Friday, November 10, 2023 8 pm Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St. West
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Scenes in Sound
A gallery of beautiful vistas painted in gorgeous tone-colours
NURHAN ARMAN Conductor
LUISA SELLO Flutist
ALEKSANDAR SIMIC In Memoriam Canadian premiere
CHAN KA NIN Donas de Fuera (Women from the outside) world premiere
EZIO MONTI Rugiada - Elegy for Flute in G Canadian premiere
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition
Tickets: Adult $52; Senior $40; Student $20
Program Notes
In memoriam - Aleksandar Simić (1973)
Canadian premiere
Aleksandar Simić has written works for solo instruments, chamber and choral music, works for string and symphony orchestras, concertos and vocal-instrumental songs. He has composed music for the theatre, film, television and international sports competitions. In addition to his music, Aleksandar Simić is well known for his social involvement. For many years he has been the spokesperson for the humanitarian fund Svetlost, which led campaigns in Serbia such as the Safe Women's House and the National Campaign to Help the Blind. He initiated the Notes from the Heart project for free cultural content for seniors, needy and disabled persons with concerts to focus attention on action to support vulnerable groups. He contributes to the interreligious dialogue at the global level: he is a board member of the New York-based Pave the Way Foundation and the organization East West Bridge based in Belgrade. Since 2007 he has worked with the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Office of the Prosecutor for War Crimes in the Republic of Serbia as part of Operation Last Chance. Since 2010 his cooperation with the UN has included dozens of initiatives in culture, human rights, interreligious dialogue, environmental protection and peace activism, through the office of the Secretary General, the General Assembly, UNESCO, WHO, and UN projects such as the Alliance of Civilizations and Rio+20.
Recalling an entire season titled “Playing for Peace” during the orchestra’s first decade, Sinfonia Toronto is honoured to perform Mr. Simić's music to celebrate its 25th Anniversary.
Donas de Fuera, ‘Women from the Outside’ - Chan Ka Nin (1949 - )
World premiere
The subject of Donas de Fuera comes from Sicilian folklore. ‘Women from the outside’ are beautiful, tidy and dedicated to caring for their families, but at night they have the power to cast spells on people. Luisa Sello was a featured soloist with us during a concert when we premiered Chan Ka Nin’s Harp Concerto. Luisa loved Chan Ka Nin’s music so we asked him to write a piece for flute and string orchestra; and in turn Ka Nin seized the opportunity to delve into Italian tradition.
Born in Hong Kong, Chan immigrated with his family to Canada in 1965. After completing high school in Vancouver he studied composition with Jean Coulthard while pursuing degrees in both music and electrical engineering at the University of British Colombia. He earned Master and Doctor of Music degrees at Indiana University and then carried out further studies in composition at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. In 1982 he joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. His works have been performed by many Canadian orchestras, and he has received two JUNO Awards for Best Classical Composition.
Rugiada ‘Dew’ - Elegy for Flute - Enzo Monti (1929-2007)
Enzo Monti pursued early music training, then studied at the famed Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 1953 he moved to Milan and started working as a composer, becoming interested in electronic music, which was just opening new vistas at that time. Throughout his career he explored the possibilities of both electronic and acoustic instruments and collaborated with poets and painters. He was a professor of composition and theory at the conservatories of Venice, Milan, and Palermo and lectured in Europe and the US on electronic music and Italian music more generally. He was recognized with numerous awards including the Prix Italia in 1980.
Monti’s music has been performed by this evening’s soloist Luisa Sello at Carnegie Hall in New York, in Chicago, many European countries, England, Argentina, Ukraine, China, India, Japan and Russia.
Rugiada - Elegy for Flute is a hauntingly beautiful piece from Monti’s collection Sogni Lucidi, ‘Lucid Dreams.’ The title Rugiada, ‘Dew’ is intended to make us think of nature and renewal. The piece starts with the solo flute’s tones in the lower register, smooth and mesmerizing. Peaceful and serene, this piece invites the listener to meditate.
Pictures at an Exhibition - Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
String orchestra version by Robert G. Patterson
The orchestral version of Pictures at an Exhibition was originally a ten-movement piano suite Mussorgsky wrote in 1874 “in remembrance of Viktor Hartmann,” an architect and artist who was his close friend. They met in 1862 and bonded through their passionate Russian nationalism.
