Intro
CONVIVENCIA
The fascinating encounter between Christianity, Judaism and Islam in Golden Age Iberia.
All the lands, in their diversity, are one, and men are all neighbors and brothers
al-Zubaidi, tutor of al-Hakam II, 10th Century
Medieval Iberian culture was a field of interaction of cultural elements originating in the different ethnic and religious groups which inhabited it. Alongside the Muslim and Christian wars in Spain over the control of the Spanish peninsula and in the east over Jerusalem, there was a rich and fruitful co-existence of Jews, Muslims and Christians. In Spain, members of the three cultures spoke each others' languages, shared their philosophies and theologies, their science and their cultures.
Our program attempts to give a glimpse of this unique interaction, and tackles different themes under the different eyeglasses of each culture. It often portrays one through the eyes of the other - like in the Jewish song La Reina Xerifa Mora about the Moorish Queen Xerifa, who wishes to have a Christian lady slave.
One of CONVIVENCIA highlights is the captivating section of Portuguese crypto-Jewish songs. In 1496 the Jews in Portugal were forced to accept baptism or leave. A small number of Portuguese Jews, however, remained loyal to the faith of their ancestors, practicing their rites in secret for nearly 5 centuries - for which they are called crypto-Jews. In the absence of rabbis, women took upon themselves leading the prayers and the religious songs. We present to you such songs, which have not been published yet: the ones in our program were recorded by our director Myrna Herzog in a fieldwork done in Belmonte, Portugal, in 2001. We are indebted to José Henriques Morão and Elisa Mendes Morão, who agreed to be recorded, and to Inácio Steinhardt, who shared with us his own his recordings and material.
Ensemble PHOENIX is a living example of CONVIVENCIA, joining performers of the three faiths, all residing in Israel.
Artists
Myrna Herzog - director, Vielle, renaissance viol, krumhorns
Macarena Lopez - soprano
Benny Hendel - narrator and baritone
Adi Silberberg - recorders, krumhorns, rauschpfeife
Riki Peled-Or - psaltery, renaissance viol
Omer Schonberger - oud, vihuela, baroque guitar
Kais Tekli - percussion
Program
CONVIVENCIA
The fascinating encounter of the three religions in Medieval Iberia
Stars, Sea, Tales
From the Sephardic tradition:
Las estreyas
En la mar ay una torre
La reina xerifa mora
El rey que tanto madruga
Anon. , Al Andaluz - Lamma bada yatathanna
War
Francisco de la Torre (1483-1504): La Spagna
Diego Pisador (1509-1557) – La mañana de San Juan
Luys de Narváez (1500-1555): Paseavase el rey moro
Juan del Encina (1468-1529): Levanta, Pascual
Love
Anon. Sephardic - Durme, hermoso hijico
Diego Ortiz (c.1510-1570): Recercada
Gabriel Mena (fl.c.1500): Aquella mora garrida
Anon.: Cancionero de la Colombina - Niña y viña
Celebrations
Anon. (reconstruction: Raymond Meylan): La Portingaloise
Songs from the Portuguese Crypto-Jews
Pessach songs: Ao quatorze da lua - Adonaio/Canção da Santa Festa
Purim song: Judá é um bom trovador
From the Sephardic Tradition ספרד מן המסורת של יהודי
Buena Semana
Reviews
The program amazed with its enormous diversity. Besides a little known Iberian repertoire, it included also pieces from the Sephardi tradition and, most surprisingly, songs of the Portuguese Crypto-Jews (i.e. Maranos) recorded at their community in Belmonte, Portugal, and transcribed by Herzog... Far from being monotonous, this music is versatile both in style and emotional expression. Much of it is highly romantic, intensely emotional, sometimes sorrowful, sometimes lyric, and sometimes even humorous.The ensemble's teamwork was perfect, and their command of the various tricky instruments was thoroughly professional.
Ury Eppstein, The Jerusalem Post, Israel
Once again, Myrna Herzog, the group’s musical director, has presented us in Jerusalem with a musical journey into the past and into our own senses… Music with an oriental flavor so perfumed and inebriating as one takes in the minarets and arched windows seen through the glass front of the hall. Time stands still... This was an evening of magical, delicate sounds, of humor and joy. Among the artists were musicians of three religions, hence “Convivencia” (living together.) The Mormon University auditorium, packed to capacity....
Pamela Hickman, Go Jerusalem, Israel
Intro
Continuing our ongoing Bach cycle, this is a special program of Bach trio sonatas for organ BWV 525-530 in a chamber version: 3 of the trio-sonatas as solo instrument+cembalo obligatto (traverso+cembalo, violin+cembalo and gamba+cembalo) and 3 as full-fledged trios.
According to Dr. Uri Golomb, "Bach’s Trio Sonatas for organ might have been based on works for a “standard” trio sonata ensemble (two melodic instruments and continuo). When they are arranged for such an ensemble, the resulting performances display a palpable sense of dialogue which is sometimes missing in performances of the original versions".
