POLAND...at last!!!

Duo sTREga reunited:

Krakow and Zakopane!!!!

Wonderful Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

...and so, finally, I made it to Poland.  It has been on the wishing list for a while, but I guess I had to wait for the perfect time! And the perfect time it was: the Fall put on her best colours and I had some of the most welcoming experiences packed in four intense days of great music making. I am commenting on the "welcoming experiences" for a reason: it seems to me that while most cultures have some sense of pride in being good hosts, this is perceived at a very heightened level in Poland. I did say, half jokingly, that I felt like it was Christmas for four days and I was Santa Klaus on a rare visit, but in fact it wasn't so far from reality. I was literally inundated by gifts of flowers - at every concert and masterclass, even though everybody knew I was leaving after a few days-, all possible kinds of food - just in case I didn't feel like one thing, or maybe I wanted to try something different, and I had to try this special thing that is typical of here, which they have plenty of, be it on the street (the bruschetta-like zapiekanka), in a restaurant (szarlotka which, although delicious, I am assured is not quite the home-made apple pie of Maria - I'll need to check -, but still, YUMMY!!), on a mountain (oscypek: the squeaky cheese!), at home (with fancy porcini mushrooms!) -, and please, don't even thing of eating twice the same thing! -, infinite supply of chocolate that recreated itself in lovely boxes on my bed every time I was coming home, spectacular honey - which I already finished a while ago, so I now have to urgently go back to Poland! -, private performances just for me, to share the music, as well as private lessons to learn - and not succeed - how to say words in Polish,...just to name a few of these experiences. 

Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

In all this, one might thing that I wouldn't have the time to play a note, but NO!!
I arrived at Krakow airport where I was welcomed by tall smiley Kasia, made taller by a cheerful waving Canadian flag (thanks Becky!), and taken straight to a beautiful villa to play in a dance-filled concert organized by Gaia, Centrum Muzyki i Muzykoterapii, for some amazing kids, just look at this face:

Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

 Two days later we were driving to a Masterclass: two hours with fun talented students followed by a short sample of my upcoming performance.

 The same evening we had a photo shooting with amazing photographer Anna Dzięgiel - whose fun fun husband shared with us his tarantula's skin - the real tarantula was in a box eating a cricket! - which I managed to touch without passing out, but it was a close call: 

Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

Next morning we packed and drove to Zakopane, Szymanowski's home town and a beautiful little village South of Krakow, at the feet of the Tatra mountains and of the sleepy giant...and what a drive through the Fall-y hills!

Here is a proof that there, too, we didn't sit idly:

And the following day, my last day, we had another recital in Krakow:

Photos: Anna Dzięgiel

Thank you very much, dear Poland:

                 

                   do zobaczenia wkrótce!!!

Starting from the end of the Tour: the fabulous Zagreb Woodwind Trio

Montreal, La Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur (October 27th, 2013)
Toronto, Heliconian Hall (October 30th, 2013)

With the Zagrebački Puhački Trio, the Croatian Consul General and composer Michael Pepa

The end of the tour is a painful moment to face: coming home to the "normal" life after living for three weeks between incredible excitement, full and heightened concentration, and a generally high level of tiredness. Even doing your laundry in a normal laundry machine seems so uncool!

...but I am shamelessly lucky, and so some guardian angels decided to make it more bearable for me by taking a piece of tour back to Canada to smooth the first two weeks back...and I am not just talking about all the memories and experiences, but the Zagreb Woodwind Trio! which, by the way, in Croatian has for me an almost unrecognizable name: Zagrebački Puhački Trio. In passing, the other very interesting and unrecognizable name discovered on tour was skrzypce: which is the pretty violin in Polish...not to speak of my lovely country, which, also in Polish, is Włochy!

My whole Croatian experience has been distinguished by two main factors: one is meeting incredibly friendly, hospitable, and fun people with whom I felt immediate familiarity, and the other a distinguished encounter and performances for high government personalities. In Montreal with the Croatian Ambassador:

In Toronto, we performed for the General Consul of Croatia with whom we afterwards had a feast of cevapcici and calamari, and in Zagreb, well, among a sea of ambassadors and consuls, for the President of Croatia (!), and the Minister of culture Berislav Šipuš, who also happens to be a fabulous composer whose beautiful Preludes I was honoured to perform already twice!

With the Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and the Canadian Minister of State!!

With the trio, composers Berislav Šipuš and Michael Pepa, and violinist Lynn Kuo in Zagreb

 Incredibly, I had never visited Zagreb before, even though it is now, thanks to the new highway, only a few hours away from Trieste (a fact tested by my dad, who at the last minute decided to come to the performance and had some of the best times hanging out with ministers and consuls...and, most of all, with Michael and the Trio!). I found Zagreb incredibly beautiful, full of flowers, parks, fountains, colourful palaces and, what makes me feel right at home, the very strong stamp of the Austro-Hungarian empire in every building!