After Hartmann’s sudden death at age 39, the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg presented a memorial exhibition of his work with 400 of his drawings, watercolours, architectural designs and sketches for decorative objects.
Six weeks after visiting the exhibition, Mussorgsky completed his musical tour and wrote to the organizer, “My dear generalissimie, Hartmann is seething… sounds and ideas land in my head and I can barely manage to scribble them on paper…. The transitions are good on the Promenade… I want to work more quickly and reliably… so far, I think it is well tuned.”
Mussorgsky never orchestrated his piano score, leaving the work simply as an “album series.” But the vivid depictions and textural variety of his piano score caught the attention of conductor Serge Koussevitsky, who commissioned Maurice Ravel to write an orchestral version. It was premiered at the Paris Opera in October 1922 to great acclaim. The audience and critics were thrilled equally by Mussorsky’s fascinating story-structure and striking musical pictures and by Ravel’s magnificent orchestration. “Pictures” has remained highly popular, re-set in dozens of other versions from solo piano to chamber orchestra, concert band, brass ensemble, jazz band and many other combinations.
Biographies
Flutist Luisa Sello has performed as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician across Europe, the US, South America, Russia and Asia. She has performed with the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, I Virtuosi Italiani and many other orchestras in Italy as well as Wiener Symphoniker, Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Miami Symphony and Salzburger Kammerorchester. She has recently appeared across the US Midwest and in Italy, Scotland, Thailand and China.
In addition to two Masters degrees cum laude from the University of Udine in Italy, she holds two Doctorates, in Music Performance from the University of Bratislava, and in Comparative Linguistics from Udine University, with a doctoral dissertation on ''Robert Burns, poet and musician.” She also studied at the Accademia Chigiana in Paris and the Académie Internationale in Nice.
Luisa has given masterclasses at universities in Moscow, Madrid, Tallin, Zagreb, Köln, Buenos Aires and Edinburgh, the Shanghai Conservatory, Peking Central Conservatory, Juliet Academy in Verona, Vienna University Music School, Milan Artexperience, Novara Conservatory and Florida International University, often returning in subsequent years.
In 2004 she was appointed a Lecturer in Methodology of Musical Education at the Faculty of Education at the University of Udine. She is also a tenured Associate Professor of Flute at the Trieste Conservatory of Music, and has been a Visiting Professor at the Graz University of the Arts and the Vienna Academy of Music. She has taught at the Accademia Jacopo Napoli in Salerno; given advanced summer courses in Austria in Mistelbach, Murzzuschlag, Orpheus Academy of the Vienna Music School, and at the Pucisca Music School in Croatia; and has given special sessions for flute teachers at the Academy of Music in Dubrovnik. One of her most notable presentations is “How to play Bach on the modern flute.”
A Miyazawa Flute Artist, Luisa is the artistic director of the Amici della Musica Association in Udine. She has won literary awards for her poetry and published essays on the relationship between music and literature. Her recordings on the Stradivarius label demonstrate her eclectic virtuosity, spanning centuries and styles from Mozart and bel canto opera arrangements to Claude Bolling.
Sinfonia Toronto now celebrating its 25th season, has toured twice in Europe, in the US, South America and China, receiving glowing reviews. It has released four CD’s, including a JUNO Award winner, and performs in many Ontario cities. Its extensive repertoire includes all the major string orchestra works of the 18th through 21st centuries, and it has premiered many new works. Under the baton of Nurhan Arman the orchestra’s performances present outstanding international guest artists and prominent Canadian musicians.
Maestro Nurhan Arman has conducted throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and the US, returning regularly to many orchestras in Europe. Among the orchestras Maestro Arman has conducted are the Moscow Philharmonic, Deutsches Kammerorchester Frankfurt, Filarmonica Italiana, St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, Orchestre Regional d’Ile de France, Hungarian Symphony, Arpeggione Kammerorchester, Milano Classica and Belgrade Philharmonic.
Sinfonia Toronto respectfully acknowledges that we work in the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee peoples