Artists
Na'ama Lion (traverso)
Noam Schuss (baroque violin)
Marina Minkin (harpsichord)
Myrna Herzog (viola da gamba & musical direction)
Reviews
"One can thank Ensemble PHOENIX for this experience. This was one of the most beautiful concerts of this season! Top artists and profound, painstaking work. To anyone not familiar with these works on organ, it might have seemed that these trio sonatas were scored for the PHOENIX quartet instrumentation. In tailored melodic lines that “sang”, at no time overloaded with showy ornaments, the players’ clarity of texture and lightness were all to the good of Bach’s ingenious counterpoint. This was playing of commitment, of beauty of melodies, of inner dialogue, of sincerity and musical persuasiveness.". Pamela Hickman
Intro
Music of different countries and centuries, performed by Myrna Herzog on a viola da gamba... alone.
The recital displays a diversity of genres, revealing the viol’s amazing palette of colors and its immense possibilities of expression.
It brings together pieces that, regardless of the time & place where they were written, speak closely to one's heart.
In the program: music by Sylvestro Ganassi, Giovanni Battista Vitali, Tobias Hume, Nicolas Hotman, Ste. Colombe father & son, Marin Marais, Johann Sebastian Bach and Karl Friedrich Abel side by side with contemporrary works written for Myrna by Luiz Otávio Braga, Shunichi Tokura, Dina Smorgonskaya, Günter Krause and Aharon Shefi.
Myrna Herzog performs this program on a historical viola da gamba by Edward Lewis circa 1685.
HEART TO HEART has been performed in many countries, in the Americas, Europe and Asia. It represented Israel at Sarajevo's Winter Festival 2011 and also at the prestigious Festival de Campos de Jordão, Brazil em 2015.
Program
HEART TO HEART
Myrna Herzog - viola da gamba solo
Sylvestro Ganassi (1492- mid-16th century) - Rechercar terzo - Recercada in C
Anonymous Portuguese early 16th century - Terra donde me criei
Dina Smorgonskaya – Sephardic reminiscences (2004 , for Myrna)
Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632-1692) – Chiacona
Giovanni Bassano (1558-1617) - Ricercata Quarta
David Loeb (b.1939, New York) – Lyric pieces composed in Chinese scales (2007)
Windsong – Moon Gate – The long road home
Tobias Hume (c. 1579-1645) - Meditation - A Jigg
Christopher Simpson (1602/1606–1669) - Prelude
Divisions upon John, kiss me now
Shun-ichi Tokura (1948) – A bridge to the Past (2012, for Myrna)
Nicolas Hotman (b.1614-1663) – Fantaisie - Sarabande et Double
Jean de Ste Colombe (ca. 1640 – 1700) ‐ La Vielle
Monsieur de Sainte Colombe le fils (1660? ‐ 1720?) – Fantaisie en Rondeau
Antoine Forqueray (1671 – 1745) – Bransle
Marin Marais (1656-1728) Les voix humaines
Guenter Krause – Der Kleine Bach (for Myrna)
Karl Friedrich Abel (1723 -1787) – Adagio -Allegro - Andante Allegro
Aharon Shefi (b.1928) - Known Direction – adapted by the author for Myrna
J.S.Bach (1685-1750) – Gavotte en rondeau in GM from Partita BWV 1006
Luis Otavio Braga (b. 1953, Belém, Brazil) – Nordestina (2010, for Myrna)
Performing in an original French viol made in 1744 by Andrea Castagneri, Myrna Herzog brings to life the extraordinary work of the two great French virtuosos of the viola da gamba, Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray, "the first said to play like an angel and the other like a devil" (Hubert Le Blanc, 1740). The music is remarkable, unusual, extravagant.
Myrna Herzog, viola da gamba, with David Shemer (harpsichord), Bari Moscovitz (baroque guitar and theorbo) and Shmuel Magen (viola da gamba).
Intro
PHOENIX performs Bach's Goldberg Variations in an outstanding arrangement for strings and continuo made by conductor Bernard Labadie.
The Goldberg variations written originally for harpsichord (1741) is one of Bach’s most important works, stunning in the variety of genres it addresses. PHOENIX performs Bach's masterpiece in a new light, through Bernard Labadie’s brilliant and ground-breaking arrangement for strings and continuo, made in the Baroque tradition of transforming the music to suit the medium.
After hearing this version, one understands that Bach's Goldberg's harpsichord setting is in fact a reduction of a much larger music, involving many genres: in short, it is a true revelation.
We are indebted to Labadie and to Les Violons du Roy (Canada) for sharing it with us.
Noam Schuss baroque violin
Tali Goldberg baroque violin
Amos Boasson baroque viola
Marina Minkin harpsichord
Myrna Herzog viola da gamba, musical director
Reviews
"An outstanding performance... a rich, meaningful musical experience... The PHOENIX players’ intelligent, virtuosic, profoundly inquiring, sensitive and nuanced performance confirms that the greatness of the Goldbergs goes far beyond the keyboard, opening the floodgates for new interpretative possibilities of this ingenious work, all wrought of the same harpsichord score.... Once again, Myrna Herzog has challenged audiences to free themselves of pre-conceptions, to listen with “new ears”." Pamela Hickman (Read the full review here.)
"Excellent performance... significant artistic achievement... one could appreciate Bach’s contrapuntal ingenuity in all its glory". Ury Eppstein, The Jerusalem Post
A counterpoint of earthy and religious love, set by composers from East and West. Spring awakens the sweet fire of love, causing lovers to burn in blind passion; Yemenite Jews celebrate their love for the bride of Shabbat with wine, candles and spices; faithful rejoice in the love of the Lord.
