Elastic Chirping / Hajlékony ciripelés

One more day of rehearsals, then it is time for our concert with Ensemble Ulysses at the beautiful Royaumont. Talented young musicians from all over the world, and four composers from three countries make for a nice experience. Last year I have visited Royaumont Abbaye and Foundation for only one day, to hear and see the conducting masterclass of Peter Eötvös with pieces by Kurtág and Boulez. Now I have the pleasure to spend a week here with a busy rehearsal schedule focusing on new music. Check out the program here:
http://www.royaumont.com

After Royaumont, in the next two weeks I will be stopping by at Darmstadt, Germany, and an outdoor festival at Tiszató in Hungary. I will be doing a ‘Conduct Me’ session with the Armel Festival Orchestra. I will check back in here again in less than a month from Portland, OR.

Még egy nap intenzív próbákkal, aztán péntek este koncert az Ulysses Ensemble zenészeivel a gyönyörű Royaumont-ban. Tavaly csak egy napot voltam itt, akkor az Eötvös Péter féle karmesterkurzus zárókoncertjét hallgattam Kurtág és Boulez darabokkal. Idén egy hetet töltök itt a világ minden részéről jött fiatal és tehetséges zenészekkel, és 3 ország 4 zeneszerzőjének darabjaival. A fenti linken megtekinthető a program.
Régi épületek, új zene, gyönyörő nyári idő, remek ételek és francia vörösbor. Mi kellhet még? 🙂

Royaumont után beugrom még Darmstadtba, majd a Tiszatavi Fesztiválra, utóbbin az Armel Fesztivál zenekara élén a jól bevált és népszerű “Conduct Me!” programot csinálom. Kevesebb mint egy hónap múlva újra jelentkezem Portlandből.

No. 16 – Quartet

CONSTANZA:
Ah, Belmonte, my beloved!

BELMONTE:
Ah, Constanza, my beloved!

CONSTANZA:
Can it be? What rapture!
To hold you close to my heart
After so many days of unhappiness!

BELMONTE:
What bliss to find you!
Now all grief must vanish!
Oh how my heart rejoices!

CONSTANZA:
See how my tears of joy flow freely.

BELMONTE:
Angel! Let me kiss them from your cheek.

CONSTANZA:
Let them be the last ones.

BELMONTE:
Indeed, you shall be free this very day.

PEDRILLO:
Now, Blonda, have you understood?
Everything is prepared for flight.
We will be here on the stroke of midnight.

BLONDA:
Don’t worry, all will be ready,
I shall count the minutes;
If only the moment were here already!

ALL FOUR TOGETHER:
At last the sun of hope
Illuminates the gloomy skies.
Full of rapture, joy and bliss
We can see the end of our suffering.

BELMONTE:
Yet, in spite of my happiness
My heart within my breast
Is full of secret care.

CONSTANZA:
What is it, dearest? Tell me,
Quickly, explain yourself.
Conceal nothing from me!

BELMONTE:
They say ? they say ? that you …

CONSTANZA:
Go on!

PEDRILLO:
(indicating that he risks being hanged)
But Blonda, oh that ladder!
Are you really worth it?

BLONDA:
You fool, have you gone mad?
It might be better
If you had turned the question round!

PEDRILLO:
But Master Osmin??

BLONDA:
Let’s hear it!

CONSTANZA:
Will you not explain yourself?

BELMONTE:
They say??

PEDRILLO:
But Master Osmin??

BELMONTE:
That you??

PEDRILLO:
But Master Osmin??

BLONDA:
Let’s hear it!

CONSTANZA:
Go on??
Will you not explain yourself?

BELMONTE:
I will. But do not be angry
If, having heard a rumor,
I should dare to ask you
In fear and trembling
Whether you love the Pasha?

PEDRILLO:
(to Blonda)
Has Master Osmin never,
As one might well believe,
Exercised his lordly rights
Upon you as your owner?
That would a poor bargain!

CONSTANZA:
(to Belmonte)
Oh, how you grieve me!

BLONDA:
(to Pedrillo)
Here’s my reply to you!
(slaps Pedrillo’s face)

PEDRILLO:
Now I am in the picture.

BELMONTE:
(on his knees)
Constanza, oh forgive me!

BLONDA:
(angrily walking away from Pedrillo)
You don’t deserve me at all!

CONSTANZA:
(sighing as she turns away from Belmonte)
Have I remained faithful to you?

BLONDA:
(to Constanza)
The rogue has dared to ask
Whether I have remained true to him!

CONSTANZA:
(to Blonda)
And Belmont has been told
That I love the Pasha!

PEDRILLO:
(rubbing his cheek)
I’d take my dying oath
On Blonda’s fidelity!

BELMONTE:
(to Pedrillo)
Constanza is true to me,
There can be no doubt about it.

CONSTANZA – BLONDA:
When men become suspicious
And have no faith in our honour,
And look upon us with mistrust,
It is not to be borne.

BELMONTE – PEDRILLO:
When women are aggrieved
Because we think them fickle,
Then they are really true
And free from all reproaches.

PEDRILLO:
Dearest Blonda do forgive me!
Look, I put more faith in your fidelity
Than upon my own head!

BLONDA:
No, you can’t get away with it.
Suspecting me of doing that
With that foolish old buffer!

