sábado, 30 de diciembre de 2017

DÉMOS : LA MUSIQUE COMME PROJET DE SOCIÉTÉ

Parce qu’ils ont souhaité faire de l'apprentissage de la musique un projet de société, les orchestres Démos sont bâtis sur un dialogue unique entre deux cultures professionnelles : celle du champ social et celle du champ artistique.

par Marion Platevoet et Gilles Delebarre

Parce qu’ils ont souhaité faire de l'apprentissage de la musique un projet de société, les orchestres Démos sont bâtis sur un dialogue unique entre deux cultures professionnelles : celle du champ social et celle du champ artistique.
Le projet Démos (Dispositif d'éducation musicale et orchestrale à vocation sociale) est né à l’heure où les résultats des politiques de démocratisation culturelle successivement mises en œuvre depuis 1975, en termes d’accessibilité des outils culturels ou d’influence sur les problématiques d’insertion sociale, ne convainquaient plus. En dépit d’un volontarisme significatif, la tendance des porteurs de projet à travailler en silo a pu être identifiée comme l'un des principaux freins.
https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/magazine/demos-la-musique-comme-projet-de-societe
C’est pourquoi Démos, dans sa double exigence de renforcement du lien social et d’ouverture de l’accès aux pratiques culturelles, a été d’emblée élaboré par la Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris en partenariat avec Association pour la prévention sur le site de La Villette, associant ainsi une structure culturelle à une structure du champ social. Dans son acronyme, le « musical » et le « social » sont à égalité.

Chacun des orchestres Démos que compte le millésime 2017, 7e anniversaire du dispositif, reproduit cet équilibre. Si l’essentiel des opérateurs qui pilotent le projet sont des acteurs du champ culturel (85% d’entre eux, à ce jour), les 250 structures partenaires de Démos agissant au quotidien dans la vie des orchestres en accueillant les groupes d’enfants de leur territoire, sont en grande majorité des centres sociaux et des établissements d’animation socio-culturelle installés dans les quartiers classés prioritaires de la Politique de la Ville (70%).


Afin que l’activité musicale ne soit pas vécue par les enfants comme un phénomène déconnecté de leur quotidien et qu’elle infuse ce surcroît de sociabilité, de joie, de poésie, de curiosité qui est le sien au-delà des moments d’atelier (4h de pratique hebdomadaire) ou d’orchestre (chaque mois, de novembre à juin), Démos a proposé à des professionnels du champ social d’encadrer le projet au côté des musiciens. Et pour faire dialoguer ces cultures professionnelles différentes, chaque orchestre compte également un coordinateur territorial chargé de faire le lien entre les collectivités, l’équipe pédagogique composée de 14 à 25 musiciens et les référents sociaux, et de seconder les structures dans l’organisation de la vie de l’orchestre.

Les professionnels du champ social, qu’ils viennent de l’éducation spécialisée, de l’animation ou de l’éducation populaire sont les mieux à même de contribuer à la valorisation des enfants et de faire le lien avec les écoles, interlocuteur privilégié de la constitution des groupes comme du suivi individuel. Au sein du trinôme qu'ils formeront avec les deux musiciens intervenant en atelier, les référents sociaux seront les pilliers de la dynamique du groupe. Ce sont eux encore qui seront le relais auprès des familles, qui détecteront un comportement inhabituel chez l’enfant ou se pencheront sur des problématiques spécifiques liées à la vie du quartier. Ce sont eux enfin qui sauront animer les réseaux de professionnels du territoire tels que les Pôles de la Réussite Éducative, les assistants sociaux, les psychologues ou les services de prévention de la Ville, pour favoriser l’émergence d’une communauté éducative soudée, rassemblée autour des enfants.