Alon Harari countertenor
Marina Minkin harpsichord
Myrna Herzog viola da gamba
In the program, a Neapolitan cantata by Handel, music by Vivaldi, Bach, Buxtehude´s famous Jubilate Domino, Yemenite songs.
Intro
The Latin American Baroque is the result of a fascinating cultural fusion.The music combines the Spanish elegance with the contagious rhythms of Africans and Gypsies, the prosody and ethnic dance of Indians, and the flavor of “the streets” festivities, creating a Baroque sound unique in the world.
In the program: music by Gaspar Fernandes, Melchior de Torres, Juan de Vaeza Saavedra , Juan Hidalgo, Francisco Escalada, Gaspar Sanz ; folk songs from Codex Trujillo (written down from the sounds in the streets of 18th century Peru) and Indian songs.
Artists
Michal Okon (soprano)
Adi Silberberg (recorders, crumhorns, rauschpfeife, colascione)
Omer Schonberger, Ian Aylon (baroque guitar, charango, colascione)
Rony Iwryn, Nadav Gaiman (percussion)
Myrna Herzog (director, rabel, viola da gamba, crumhorns, recorders)
Reviews
"This is Baroque music with a difference. One owes a debt of gratitude to the Phoenix Ensemble of period instruments, directed by Myrna Herzog, for introducing the local audience to this music... infectiously exuberant, energetically rhythmic and good-humored, except for some more solemn and occasionally melancholic pieces. The vocal music was particularly enchanting, presented by Michal Okon's bright soprano whose guttural inflection contributed the appropriate sense of authenticity. Roni Ivryn emerged as a fabulous percussionist on a never-ending array of sound sources. A New World of music led the audience back to a remote 17th century." Ury Eppstein, The Jerusalem Post
Intro
A Christmas program having as central piece Charpentier's famous Messe de Minuit pour la Nuit de Noel (1694) based on folk songs (Messe de Minuit pour la Nuit de Noel). In this delightful work, the composer ingeniously incorporates 11 folk melodies into the liturgical context.
Also in the program, Charpentier' pastoral In Nativitatem Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Canticum ( Song of the Birth of Our Lord Jesus) and Michel Corrette's Christmas Symphonies.
PHOENIX performs from yet unpublished scholarly editions of the two works made respectively by Prof. David Schildkret of Arizona State University (Midnight Mass) and Dr. John Powell of University of Tulsa (In Nativitatem), to whom we are indebted.
Artists
Conductor and Musical director: Myrna Herzog
Soloists: VOCE PHOENIX
Hadas Faran-Asia: soprano
Ella Wilhem: alto
Eliav Lavi: tenor
Guy Pelc: bass
Ensemble PHOENIX :
Jonathan Keren and Katya Polin - baroque violins
Adi Silberberg – recorder
Shira ben Yehoshua - baroque oboe and recorder
Myrna Herzog & Sonia Navot - viols
Inbar Navot - baroque bassoon
Adiel Shmit – baroque cello
Marina Minkin - harpsichord
Eliav Lavi - theorbo.
Reviews
"The instrumental mix [was] rich and variously colored in timbres, the singers – both solo and in ensemble – blending smoothly with the instruments. There was fine teamwork. Herzog’s reading of the work encouraged suave dynamic changes, embellishments, coquettishly swayed rhythms, gentle dissonances and florid endings, offering her singers and players opportunities for personal expression. There is much to be said for one-to-a-part playing and singing: when performed well, no gesture is lost in this ideal, transparent setting. Such was the case in PHOENIX’s delightful concert".
Pamela Hickman's Concert Critique Blog
Intro
The Musical Offering is a set of compositions based on a theme devised by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote it in 1747, a few months after his visit to the Royal Palace in Potsdam, and printed it at his own expenses as a present for the king.
The work, together with The Art of Fugue, is certainly one of the landmarks of the musical repertoire of all times.
Intro
The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge), BWV 1080, is doubtless one of the masterpieces composed by the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). In this work, began in 1740 and left incomplete, the composer takes a simple theme in d minor and explores it contrapuntally in every possible way.
Written in separate staffs for each voice, the work was not assigned to any specific instrument. It has been performed by a wide variety of instruments, which include harpsichords, organ, piano, modern and baroque orchestras, string quartet, computer, guitars, brass, recorders, saxophones, viols and baroque strings. Actually, one of the fun things is to perform the work in different instrumentations, and thus reveal different facets of it. One can never get tired of playing or listening to it, in all its multiple possibilities.
In addition, the Art of Fugue has a magic, a mystical, quasi-esoterical charm which is impossible to put into words. One can say with confidence that it is a real privilege - for all of us - to play such a music.
Here Myrna Herzog says a couple of words in Hebrew, about the project.
We are indebted to Christian Mondrup from WIMA: Werner Icking Music Archive for having prepared specially for us a contemporized, practical edition of The Art of Fugue based on Werner Icking's urtext edition. This new edition is now available to all at https://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Kunst_der_Fuge,_BWV_1080_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian)#504803.
