has played with many top orchestras and conductors. She is described on Wikipedia as having “long been a household name around Europe and beyond, with an international career spanning more than 80 countries, and including collaborations with many of the most esteemed artists and musical institutions of our time.” She is also famous for championing the music of Turkish composer, Ahmed Adnan Saygun and indeed she will play two of his Preludes in Denia. Alongside the Saygun, she will play a Bach Partita BWV825, the Sonata K331 of Mozart and the Chopin Sonata in B minor, op58.

Widely renowned as one of Turkey’s most acclaimed cultural exports, Gülsin Onay has been enchanting audiences around the globe for decades, starting with her first official concert when she was six years old. She has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and now spends her time between touring and giving concerts, leading masterclasses at various venues, and sitting on the jury boards of multiple international competitions. We are very lucky to hear her play this fourth concert in the Denia International Piano Festival.

In her own words, “it is not enough to just play, but a pianist needs to create meaning, to say something with the piece. Each note that they play has to have a meaning, it cannot just be playing mechanically, that’s not enough.” She advises every pianist to “ensure that each musical phrase should be a new creation and a creation of magic.”  The audience at this fourth concert of the Festival can judge Gülsin Onay against her own personal standard, when she observes that playing the piano “is without question always such a great experience to go through, it’s such a joy for me, and I always feel so immensely thankful every day that I can still play!”

The fifth and final concert of this third Denia Internation Piano Festival on December 4 is given by a young pianist who recently won first prize at the Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition. With the title “Mastermind”, Serbian Milan Slijepčević will play a demanding and ambitious programme that promises a rich and varied musical experience, with a few fireworks at the end.

Milan Slijepčević’s concert will start with Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze op6, eighteen characteristic pieces from the composer’s early career. He will follow with a Debussy Prelude “La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune”, and then the lyrical Fifth Sonata of Scriabin. Then to finish, he will play the Second Sonata of Prokofiev.

Born in 2000, Milan Slijepčević has been described as performing the Schumann “with his customary sensitivity and mastery.” He is described as “a young pianist who has already conquered the international music scene with his virtuosity and ability to interpret works with great expressive maturity.”

Ars Alta Cultural gives priority to the promotion of young artists and in this fifth concert of the festival, our organisation is achieving its goal. Milan Slijepčević, however, is an amazing pianist and already a seasoned performer. He will certainly not disappoint and has the potential to bring this third Denia International Piano Festival to a rousing and spectacular conclusion.

Ars Alta Cultural has presented two previous festivals in Denia. In 2025, with the generous support of the Ayuntamiento de Denia, we are confident that in 2025 the Denia International Piano Festival will achieve a new level of excellence.

 

Ars Alta Cultural se complace en anunciar los detalles del Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia de este año. En su tercera edición, por primera vez este festival contará con el generoso apoyo del Ayuntamiento de Denia, lo que ha permitido a Ars Alta invitar a pianistas de gran renombre.

El festival comienza el 2 de octubre con un concierto de música a cuatro manos. El matrimonio formado por Nicolas Bringuier y Olga Monakh presentará un concierto titulado «A lo largo del Danubio», en el que interpretarán dos obras escritas para cuatro manos, la Sonata en Re mayor KV381 de Mozart y la Fantasía en Fa menor D940 de Fanz Schubert, y a continuación la Segunda Rapsodia de Liszt. En la segunda parte, interpretarán tres Danzas Húngaras de Brahms, tres Danzas Eslavas de Dvorak y terminarán con el espectacular arreglo del poema sinfónico de Smetana, El Moldava. Aunque somos conscientes de que el Danubio no llega a Praga, estamos seguros de que el público de Denia pasará por alto ese detalle y se limitará a escuchar la música.

Nicolas Bringuier y Olga Monakh, que comparten el mismo amor por el repertorio a cuatro manos, comenzaron a tocar juntos tras conocerse en 2002 en la clase del gran pedagogo Klaus Hellwig en la Universidad de las Artes de Berlín. Unidos en el escenario como en la vida, rápidamente se hicieron un nombre por su virtuosismo y la originalidad de sus programas. En 2005 tocaron en una recepción ofrecida por el presidente de la República de Alemania y han realizado giras por muchos países, incluyendo conciertos por toda China. Su amplísimo repertorio incluye la mayoría de las obras originales para cuatro manos, así como numerosas transcripciones de obras sinfónicas.