Sur ce modèle de coopération inédit, la Philharmonie de Paris s’est donné pour objectif de créer plus de 30 orchestres constitués de 3 000 enfants de 7 à 12 ans n’ayant jamais pratiqué la musique. À la rentrée 2018, avec les nouveaux orchestres nés aux quatre coins de l’Hexagone et en Outre-Mer (en Bretagne, en Rhône-Alpes, en Guadeloupe, en Alsace, etc.), ce pari sera tenu.


https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/magazine/demos-la-musique-comme-projet-de-societe

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG: PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHILDHOOD FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND

The second in a series of thematic photography exhibitions, this display documents the experience and representation of childhood to coincide with Scotland’s Year of the Young Person 2018. Using photographs from the permanent collection of the National Galleries of Scotland, When We Were Young explores not only how the experience of childhood has changed over the years, but also how the portrayal of children has shifted too. Featuring daguerreotypes from the 1840s to digital prints from 2017, the exhibition is sure to delight visitors young and old. Part of Luminate Festival 2017.


https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/when-we-were-young-photographs-childhood-national-galleries-scotland

BARENBOIM AT THE BOULEZ SAAL IN 2018

Daniel Barenboim returns to Berlin’s newest chamber music hall, the Pierre Boulez Saal, for a diverse series of performances in 2018.



On 23 & 24 January, Barenboim presents solo piano recitals featuring Debussy’s Préludes. He appears with the Boulez Ensemble for a world premiere by Francesconi and Boulez’s Dérive 1 on 26 January.

Barenboim returns on 4 March for another appearance with the Boulez Ensemble, performing the music of Schubert, Eisler, and Schoenberg.

Two performances in April see Barenboim in trio recital with Michael Barenboim and Kian Soltani. They perform Beethoven’s Piano Trios in G Major and C Minor plus Goehr’s Largo Siciliano on 21 April, and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-Flat Major and Boulez’s Sur Incises on 26 April.

Barenboim closes out the 2017/18 season at the Boulez Saal on 3 July, performing a new work by Reimann – commissioned by the Daniel Barenboim Foundation – plus Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-Flat Major.


http://danielbarenboim.com/barenboim-at-the-boulez-saal-in-2018/

LOS OJOS DE BETTE DAVIS, LA MIRADA DE JOAN CRAWFORD

MATÍAS G. REBOLLEDO

Bette Davis (izq.) se lleva un cigarro a la boca mientras Joan Crawford lee el guion de "¿Qué fue de Baby Jane?" BETTMANN ARCHIVE

En el libro "Bette & Joan, ambición ciega", el periodista Guillermo Balmori repasa la vida y las desavenencias de las dos míticas actrices

Dicen los nutricionistas, que para eso lo han estudiado, que una dieta equilibrada es la clave para una vida larga y próspera. La pirámide alimenticia de esa mole ególatra y narcisista que es Hollywood siempre ha estado formada por tres grupos bien diferenciados: en la base están los jovencitos y jovencitas idealistas y confusos que, buscando el éxito, se dejan los escrúpulos por el camino; justo encima, montones y montones de billetes verdes y estatuillas varias que se queman por la noche y se vuelven a recomponer al amanecer; y, por último, coronando la estructura, un pico de magnates ególatras que oscurecen todo el diagrama. La histórica enemistad entre las actrices Bette Davis y Joan Crawford es, sin lugar a dudas, el menú perfecto con el que nutrirse en la meca del cine. Todos los elementos de la pirámide se entremezclan ahora en el libro Bette & Joan, Ambición ciega (Notorius), obra del periodista y fundador de la editorial, Guillermo Balmori.La historia del enfrentamiento entre ambas figuras titánicas del cine de entreguerras es un tema recurrente en la cultura popular moderna. No en vano, el gurú del morbo televisivo Ryan Murphy orquestó recientemente una recreación de la historia de odio, fama y rencor entre ambas actrices. Susan Sarandon en el papel de Bette Davis, Jessica Lange en la piel de Joan Crawford. Feud, que así se llama la excelente serie, opta a cuatro Globos de Oro en la gala del próximo 7 de enero.