Artists
Yasuko Hirata – baroque violin
Alma Mayer - cornetto, recorder
Rachel Ringelstein – baroque viola
Sonia Navot – tenor viol
Myrna Herzog - bass viol, musical direction
Reviews
"I enjoyed it profoundly... Listening with the score in hand, it was wonderful to see how the “Great concert/spiritual enchantment and important experience. Beautiful and enlightening.” Yossi Mar Chaim, HaBamah “It was, indeed, a highly intelligent and professional performance, held together by accuracy, fine musicianship, the beauty and richness of Baroque instrumental timbres and a deep sense of reverence for composer and music. A live performance of this quality brings players and audience together in an experience that reaches far beyond analysis.” Pamela Hickman, Israel early music scene On the YMCA Bach Festival performance: "The PHOENIX players’ approach to the Art of Fugue was intelligent, articulate and devoted as they delved deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Bach’s counterpoint, its possibilities and expressive potential. " Read the full review by Pamela Hickman here.“A historical landmark in the performance of the "Art of Fugue" in Israel… we must thank the members of "Ensemble PHOENIX " for the experience (chavaiah).” Hagai Hitron, HaAretz
ensemble brings this complex musical text to life." Omer Shomrony, Globes
The year of 2017 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830), the most important Brazilian colonial composer. His music was never performed in Israel until PHOENIX's premiere of his remarkable Requiem at the Abu Gosh Festival. This was the closing of a cycle, since PHOENIX's director, Myrna Herzog, was responsible for the first performances of the music of José Mauricio on period instruments in 1986, in Rio de Janeiro, at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1808 the Portuguese Royal family fleeing from Napoleon arrived to Brazil. Scattered in several ships,the whole court, with their servants and the Royal Chapel, 15,000 people bringing a library with more than 60,000 books, landed in the port of Rio! Their stay, which lasted until 1821, brought about a true cultural revolution. Our program focuses on the music created and performed in Rio de Janeiro during this time. The works are performed on period instruments, including classical clarinets, classical bassoons, classical flute, natural horns, early timpani and period string instruments. For the lundu, popular instruments such as the rabeca and the cavaquinho are used.
We wish to convey our hearty thanks to Philippe Castejon & Castejon Music Editions, Monica Lucas, Roberto Rodrigues & Conjunto de Música Antiga da USP, and to Musica Brasilis, for their invaluable help with the musical scores. We thank the Abu Gosh Festival, whose support gave us the courage to undertake this huge project. This project has the support of the Embassy of Portugal in Israel and of the Camões Institute.
José Maurício’s famous Requiem was made for Queen Maria I (1734 - 1816), nicknamed the Pious and the Mad, Queen of Portugal and Algarves from 1777 until her death, and also Queen of Brazil from 1815. Maria lived in Brazil for eight years, and died in the city of Rio de Janeiro in March 20, 1816. The Requiem Mass by José Maurício was ordered by the Senate Chamber and was sung at the Church of Ajuda, on the occasion of the celebration of the religious service for the Queen. It is reported that such service would have exceeded in magnificence all other expressions of sympathy for the death of Queen. Some days after the Queen's death, the composer's mother also passed away, and it is believed that for this reason the Requiem is such a powerful and emotional work. The Brazilian composer Damião Barbosa de Araújo (1778-1856) had an important musical and compositional activity in Brazil in the first half of the 19th century, as Chapel Master in the Cathedral of Bahia. He came to Rio de Janeiro at the invitation of the Portuguese King D. João VI and worked in his court in Rio. He is presently considered the second most important colonial Brazilian composer after José Maurício. His Memento is not a liturgical work, but a prayer done in the house of those who had just passed away (in the velório, when people come to pay a last homage). The lundú or lundum was a popular sensuous African dance brought to Brazil by Bantu slaves. The one in our program was collected slightly after the writing of José Maurício's Requiem, by Spix and von Martius in their Reise in Brasilien (Travels in Brazil). In a long journey, between 1817 and 1820, the botanist Johann Baptist Von Spix and the zoologist Carl Friedrich Philipp Von Martius traveled thousands of miles through the country, visiting São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco, Piauí, Maranhão, Pará and Amazonas.
José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) – Abertura em ré Damião Barbosa de Araújo (1778-1856) - Memento Baiano Marcos Portugal (1762 – 1830) - Cuidados, Tristes Cuidados Lundum - danse collected in Brazil by Spix and von Martius, 1817-1820 Marcos Portugal - Qual piacere e qual diletto, Aria for soprano with clarinet obbligato from the opera Oro non compra amore (1804) José Maurício Nunes Garcia - Requiem for the Portuguese Queen Maria I (1816)
Soloist singers: Sofia Pedro (soprano, Portugal) - Michal Okon (soprano), Ron Silberstein (tenor), Yair Polishook (bass) Clarinet solo: Gili Rinot Special guest: Ricardo Rapoport (Brazil) – classical bassoon & Brazilian cavaquinho Moshe Epstein – classical flute Gili Rinot, Nurit Bloom – classical clarinets
Soprano Sofia is a founding member of Ensemble Seconda Prat!ca. With this group, she has performed in the Festival d'Ambronay and Festival du Sablé (France), Sevicq Brezice (Slovenia), Oude Muziek Festival (The Netherlands), Internationale Händel-Feestspiele Göttingen and Heinrich Schütz Musikfest (Germany), Stockholm Early Music Festival (Sweden) and in Latvia and Portugal. The ensemble's first recording, "Nova Europa", was released in 2016 by Ambronay Éditions. She has attended masterclasses of Dame Emma Kirkby, Isabel Rey, Claron McFadden, Ira Siff, Alexander Oliver, John Potter and Elena Dumitrescu Nentwig.