  

Performing Sid Rabinovitch in Zagreb!

 HVALA Zagrebački Puhački Trio!!!!!

A quick overview...

...of some of the Beauties that are expecting me!

After a few days in Lviv, Ukraine, I will be jumping to Sofia, Bulgaria:

Cathedral of St.Nedelya - of the Holy Sunday

I realize, the more I read about the history of each of the places I am going to visit, that those are all very "sensitive" areas, with tormented changes even in the most recent years. It is impossible to have a detached look at even the most limited aspect of each city and so, while I will immerse myself in whatever I will be able to absorb once there, I decided to follow one of my great loves: architecture! So here I found a few old pictures of how this cathedral looked in the past, only in 1880:

And then in 1922:

From Bulgaria we are quickly moving to Zagreb, Croatia:

And again, I found an old picture with the protective walls intact, from the 19th century, I can't think of any other place that have such protections for a cathedral:

EASTERN EUROPEAN TOUR!!!

Part One: Lviv, Ukraine

The first stop in my upcoming European tour is the gorgeous city of Lviv (or Lwow, if one likes the Polish name, Leopoli in Italian, or Lemberg, if one feels Habsburgishly nostalgic… being from Trieste, I have the feeling that will feel right at home!

I have never seen any of the places I am going to visit on the tour, nor, with exception for Croatia, set foot on any of the countries! So I am trying to do a little research to be as “efficient” as possible in my visits between rehearsals and performances.

 I found a great website, lviv.travel, where I took most of the information that I am reporting here, you can visit it for a much more detailed descritpion.

 

The city of Lviv was given her name in 1240 from Lev, the son of king Daniel, ruler of the Medieval Ruthenian kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia…imagine having a city named after you by your dad.  It was the capital of the Halychyna-Volyn Principality, and owed much of its power (this, throughout its history) to its location in the middle of the trading routes between the East and the states of central Europe. In case one wonders, Marco Polo never passed even close, as he would sail from Venice either to the Black Sea or the very east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. 

 Lviv’s history was mostly connected to Poland’s…the end of my tour, is it a sign? Lviv had one of the largest collections of Polish books, some major Polish Cultural centers, and it was a Polish king who granted the title of university to the existing Jesuit college which eventually became the modern university. As it is recounted, it was the King of Poland Kazimierz III who saw the beautiful hill by the Poltva river and decided to build his own castle there…the high Castle, resembling a lute! The King called German craftsmen and builders to build the most technologically advanced city at the foot of the hill. This Gothic and very German looking urban dwelling was completely destroyed by a fire in 1527 and the new Renaissance city was build by Italians!!

  The High Castle is of course gone now but, on a pretty tangent, while I was searching for images of the High Castle in Lviv, I found this (the Swallow’s Nest, as it is called, is near Yalta on the Black Sea, so I won’t be even near it, but still…any resembles with Miramare in Trieste??):

 

Apparently, every inhabitant of Lviv was a natural selling genius, this was also favoured by the rights of storage that the city obtained in 1379. This meant that every merchant passing through the city had to put his goods on sale in the city for three weeks and could carry on only what had not been sold, they could also not trade with themselves but only with locals. One of the most popular items in the market? Wine, of course! From Italy, Spain, Greece.

Some interesting random facts:

- Lviv was the first European city to have street lights -in 1853-, with kerosene lamps,

- Since 1555 there has been a decree to preserve the unique Klepariv cherries,

- The historic centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage list for its marvelous urban, architectural, and cultural fusion.

                                    I am excited!

Concert in Rome - Part One!!!

 

OUR PERFORMANCE AT TEATRO MARCELLO

 

 

 

Unlike last year, this year we spent the first five days in an hotel downtown, right by the Teatro Marcello where we had our concert. This was special not only for the obvious reasons of being able to walk around Campo dei Fiori every morning to buy some fruits for lunch, or walk through the Ghetto to rehearse, or run to throw some coins in the Trevi Fountain between rehearsals, or learn where the best water fountains were, to name a few...but also because we managed to meet real Romans. We made friends with two very nice guys at the nearby cafe (obviously one of the best in Rome as it was the meeting point at mid morning for the nice old ladies, the garbage collectors, ...) where we were greeted each morning with "the usual"!

 

 

 

Also, and this was really special, we were allowed to practice in the nearby San Nicola in Carcere, where we became friends with these incredibly nice people who let us work there each day for an immense number of hours, even when the church was closed. So, we had our own personal and historical rehearsal church where our music was often met with applause by the tourists visiting the wonderful church.