En el segundo concierto del Festival de Denia, el 30 de octubre, Ars Alta se enorgullece de presentar a Vasco Dantas, de Portugal, en una velada titulada «De Bach a Queen». Una reseña de Gramophone sobre una reciente grabación de Vasco Dantas elogia «su programación inusual y su cautivador talento artístico». En este concierto de Denia, ofrecerá un recorrido guiado por trescientos años de composición para teclado, incluyendo piezas de El Arte de la Fuga de Bach, la Sonata Claro de Luna de Beethoven, una Marcha Militar de Schubert, el Arabeske de Schumann, una Polonesa de Chopin y temas favoritos de Liszt, Satie y Debussy. A continuación, interpretará Los Montesco y los Capuleto de Prokofiev y, para concluir, Don't Stop Me Now de Queen. Si el público tiene la suerte de recibir un bis, seguramente será un fado portugués.

Vasco Dantas nació en Oporto en 1992 y estudió en el Royal College of Music de Londres antes de completar su doctorado en Münster. Desde entonces, ha actuado en los cinco continentes en las salas de conciertos más prestigiosas, recibiendo excelentes críticas.

El 6 de noviembre, en el tercer concierto del Festival Internacional de Piano de este año, Ars Alta se enorgullece de presentar a Congyu Wang por segunda vez en Denia en un programa titulado «Encuentro Romántico». Congyu Wang, nacido en Singapur, se formó en Francia y ahora vive en La Reunión. Interpretará un movimiento de un concierto de Mozart y, a continuación, tres nocturnos de Chopin, seguidos de las cuatro baladas. Por si eso no fuera suficiente para una velada, interpretará la Paráfrasis de Rigoletto de Liszt, que es probablemente lo más virtuoso que se puede tocar.

Él mismo afirma que le encanta tocar el repertorio clásico, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin y Liszt, pero su repertorio va mucho más allá e incluye sus propias composiciones. También dice que intenta cambiar su repertorio de la misma manera que un restaurante cambiaría su menú, y los asistentes al concierto en Denia pueden esperar este menú basado en Chopin y Liszt. Congyu Wang es artista Steinway.

El 26 de noviembre, en un concierto titulado «La Reina», Ars Alta Cultural se enorgullece de presentar a la legendaria pianista turca Gülsin Onay. Con muchos años de experiencia en la cima del circuito internacional de conciertos, es reconocida como Artista del Estado en Turquía y ha tocado con muchas de las mejores orquestas y directores. Según Wikipedia, «es desde hace tiempo un nombre muy conocido en Europa y fuera de ella, con una carrera internacional que abarca más de 80 países e incluye colaboraciones con muchos de los artistas e instituciones musicales más prestigiosos de nuestro tiempo». También es famosa por defender la música del compositor turco Ahmed Adnan Saygun y, de hecho, interpretará dos de sus Preludios en Denia. Junto con Saygun, interpretará una Partita BWV825 de Bach, la Sonata K331 de Mozart y la Sonata en si menor, op58, de Chopin.

Ampliamente reconocida como una de las exportaciones culturales más aclamadas de Turquía, Gülsin Onay lleva décadas cautivando al público de todo el mundo, desde su primer concierto oficial cuando tenía seis años. Ha sido embajadora de buena voluntad de UNICEF y ahora divide su tiempo entre giras y conciertos, impartiendo clases magistrales en diversos lugares y formando parte del jurado de múltiples concursos internacionales. Tenemos la gran suerte de poder escucharla tocar en este cuarto concierto del Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia.

En sus propias palabras, «no basta con tocar, un pianista debe crear significado, decir algo con la pieza. Cada nota que toca debe tener un significado, no puede limitarse a tocar mecánicamente, eso no es suficiente». Aconseja a todos los pianistas que «se aseguren de que cada frase musical sea una nueva creación y una creación mágica».  El público de este cuarto concierto del Festival podrá juzgar a Gülsin Onay según su propio criterio personal, cuando ella observa que tocar el piano «es sin duda siempre una gran experiencia, es una gran alegría para mí, ¡y cada día me siento inmensamente agradecida por poder seguir tocando!».

El quinto y último concierto de este tercer Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia, que tendrá lugar el 4 de diciembre, correrá a cargo de un joven pianista que recientemente ha ganado el primer premio en el Concurso de Piano del Centro Franz Liszt. Bajo el título «Mastermind», el serbio Milan Slijepčević interpretará un programa exigente y ambicioso que promete una experiencia musical rica y variada, con algunos fuegos artificiales al final.

El concierto de Milan Slijepčević comenzará con Davidsbündlertänze op6 de Schumann, dieciocho piezas características de la primera etapa de la carrera del compositor. A continuación, interpretará el preludio «La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune» de Debussy y la lírica Quinta Sonata de Scriabin. Para terminar, tocará la Segunda Sonata de Prokofiev.

Nacido en 2000, Milan Slijepčević ha sido descrito como un intérprete de Schumann «con su habitual sensibilidad y maestría». Se le describe como «un joven pianista que ya ha conquistado la escena musical internacional con su virtuosismo y su capacidad para interpretar obras con gran madurez expresiva».