"This unique event of the 51st Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival (June 3rd 2017), researched and conducted by Brazilian-born PHOENIX founder and director Myrna Herzog, offered festival-goers a totally new listening experience, with the ensemble transformed into a full orchestra performing on period instruments from the Classical period.
Intro
The program is a musical trip to Rio de Janeiro c. 1815, when it was the seat of the Portuguese Empire. It is a showcase of what was heard in Rio's streets, salons, at the Opera, the Church and the concert hall. In addition to José Maurício Nunes Garcia's breath-taking Requiem of 1816, it includes music by Portuguese composer Marcos Portugal, by Damião Barbosa de Araújo from Bahia (active in Rio during this period), and a popular dance, the Lundu.
Haifa, the Holiday of Holidays Festival
December 9th at St. Joseph’s Church, HaMeginim 78, Wadi Nisnas, at 11 am.
BUY YOUR TICKET HERE!
Tel 03-7316561 On the program
The most important works of José Maurício were composed after the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family to Brazil in 1808, when the composer became also Master of the Portuguese Royal Chapel, emigrated from Lisbon. In 1811 the Portuguese opera composer Marcos Portugal (1762 - 1830) arrived to Rio, and shared with José Maurício the responsibility for the music of the Portuguese court in Brazil, sharing the post of "Mestre da Capela Real".
Born in Lisbon, Marcos Portugal had immense success as an opera composer, achieving international fame still unsurpassed in the history of Portuguese music. He came to Brazil in 1811 at the request of King John VI and remained in Rio de Janeiro when the Portuguese court returned to Portugal, in 1821, continuing to serve his pupil, the king’s son, as he became the First Emperor of Brazil, D. Pedro. Marcos Portugal died a Brazilian citizen in Rio de Janeiro in 1830. The composer wrote the first official national anthems of both Portugal and Brazil and left a major mark in Brazilian music. Representing the lighter side of the life in Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the 19th century, we shall present one of Portugal's modinhas (music typically heard at Rio's salons) and an aria from his comic opera Oro non compra amore - his first opera staged in Rio, the same year he arrived, at the birthday of Queen Dona Maria I, on December 17, 1811.The program
ז'וזה מאוריסיו נונס גרסיה (1767-1830) - פתיחה ברה
דמיאן ברבוסה דה אראוז'ו (1778-1856) - ממנטו מבאהיה
"מרקוס פורטוגל (1762-1830) - "דאגות, דאגות עצובות
לונדום - ריקוד עממי מברזיל לפי ספיקס ופון מרסיוס 1817-1820
מרקוס פורטוגל - אריה "איזו הנאה ואיזה תענוג" מתוך האופרה "זהב לא קונה אהבה" (1804) לסופרן עם קלרנית אובליגטו
(1816) ז'וזה מאוריציו נונס גרסיה - רקוויאם למלכה הפורטוגזית מריה הראשונה Artists
Conductor, musical director, cello & rabeca: Myrna Herzog
The Upper Galilee Choir (directed by Ron Zarchi)
The PHOENIX orchestra on period instruments:
*Yaakov Rubinstein, Sharon Cohen, Noam Gal, **Lia Raikhlin, Nahara Carmel, Fabiol Cezma – violins
Miriam Fingert, Tami Borenstein– violas
Lucia D’Anna – cello
Antonino Tertuliano – doublebass
Ricardo Rapoport (Brazil) - classical bassoon & cavaquinho , Alexander Fine – classical bassoon
Alon Reuven, Ruty Varon – natural horns
Nadav Ovadia – timpaniSofia Pedro (Portugal)
Born in Lisbon, Sofia recently graduated with a bachelor degree from the Conservatory of Amsterdam, in the class of Sasja Hunnego. Her earlier singing studies started in the voice class of Joana Levy, which she concluded with a maximum classification. She was a finalist of the 9th Classical Singing competition of the Rotary Club Foundation, in Portugal, in 2016.
Sofia has performed the following roles for staged operas in her previous schools: Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni), Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica (Puccini), Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart), Carmen in Carmen (Bizet), Belinda and 2nd Woman in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Bruxa/Witch in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck), Maman and Libellule in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel), and Eurydice in Orphée et Eurydice (Gluck). In 2017, Sofia sang the role of Spirit in Cendrillon (Massenet) with the Dutch National Opera Academy, and she currently prepares the opera Fairy Queen (Purcell) with ensemble Seconda Prat!ca. She has performed as a soloist in Requiem (Mozart), Kaiserrequiem (Fux), Petite Messe Solennelle (Rossini), Messiah (Händel), Gloria (Vivaldi), Magnificat em Talha Dourada (Eurico Carrapatoso) and Missa Crioula (Ariel Ramirez).
Sofia holds a bachelor degree in Archaeology, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa.Ricardo Rapoport (Brasil/France)
On completing his bassoon studies with Noël Devos in his home city of Rio de Janeiro - where he also studied guitar, viola da gamba (with Myrna Herzog), composition, conducting and architecture — RICARDO RAPOPORT joined the Symphony Orchestra of Brazil. In 1984 he moved to Paris to refine his playing with Maurice Allard at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, where he was awarded a Premier Prix in bassoon.