BELMONTE:
Oh, Constanza, my beloved!
Can you ever forgive me
For having asked such a question?

CONSTANZA:
Belmonte! How could you believe
That anyone could steal this heart
Which beats for you alone?

BELMONTE – PEDRILLO:
Oh, forgive me!

PEDRILLO – BELMONTE:
I am repentant!

CONSTANZA – BLONDA:
I forgive
Your remorse.

ALL FOUR:
Well, let this be the end of the matter!
Long live love
Let us value nothing else!
Let nothing kindle
The fire of jealousy.

That’s all. Problems solved, everybody lives happily ever after. Love prevails. In about 10 minutes real time, Mozart manages to bring two couples back together and clear all misunderstandings. Opera at its best. Whatever happens before and after is just another “pirate story” (full of amazing and genius musical numbers of course).

I am awestruck by No. -16 Quartet.

Conducting ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio’ energized me beyond belief. I am ready for the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. We’ll be playing Enescu Romanian Rhapsody #1, Dvorak Symphony #8 and the World Premiere of my newest composition: Clarinet Symphony at MUPA (Palace of the Arts), Budapest on February 3.

http://www.mupa.hu

I love my job!

May, The Month Of Bells

Two concerts with Symphony Silicon Valley this weekend, one down one more to go. On the program:
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Overture Fantasy
Debussy: Nocturnes
Rachmaninov: The Bells
http://symphonysiliconvalley.org
This is my second time conducting Rachmaninov’s “choral symphony”. Here is my blogpost from 2013 about my performance with the Hungarian Radio Symphony with an “all about bells” theme:
http://gregoryvajda.com
The sound of the famous “Russian Bells” of course can be found in Tchaikovsky’s Overture Fantasy as well, and also in the delicate sounds of Debussy’s mezmerising Nocturnes, with female voices added to the mix of the orchestra timbres.
More bells for me in the coming weeks. In between rehearsals and performances I spent most of my time in my hotel room while in San Jose, CA. Let me tell you, I was missing out on some beautiful weather. I spent several hours preparing my score and making additional cuts to Busoni’s opera, Doctor Faust. Two semi-staged performances are coming up at the Budapest Opera. The entire opera starts with the sound of Easter Bells and ends with the sound of more bells accompanying the strange and actually pretty blasphemous apotheosis of Dr. Faust.
http://opera.hu
I am happy to have some of my Huntsville friends in Budapest for the second performance. They will be on a cruise ship on the Danube and will be stopping by in Budapest just in time to see me conduct Doktor Faust. I am looking forward to showing them around in my hometown and to spend some fun times together in my neck of the woods.

The Bad, The Good and The Great

The GOOD news: tomorrow (Friday) Amadinda Percussion Ensemble and the Hungarian Radio Symphony is going to play an awesome concert under my direction.
http://mupa.hu
The concert will be broadcast live on the radio and can be listened to here
http://mediaklikk.hu
The broadcast starts at 1:35PM EST.
The BAD news: we won’t be premiering my piece, ‘Drums Drums Drums’.
The GOOD news: I will have a chance to do the World Premiere of ‘Drums Drums Drums’ in Huntsville one year to the date of tomorrow’s concert. I will keep you posted on Saturday, February 13, 2016!
The GREAT news: USA Today picked up on Georgia Bottoms and made it the News of the Day from Alabama (2 days ago)
Here is a FaceBook post about the USA Today preview
http://facebook.com
And here is the complete story on AL.COM
http://AL.com
Stay tuned for more Georgia Bottoms news!

40 is the new…

No, 40 is not the new 20. 40 is 40. Although I don’t think that #40 is any more important than #39 or #41(I remember doing a concert -being somewhat rebellious and silly at the same time- called “Gregory Vajda is 26 yo”) yet at age 40 I can’t totally escape thinking about what is behind and what is ahead. So to keep this light yet informative and hopefully blog-worthy I decided to list all the orchestras and ensembles I had the pleasure to conduct since I started my conducting career (my first real professional appearance dates back to 1998)
[Planning to write some more posts similar to this in the coming year.]
USA
Atlanta Opera
Baltimore Symphony
Camerata Houston
Charlotte Symphony
City Music Cleveland
Grand Rapids Symphony
Grant Park Orchestra
Houston Symphony
Huntsville Symphony
ICE: International Contemporary Ensemble
Kalamazoo Symphony
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Louisiana Philharmonic
Memphis Symphony
Milwaukee Symphony
Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra
Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra
Omaha Symphony
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Oregon Symphony
Philadelphia Orchestra
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Santa Barbara Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony
Seattle Symphony
Symphony Silicon Valley
Texas Festival Orchestra
Third Angle New Music Ensemble
Toledo Symphony
Vancouver Symphony

CANADA
Calgary Philharmonic
Edmonton Symphony
Kitchener Waterloo Symphony
Les Violons du Roy
Montreal Opera
Montreal Symphony
Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal
Toronto Symphony
Winnipeg Symphony

THE AMERICAS
Orquesta Sinfonico de Nacional Costa Rica
Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

EUROPE
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Ensemble Laboratorium
Hungarian State Opera
Hungarian Radio Symphony
Klangforum Wien
MAV Symphony Orchestra
Pannon Philharmonic
Savaria Symphony
UMZE New Music Ensemble
Vienna Philharmonic

AFRICA
Cairo Opera