 

 

  San Nicola in Carcere

As most of other Roman buildings, even this church was build on top of something else and recycling most of its materials: in this case, three temples from around the III and II Century BC, of which one can still clearly see the columns on the outside of the church and all the foundations, when visiting the crypt underneath (like we did, of course!). In the crypt, it is still very visible the path between these three temples and in particular the spaces where most likely the money exchange had his shop. The church is indeed close to the river and most of the goods from the empire would arrive to the Capital here and people would need to exchange their money...very much like us today!

TEATRO MARCELLO - ROMA

In about a week Kasia and I will be playing in this incredible space!

In the intimate area between the Teatro Marcello (on the very left of this picture you can see the double row of arches) and the Temple of Apollo (two remaining colums are also relatively on the left of the picture) the Roman nights are brigthened by classical music, performed live by musicians from all over the world during the Summer months.

One of the oldest theaters in Rome, the Teatro Marcello was started under Julius Caesar, but was completed only by Augustus. In 13BC he dedicated this grandious theatre to the memory of his nephew, Marcello, whom he had designated as his successor, but who had died already in 23BC. - in case one wonders (we love comparisons and numbers), the Colosseum was started in 72 after Christ and finished in the year 80 and it could host about 50.000 people, while the Teatro Marcello, finished about 90 years earlier, had space for about 20.000. -

This is a reconstruction

It seems that it was still in use as a theatre in the V Century. Afterwards, a common practice for the Romans, parts of it were recycled for other constructions and, in the Middle Ages, it became a fortified castle! As a private palace, it changed several owners until it became property of the Orsini Family for seveal centuries, and, until very recently, various shops were allowed to utilize the spaces under the arches for their business. 


The concert series we are part of is called Concerti del Tempietto, though, not of the Teatro Marcello. The name is given by the three remaining white cloumns which belonged to the Temple of Apollo Sosiano (after Gaio Sosio who restored it in 34BC). The area was sacred to Apollo from long before that, though: already in 431BC there was a temple dedicated to the god; it was several times destroyed and changed, at one point also to make space for the Teatro Marcello. The temple completely disappeared until around 1930, when parts of its columns were found buried in the arches of the Teatro, when the theatre itself was being renovated. So, in a way, even if the Temple was mutilated by the construction of the Theatre, it was the latter's importance that gave life back to the former.

This is how it looks today and where we will play on August 8th!

TWO DAYS IN THE MUSKOKA DISTRICT – My Idea of North

I finally visited the Muskoka District in Central Ontario! 

For my friends who have never heard of it, this area is only a small part of the famous “cottage region”, where all real Ontarians spend all their weekends, sometimes just in the summer, sometimes all year along, lining up on the main highways with other thousands of people on Friday to go North, only to do the same in the opposite direction a few days later. 

I was lucky enough to visit a “real” cottage, built all in wood literally directly on the rocks that are so typical of this region: the red-shaded rocks of the Precambrian Shield. I drove for hours between hundreds of little, and not so little lakes, and hidden bogs covered in water lilies and floating logs.   

I also managed to spend a few hours jumping in and out of the fresh yellowy waters of a lake, rimmed by the typically white-bark of the birches (betulle, for my Italian friends), which accompany pines, maples and oaks all the way to the water line. Very much like in the paintings of the Group of Seven.

Tom Thomson - in the Northland

Thank you to all the wonderful new and old friends that made this experience possible! The loons will have to wait for next time!

BACH D MINOR KEYBOARD CONCERTO - Jesu Juva

An enormous THANK YOU! to all the dear friends that came to hear the pre-tour Bach Concerto “Run One”on Tuesday!

This Concerto is among the most beautiful works to be ever written, a long time dream of mine. One of those pieces in which you can experiment with and always enjoy new tempos, new colours, new proportions and relations.  One of those pieces that make their way in your brain and happily accompany you for days. One of those pieces made, on the surface, of very simple material that constantly changes direction, intention, meaning, and in so doing sounds always new and evolving, very much like life, really. 

I am incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to be performing it. Thank you again for being there for me and helping me in this continuous discovery!

Trevi Fountain, started in 1732

SONNET 128

 

How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap,
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more blest than living lips.
   Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
   Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.

...and this is me!

Day 1 at my Blog!

Well, this is quite exciting, but..first of all, WELCOME ALL to my very first Blog!

I wanted to have something simple and fast to update my friends on my activities, to be able to share my profound thoughts and new discoveries, in particular with an eye to the upcoming tour in the Fall in Eastern Europe.
Yes! I will be visiting at least four countries on which I had never set foot before.

I am bringing on tour any audio/video device I can think of, to be able to take you all with me, I am starting to study the history and geography of these places...not to speak of all the gorgeous music that I need to have ready!

More more more to come!

Baci,
Erika