After completing a chamber music course with Maurice Bourgue, he received a French government grant to follow the Advanced Studies in Music programme at the Banff Center in Canada, concentrating on baroque bassoon. Since then, alongside his chamber-music and solo work, he performs and records regularly with various Early Music ensembles, such as Le Parlement de Musique, Les Musiciens du Louvre, La Petite Bande, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Ensemble Matheus and Le Concert Spirituel, among others.
Ricardo Rapoport also has a passion for contemporary music, which he frequently performs, and has been involved in various contemporary premiere performances. He currently teaches bassoon, baroque bassoon and chamber music at the Conservatoire National de Région in Rennes, and is regularly invited to participate in festivals and masterclasses in both Europe, Brazil and the US.
His world-premiere recording of Antoine Dard's "6 Sonatas for Bassoon and Bass Bass" (1758), published by the Ramée label with Pascal Dubreuil at the harpsichord, was a great success for critics and audiences [5 diapason, 4 Monde de la Musique, 5 Rivista Musica (Italy), 5 Rondo (Germany), etc.].Reviews
Sofia Pedro’s luxuriant, easeful and substantial voice reached all corners of the Kiryat Yearim Church, as she eyed her audience, teasing it with the word-painting of [Marcos Portugal’s] love-struck aria. Gili Rinot's playing of the clarinet obbligato role was suave and richly shaped.
Herzog's performance of Garcia's Requiem presented the rich possibilities of the work. Her large orchestra highlighted the score's vibrant colors. The result was an orchestral canvas of great richness and subtlety, offering as much interest to the players as to the audience. The Upper Galilee Choir gave a most impressive, finely detailed, well blended and meaningful performance, its choral sound fresh and flexible. The vocal quartet’s teamwork (Pedro, Evers, Segev, Polishook) produced a sympathetic and sensitive blend. Tenor Oshri Segev's full and mellow timbre and musicality were well suited to the work. Especially imposing was Yair Polishook's performance – his vivid mix of bass timbres, careful pacing and compelling dramatic sense drawing the listener with him into the work’s emotional fabric.
Myrna Herzog's production of Garcia's Requiem was electrifying. Once again, she has introduced Israeli audiences to repertoire not previously heard in this country and in the most uncompromising and authentic manner. In this ground-breaking event of great interest and beauty, the audience was swept into the excitement experienced by the artists involved in the performance."
Pamela Hickman's Concert Critique blog.
Read the whole review here.
Intro
Myrna Herzog and David Shemer share with us their loving interpretation of the complete Bach sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord, which they have been playing together for 25 years, and which do not cease to amaze them.
Three diamonds crown the repertoire of the viola da gamba: they are the three sonatas originally composed for this instrument and harpsichord by J.S. Bach (1685-1750).
The sonatas were written between 1717 and 1723, when Bach was at the service of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (himself a gamba player), a period which witnessed the creation of some of his most important instrumental music: the Brandenburg concerts, the Well-tempered Clavier, the sonatas and partitas for solo violin, the sonatas for violin and harpsichord, the cello suites.
The viola da gamba sonatas are in fact trio-sonatas, written in a polyphonic manner. Here, the harpsichordist is more than an equal partner: he is in charge of two of the three-parts polyphony. Such intricate writing and delicate equilibrium of forces is better heard at the original version for harpsichord and viola da gamba – for when performed on modern instruments it tends to sound like a cello solo with keyboard accompaniment, what is by no means the case.
Bach’s choice of the viola da gamba for this cycle of sonatas is consistent with his use of the instrument, thoughtfully employed in his works as an expressive tone color, often saved for special dramatic moments, as in his settings of St. John and St. Matthew's Passions. The different tonalities allocated to each sonata (each with its inherent affect according to the baroque Doctrine of Affections) contribute to their very different character, from the flamboyant jolliness of the first sonata, through the pensiveness of the second, to the deep magnificence of the third. This sonata, with its concerto-like structure and poignant adagio, may be considered the highpoint of all viol literature and closes the cycle in an extraordinary way.
It is believed that J.S. Bach wrote the viol sonatas for his friend, the viol player Christian Ferdinand Abel (1682-1761), who worked in Köthen, where his son Karl Friedrich Abel (1723 -1787) was born. Karl Friedrich later studied with Bach in Leipzig, and his association with the Bach family persisted when he moved to London, where he became a partner Johann Christian. Bach in the creation of the fashionable Bach-Abel concerts. The unaccompanied viol works presented tonight belong to a collection of pieces reportedly played for Abel’s best friends “by the fire-side”, with “a Bottle or two or good Burgundy before him, and his Viol di Gambo within his reach”, “when he took flight into fine airs, double stops and arpeggios”, and displayed “his most wonderful musical Powers”.
Currently Myrna performs them on an original 18th century German 7 string viol made during Bach’s time, restored in Holland by Fred Lindeman and Floris-Jan van der Voort.
Reviews
”The performance was rendered with facility and elegance that left no trace of the works’ technical demands. Melodic phrases were virtually sung on the instruments and shaped with loving care. The artists’ mutual attentiveness highlighted the frequent responsorial episodes, and contrapuntal textures were clear, without gliding into academic dryness, but radiating the joy of music.” Ury Eppstein, The Jerusalem Post.