Ars Alta Cultural da prioridad a la promoción de jóvenes artistas y, en este quinto concierto del festival, nuestra organización está logrando su objetivo. Sin embargo, Milan Slijepčević es un pianista increíble y ya un intérprete experimentado. Sin duda, no decepcionará y tiene el potencial de llevar este tercer Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia a una conclusión emocionante y espectacular.

Ars Alta Cultural ha presentado dos festivales anteriores en Denia. En 2025, con el generoso apoyo del Ayuntamiento de Denia, estamos seguros de que el Festival Internacional de Piano de Denia alcanzará un nuevo nivel de excelencia.

 

 

Edmon Levon conducts the Valencia Youth Orchestra in Coleridge-Taylor, González Gomá, Rossini and Tchaikovsky, with Ignacio Soler

 

In human affairs, enthusiasm is often associated with youth, whereas competence that approaches perfection is usually only possible in maturity. Occasionally - just occasionally - the two qualities are combined in a single and therefore memorable event. Here, it was the music making of the Valencia Youth Orchestra. It married enthusiasm and perfection in a musical evening that all involved, musicians and audience alike, will never forget.

The Valencia Youth Orchestra can recruit players up to their mid-twenties, so here we are talking about musicians who are on the verge of their careers. In this concert, they were directed by their current guest conductor, Edmon Levon, who also introduced each piece to the audience.

The performers began with a piece by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an English composer, less well known in Spain than in the United Kingdom, where he is undergoing a revival that is reviving his music from an anonymity achieved by a hundred years of neglect. Despite playing for a US president and having packed out the Royal Albert Hall for years on end with his Hiawatha, his music must now be re-discovered. A movement from his African Suite had more than enough to spark interest in his always melodic music.

Enrique González Gomá, whose Ofrenda a Colombina followed, is a little-known composer even in his native Spain. He was a Valencian by birth, from Tavernes, born in 1899 and living until 1977. After the bravura and frenzy of an African dance, González Gomá’s piece offered a significant contrast. Quiet and reflective, even impressionistic, this music explores textures to evoke feelings. The effect was both magical and surprising.

In comparison to what proceeded it, Rossini’s Bassoon Concerto is quite a well-known work, though in over 50 years of concert going, I was hearing for the first time in performance. Ignacio Soler as soloist was both faultless in execution and as enthusiastic about the music as the orchestra he fronted. Rossini’s treatment of the form was distinctly operatic, with the bassoon often sounding like a singer delivering an opera aria in Rossini’s distinctly bravura, if sometimes rather predictable style. The quality of invention in his music, however, is undeniable, even if at times one feels as though one may have heard it before somewhere else!

The enthusiasm of the audience reaction prompted Ignacio Soler to present an encore, for which he was joined by two of the bassoons from the orchestra to play the Tango by Martinez. In this piece, a perhaps cliché tune is passed skilfully between the three players. The sonority of the bassoon trio is utterly surprising, and the ensemble suggests improvisation, even in its absence.

In the second half, the Valencia Youth Orchestra played one of the symphonies that define music. Tchaikovsky Pathetique, Symphony No. 6, is not just a staple of the orchestral repertoire, it is one of its mainstays. This is a work that not only never disappoints, but it also actually grows with repeated hearings.

It is music that, I believe, is ruined by applause between movements. The transition, especially from movements three to four, is crucial to the work’s emotional argument and all tension associated with being “right up there” one moment and “right down there” in the next is dissipated by audience intervention. Edmon Levon, I suspect, agrees with this, and when the audience applauded after the first movement, he half turned to acknowledge but in a single gesture managed to communicate that the end of the work would be more appropriate.

Tchaikovsky 6 is a mammoth work that demands real musical maturity alongside perfection of ensemble. There were one or two rhythmic stutters in the fast third movement, but nothing to detract from the experience. Personally, I found the horns of the opening of the fourth too loud, but I am splitting hairs.

The audience reaction to this great music was nothing less than ecstatic. Thus, we were treated to an encore. What to play after a work like Tchaikovsky 6 is a problem. Edmon Levon contrasted Tchaikovsky’s emotional paroxysms with Ravel’s detachment. We heard the final section of the Mother Goose suite, and its largely modal harmonies were quite surprising after the symphony’s outbursts. We had a real Valencia bash to finish, a piece that the orchestra played largely undirected, with Edmon Levon taking a seat in the stalls. At the end, the whole orchestra stood, still playing. The audience followed suit, applauding.

Carlos Santo plays Tchaikovsky in a remarkable free concert in ADDA, Alicante: En homenaje a D. Rafael Beltran

This was a free concert “En homenaje a D. Rafael Beltran. Fundador de la Sociedad de Conciertos de Alicante” who died last month at the age of 93. Carlos Santo, aged 25, paid personal homage to his memory by playing an encore of the theme from Bach’s Goldberg Variations which, he said, was a special piece for Rafal Bertran.

