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Co-artistic director of Amici Chamber Ensemble, composer of two of the items on this system, and pianist, you could possibly say Serouj Kradjian’s music apply is on the coronary heart of this system for the upcoming live performance titled Diasporic Bridges. It takes place April 28.
“Could I add on these duties, the truth that I’m directing the movie.”
Together with the remaining members of Amici, Joaquin Valdepeñas, clarinet, and David Hetherington, cello, performers for the live performance embrace mezzo-soprano Rebecca Cuddy, soprano Aline Morales, violinists Erika Raum and Tiffany Yeung, violists Barry Shiffman and Steven Dann, guitarist Rob MacDonald, and percussionist Naghmeh Farahmand
DIASPORIC BRIDGES: A celebration of Toronto’s cultural variety
As an artist, Serouj blurs the boundaries between genres and cultural traditions, a central thread in this system, which incorporates music and an authentic movie.
Music is the bridge that weaves traditions collectively to create one thing new. Toronto’s numerous multicultural communities function the inspiration for the live performance.
On this system:
- Larysa Kuzmenko — Tetiana’s Journey to a New World
- Christos Hatzis — Anaktoria
- TJ Anderson — Shouts For Cello And Piano
- Serouj Kradjian — Bachianas Bossa-Tangos
- Gideon Klein — String Trio
- Serouj Kradjian — Rondo Alla Libanesa
- Alexina Louie — Bringing Down The Tiger From The Mountain
- Paco de Lucia (arr. Kradjian) — Zyryab
- Roberto Sierra — Songs From The Diaspora
- Ana Sokolovic — Serbian Tango
- Florence B. Value — Adoration
- Antoine Gerin-Lajoie — Un Canadien Errant
The themes of cultures coming collectively as a musical neighborhood is one which Serouj has been creating for some time. “It has preoccupied me for a very long time,” he stated. “One factor that I do very properly is mixing completely different types.”
With a background and schooling steeped in Western classical music, he views the repertoire as a part of a standard properly of creativity, one with out borders to fashion or ethnicity.
“[There are] no borders between the various kinds of music that I’ve heard,” he says.
The items he’s composed that seem in this system are proof of his aesthetic. Bachianas Bossa-Tangos relies on the Bachianas Brasileiras suites by Villa-Lobos. “It’s normally performed with eight celli and the voice,” he notes. “I put the Bossa Nova twist to it, and the tango rhythm.”
Into it’s combined “a bit of toccata and fugue by Bach”, and a vocalist singing what he’s calling gibberish, together with an accordion, and the tone is sudden and new. However, it’s background and pedigree don’t should be recognized upfront. “In a approach, I wish to transmit this message, that you simply don’t want to know the language so that you can really feel moved by the music that you simply hear.”
The Rondo Alla Libanesa relies on the music of his childhood. Born in Lebanon into an Armenian household, he grew up throughout the civil warfare interval.
“There have been two issues which, as a child, made me neglect what was taking place exterior,” he says. “One was Mozart, and the opposite was Fairuz.” The latter was often called the Queen of Lebanese music. He took one in every of her songs, and combined it with Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca — a late 18th century instance of style mixing.
“The combination grew to become Rondo Alla Libanesa.” Each types of music weave into one another, starting with Mozart’s classicism, then introducing Arabic melodies, rhythms, and harmonies. “It weaves each types.”
The world of Western artwork music is not any stranger to the blurring of style boundaries, from Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony to Liszt and his Romani music. Madama Butterfly was lauded at its premiere for the affect of the far east. “It’s all the time been there. It’s stayed within the European custom […] however now now we have an opportunity to unfold our wings much more.”
There’s a duty to make use of genuine sources for inspiration, however Serouj rejects any requires strict adherence to traditions or strategies. “I’m sort of over that. My ardour is basically re-imagining and constructing bridges.”
The brief movie that can premiere on the live performance begins along with his personal expertise. “I’ve two identities, the Armenian one and the Lebanese one,” he says, “neither right here, nor there.”
As an immigrant to Canada, now a 3rd identification, he notes a preoccupation with holding the traditions of the homeland alive. Music fills that want as one thing that may be transmitted from era to era. The movie explores these concepts, utilizing Toronto’s famously numerous neighbourhoods — Little Italy, Greektown, Chinatown, and so forth — as inspiration. He was additionally struck by the position of ladies in preserving traditions and tradition.
Larysa Kuzmenko’s piece Tetiana’s Journey to a New World is a private story in music. The brand new work is impressed by the tragedy that’s occurring in Ukraine, a couple of girl who escapes to Canada along with her youngsters. Kuzmenko is now a music trainer in Toronto. “It’s a journey to a brand new life,” he says. “It was wonderful to see that coming to life.”
Generally, mixing musical traditions entails some inventive thought. The sitar, in Indian music, comes from a convention of largely improvised music, in distinction with modern classical music, which has nearly eradicated improvising. “He doesn’t learn Western notation, and I don’t learn Indian notation… that was a problem,” he says. Serouj discovered a approach for it to work. “Give me your improvisation, and based mostly on the construction, I’ll write one thing down,” he remembers. “It was good, as a result of nobody relied on the opposite to react.”
Alexina Louie’s piece creates music based mostly on Chinese language Tai Chi strikes, with Ana Sokolovic’s Serbian Tango, and Adoration by Florence B. Value, incorporating African-American musical parts. Christos Hatzis Anaktoria makes use of lyrics based mostly on the phrases of Greek poet Sappho. There are Armenian songs, and a bit in regards to the displacement of the Acadians.
They arrive from completely different experiences — those that immigrated by selection, vs. those that escaped a foul state of affairs vs. Indigenous individuals who had been basically displaced in their very own nation.
“The movie is about all these other ways of trying on the diaspora.”
- Discover extra details about the live performance on April 28, and tickets, [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.
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