“Myrna Herzog and David Shemer are both key figures and pioneers in Israel’s musical life, in particular on the early music scene. In this prestigious Bach recital, they struck a fine balance between personal- and joint expressiveness. The concert was, indeed, one of the highlights of the 2012-2013 concert season".
Pamela Hickman's Concert Critique Blog
Intro
MOZART: THE COMPLETE FLUTE QUARTETS
on period instruments
Moshe Aron Epstein on an original classical flute built in 1780
Tali Goldberg violin
Rachel Ringelstein viola
Myrna Herzog cello
Although Mozart referred to the flute as “an instrument I cannot bear”, he wrote wonderful music for it in his symphonies, concertos and operas. His four flute quartets are unique musical gems, displaying great diversity, charm, pathos and also humor!
As Neal Zaslaw points out, "these flute quartets are central to the classical flute repertoire – and deservedly so:
the composer’s characteristic charm, wit, beauty, elegance are in evidence throughout. The works convincingly embody the desire, which Mozart expressed in a letter to his father, to compose music that engages trained musicians, while also
entrancing lay listeners without their necessarily knowing precisely why."
Listen to them in the warm sonority of the period instruments, performed by some of Israel's most distinguished chamber musicians.
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
The Complete Flute Quartets on Period Instruments
|
משה א. אפשטיין חליל קלאסי |
Moshe Aron Epstein classical flute |
|
טלי גולדברג כינור |
Tali Goldberg violin |
|
רחל רינגלשטיין וִיוֹלָה |
Rachel Ringelstein viola |
|
מירנה הרצוג צ'לו |
Myrna Herzog cello |
Quartet in G major KV 285a (1777 – 78) רביעייה בסול מג'ור
Andante – Tempo di Menuetto
Quartet in C major KV Anh. 171 (285b) (1786 – 87?) רביעייה בדו מז'ור
Allegro – Andantino (Theme and 5 Variations) – Adagio – Variation VI – Allegro
Quartet in A major KV 298 (1786) רביעייה בלה מג'ור
Thema. Andante – Variation I – Variation II – Variation III – Variation IV
Menuetto – Trio – Da capo Menuetto
Rondeau. Allegretto grazioso, mà non troppo presto, però non troppo adagio. Così-Così – con molto garbo ed espressione
Quartet in D major KV 285 (1777) רביעייה ברה מג'ור
Allegro – Adagio – Rondeau. Allegretto
Reviews
"Hearing these Mozart gems performed on period instruments and in a small hall was a true delight. Live performance is also about seeing and experiencing the players’ communication with each other and with the audience. Ensemble PHOENIX’ informed, polished and profound performance was well appreciated by the audience." Pamela Hickman
Read the full review here.
Intro
The unusual program takes us into the extravagant Stylus Fantasticus, defined by Athanasius Kircher in the 1650 as “the freest and most unrestrained method of composing, especially suited to instruments. It is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject, it was instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues."
PHOENIX brings us again a premiere, this time of Marin Marais’s glorious La Gamme of 1723, an adventurous journey of modulations brought about by an apparently innocent C major scale. In the program other virtuosic works by Giovanni Antoni Pandolfi Mealli, Marin Marais, Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Muffat.
Lilia Slavni baroque violin
Marina Minkin harpsichord
Myrna Herzog viola da gamba
La Gamme!
La Gamme En forme de petit Opera (1723) is a work from the maturity of notable viol player and composer Marin Marais (1656-1728).
Written as a trio for violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord, this ground-breaking piece allocates virtuosic parts to each instrument. Marais writes a preface in French and Italian, where he gives several instructions and explanations, stating that "l'ouvrage que J'ay l'honneur de presenter au public m'interesse trop pour ne pas contribuer autant qu'il est possible a la veritable maniere de l'Executer (the work I have the honor to present to the public interests me too much not to contribute as much as possible to the true way of performing it)".
As James Johnstone points out, "the 45 sections of over half an hour of musical thought, in the key sequence C, d, e, F, g/G, a, b, C/c/C, b, a/A, G/g, F, E, d/D, C, contain a myriad of changing characters, metre and tempi as well as instrumental textures. Dances and forms explored include an allemande, gigues, chaconnes, fugues, and rondeaux. The viola da gamba is by turns an obligato virtuoso – witness the extended F Major chaconne during the ascent – and a reinforcer of the continuo bass line. Transitions, often merely a single bar in length, ease us from one ‘holding pattern’ tonality to the next position, or foothold, on this musical colossus".
Intro
What happens when unrestricted love – Divine and human - faces levity and infidelity?
From the admonitions of Jeremiah, through lightheartedness and betrayal, to the delighful flame of true love.
Music from Italy (by the Marcello brothers Benedetto and Alessandro, and the Brussels born Joseph-Hector Fiocco), Portugal (Marcos Portugal), Brazil (Ronaldo Miranda) and France (Michel Pignolet de Montéclair) including an original baroque setting of Maoz Tzur in homage to Chanukah.
Guest artists:
Sofia Pedro (Portugal) soprano
Ricardo Rapoport (Brazil/France) baroque bassoon & cavaquinho
Marina Minkin harpsichord
Myrna Herzog viola da gamba
Sofia Pedro (Portugal)
SopranoBorn in Lisbon, Sofia recently graduated with a bachelor degree from the Conservatory of Amsterdam, in the class of Sasja Hunnego. Her earlier singing studies started in the voice class of Joana Levy, which she concluded with a maximum classification. She was a finalist of the 9th Classical Singing competition of the Rotary Club Foundation, in Portugal, in 2016.