The evening opened with a quite superb Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. The timing, phrasing, dynamics and togetherness of this ADDA orchestra is now outstanding. Tchaikovsky’s score is a masterpiece. He does not follow a straight dramatic path through the story, preferring to highlight certain emotional responses. There is no doubt whatsoever about the physical nature of the lovers’ relationship when one hears that beautiful flowing theme from the whole orchestra. There is also no doubt about the conflict that rages between their two families.

Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto can often be played like it’s a motion that has to be gone through. Not so in the hands of Carlos Santo. A local lad whose career was aided by concerts awarded in Alicante by the society founded by Rafael Bertran, Carlos Santo gave perhaps the most lyrical performance of this work that I have ever heard. It’s just two months ago that we heard Shunta Morimoto play it in Elche. We were quite removed from the stage on that evening, whereas last night we were in row three and central, meaning that we were perhaps just ten metres from the keyboard.

His every phrase was thought out. There was never an occasion when this pianist played one of the big chordal sections as a piece of gymnastics. Not that Shunta did either, but here we were close enough to feel involved with the process. In the “cadenza” close to the end of the first movement, there are alternate phases, slow legato juxtaposed with those with more energy. Certainly in the slow phrases, one can surely hear Scriabin’s style, or perhaps it should be said that Scriabin essentially adopted some elements of Tchaikovsky.

The selection from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet that followed we have heard several times. But no matter how many times I hear this music, I always hear something new. The viola solo was quite wonderful, as was the playing of that chord towards the end of the tomb scene, where the entire world seems to collapse. It makes musical sense to play the Death of Tybalt at the end, but for anyone who understands anything about the drama, the tomb scene cannot be followed by this music. The musical effect is of course superb. And, at risk of repeating myself, this is a great orchestra.

ADDA under Josep Vicent in Saint-Saens and Strauss, with Daniel Oyarzabal, Amanda Forsyth and Pinchas Zuckerman

Stars shine brightly and that shining can cover immense distances. Their light travels in straight lines, unless there is, as Einstein described, another immense mass nearby – perhaps another star, and then it curves. The star of Saint-Saens’s Symphony No. 3 is the organ. It is even known as the Organ Symphony, despite the fact that the organ is silent for most of the work’s duration, and the fact that the organ part is largely written to enhance the power of the orchestral tutti. It does come to the fore briefly in the slow movement, but, if it is then a star, it burns out quite quickly. Precisely why the composer also included a piano in the orchestration still baffles me, because the piano’s contribution could so easily have been achieved differently, for instance, by pizzicato in the strings.

And it’s not that this star had to shine from afar. The ADDA auditorium does not have an organ, and, occasionally, when an organ was obligato for a given piece, an electric variety was shipped in. But these were Baroque pieces with organ continuo, with none of the blazing fortés that the Saint--Saens demanded.

It is about a kilometre from the ADDA auditorium to Alicante Cathedral and it was that church’s organ which was played by Daniel Oyarzabal and relayed live in projection on the back wall of the stage. The technical feat in accomplishing this was huge. And it was a resounding success, although I did detect a slight delay in the organ part, not because of the playing, obviously, but because of the inherent latency of the electronics. The speed of light is immense, but a delay of just the smallest fraction of a second alongside tutti at near presto tempo is discernible.

Not that this shortcoming affected the quality of the performance, which was truly wonderful. Personally, I prefer the first movement punchier, but this more romantic reading made perfect and lyrical sense. It was an immense achievement for all concerned, not least for the ADDA orchestra, who had a quite superb evening.

Speaking of brilliance being a little curved when another massive source is nearby, the evening began with a beautifully played Don Quixote of Richard Strauss. Amanda Forsyth’s cello played the delusional but lovable Quixote and her husband, Pinchas Zuckerman, chipped in on the witty viola as Sancho Panza. Not only were the orchestral textures exquisite, but the storytelling came to the fore in this performance via Josep Vicent’s reading. The orchestral detail achieved by this combination of conductor and orchestra was at times breathtaking, most of all in the slower, quieter passages where the composer juxtaposed widely varied sonorities. There is perhaps not enough of a role for the viola to regard it as a soloist’s spot, but Amanda Forsyth’s cello shone out when alone and played along with the orchestral part when not otherwise engaged.

What was utterly clear in this concert was that the players who comprise the ADDA orchestra love both the music and its challenges, and they adore playing together. The sense of camaraderie and cooperation is palpable, and this shines through anything they touch to enhance the audience’s musical experience. This is surely now one of the great orchestras, a true star.