Sofia is a founding member of Ensemble Seconda Prat!ca. With this group, she has performed in the Festival d'Ambronay and Festival du Sablé (France), Sevicq Brezice (Slovenia), Oude Muziek Festival (The Netherlands), Internationale Händel-Feestspiele Göttingen and Heinrich Schütz Musikfest (Germany), Stockholm Early Music Festival (Sweden) and in Latvia and Portugal. The ensemble's first recording, "Nova Europa", was released in 2016 by Ambronay Éditions.
She has attended masterclasses of Dame Emma Kirkby, Isabel Rey, Claron McFadden, Ira Siff, Alexander Oliver, John Potter and Elena Dumitrescu Nentwig.
Sofia has performed the following roles for staged operas in her previous schools: Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni), Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica (Puccini), Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart), Carmen in Carmen (Bizet), Belinda and 2nd Woman in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Bruxa/Witch in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck), Maman and Libellule in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel), and Eurydice in Orphée et Eurydice (Gluck). In 2017, Sofia sang the role of Spirit in Cendrillon (Massenet) with the Dutch National Opera Academy, and she currently prepares the opera Fairy Queen (Purcell) with ensemble Seconda Prat!ca. She has performed as a soloist in Requiem (Mozart), Kaiserrequiem (Fux), Petite Messe Solennelle (Rossini), Messiah (Händel), Gloria (Vivaldi), Magnificat em Talha Dourada (Eurico Carrapatoso) and Missa Crioula (Ariel Ramirez).
Sofia holds a bachelor degree in Archaeology, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
Ricardo Rapoport (Brasil/France)
On completing his bassoon studies with Noël Devos in his home city of Rio de Janeiro - where he also studied guitar, viola da gamba (with Myrna Herzog), composition, conducting and architecture — RICARDO RAPOPORT joined the Symphony Orchestra of Brazil. In 1984 he moved to Paris to refine his playing with Maurice Allard at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, where he was awarded a Premier Prix in bassoon.
After completing a chamber music course with Maurice Bourgue, he received a French government grant to follow the Advanced Studies in Music programme at the Banff Center in Canada, concentrating on baroque bassoon. Since then, alongside his chamber-music and solo work, he performs and records regularly with various Early Music ensembles, such as Le Parlement de Musique, Les Musiciens du Louvre, La Petite Bande, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Ensemble Matheus and Le Concert Spirituel, among others.
Ricardo Rapoport also has a passion for contemporary music, which he frequently performs, and has been involved in various contemporary premiere performances. He currently teaches bassoon, baroque bassoon and chamber music at the Conservatoire National de Région in Rennes, and is regularly invited to participate in festivals and masterclasses in both Europe, Brazil and the US.
His world-premiere recording of Antoine Dard's "6 Sonatas for Bassoon and Bass Bass" (1758), published by the Ramée label with Pascal Dubreuil at the harpsichord, was a great success for critics and audiences [5 diapason, 4 Monde de la Musique, 5 Rivista Musica (Italy), 5 Rondo (Germany), etc.].
Reviews
"This was certainly a unique setting for what was to be a different kind of program, a program challenging two bass instruments to join - and strike a balance with harpsichord and the soprano voice. The quartet opened with a festive rendition of the Italian traditional melody of “Maoz Tzur” (Rock of Salvation). Sofia Pedro contended especially well with the Hebrew text!
Sofia Pedro’s rendition of Montéclair 's “Le triomphe de la constance” was dramatic, spontaneous and finely crafted with the extensive substantive solo passages for the bass viol played evocatively by Herzog... Ricardo Rapoport’s playing in Boismortier’s Sonata for bassoon was sympathetic, playful and good-humored; his splendid legato quality emerging warm and appealing as he created contrasts between the movements... Alongside Herzog’s vital and elegantly ornamented playing of Marcello’s viol Sonata, the harpsichord (Marina Minkin) added moments of textural and melodic beauty... In playing that was subtle, gently flexed, precise and decidedly gripping, Minkin highlighted the sophistication of J.S.Bach's solo keyboard arrangement of Marcello’s Oboe Concerto BWV 974, exposing its marvelous array of textures in the outer movements. Her eloquent playing of the Adagio (2nd movement) invited the fantasy to unfold via its harmonic course.
Pedro’s performance of the strophic, cynical “Você trata amor em brinco” (You are making fun of love) was coquettish and saucy. For her warm and appealing singing of Portugal's "Cuidados, tristes cuidados" (Worries, Sad Worries), a tender and unabashedly sentimental song, Ricardo Rapoport joined the ensemble with the beguiling and energetic sound of the cavaquinho (a small guitar played with a plectrum). Brazilian composer Ronaldo Miranda (b.1948)'s “Cantares”, a poignant and fragile love song, colored with just a touch of nostalgia, made for a delightful and tranquil end to the program. Offering new and inspirational musical experiences, Dr. Myrna Herzog continues to bring captivating repertoire to concert halls and with performance of the highest standard." Pamela Hickman's Concert Critique Blog
Read the full critique here.
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