Crawford (izq.) era la hermana paralítica de Davis en "¿Qué fue de Baby Jane?" (1962)

Al tratarse de un producto televisivo y, en consecuencia, elíptico, muchos elementos de esta célebre trifulca del cine se omiten o se cambian. Ambición ciega ahonda mucho más en la historia personal de las dos actrices, trasciende su condición profesional y nos ofrece un perfil pormenorizado de dos mujeres únicas. Irrepetibles.Las luchas de ego entre las divas Davis y Crawford solo se pueden entender gracias a su bagaje personal. Balmori cuenta en el libro que Bette (nacida Ruth Elizabeth) provenía de un ambiente deprimido pero estable que le permitió formarse como una actriz de método. Joan (su nombre real era Lucille Fay Le Sueur) sufrió hasta abusos sexuales a cargo de su padrastro y llegó al cine de rebote, bailando en pubs del hampa y posando para fotógrafos de dudosa reputación. Sea como fuere, ambas compitieron en igualdad de condiciones por llegar a ser la diva absoluta de la industria del celuloide. Davis, con las cartas de la actriz consabida e intensa que repudia el oropel hollywoodiense; Crawford, con la seducción como arma de destrucción masiva y el atractivo innato de quien se sabe deseado.Las tensiones entre ambas comenzaron a iluminar sus carreras cuando apenas acababan de empezar. Bette Davis se curtió en la compañía teatral de George Cukor, director luego de cintas cumbres del cine americano como Historias de Filadelfia o My Fair Lady. Allí, una joven Crawford buscó su sitio, pero los flirteos de la Davis con Cukor hacían imposible que brillase cualquier otra estrella. Este hecho, anecdótico, solo sería la chispa de una mecha tejida con mucho mimo y que terminó en una bomba tan mediática como mítica. Hablamos, como no, del rodaje de ¿Qué fue de Baby Jane? La película que firmó Robert Aldrich es el referente universal del proceso creativo problemático, el caos fílmico por antonomasia y uno de los desastres mejor documentados de la Historia del cine.El rodaje, por culpa del productor Jack Warner y pese a la negativa del director, se convirtió en un auténtico circo. Debido a las presiones del magnate del estudio, Aldrich se vio obligado a dejar que todas las escenas se rodarán en un plató abierto. Cualquier periodista podía visitar los estudios y fue así como las crónicas de la periodista Hedda Hopper copaban las portadas de la época.«Se coloca unos pechos falsos tan puntiagudos que algún día me sacará un ojo», le espetaba en la prensa Davis a Crawford, vanidosa aunque interpretase a una discapacitada a punto de morir de inanición. «Es tan vieja que en mi siguiente película interpretará a mi madre», le respondía Joan al día siguiente. Uñas fuera.Para jolgorio de todos, la maniobra publicitaria de la Warner salió bien y en 1962 la película se convirtió en un auténtico éxito de crítica y taquilla. Davis incluso fue nominada al Oscar, premio del que siempre reivindicó su nombradía.Nunca se supo si se llegaron a reconciliar o no, ya que cada una contó un final diferente de la historia. Una historia llena de odio, ambición y pasión por el cine y por la fama. La historia de una actriz tan talentosa como soberbia y la de una estrella que quería serlo a toda costa. Bette y Joan. Joan y Bette. El duelo de divas más intenso que haya vivido Hollywood.

http://www.elmundo.es/cultura/cine/2017/12/29/5a45440622601df83e8b45fe.html

RICCARDO MUTI AND NEW YEAR’S CONCERT. ONLY FOR RICH PEOPLE, ELITES AND SECESSION MOUVEMENT FOLLOWERS

CONCIERTO BASTANTE DE OFICIO. MUTI ENTRE DISPLICENTE Y EN OTRA DIMENSIÓN. NO SE ENTREGÓ. NO ES SU ALMA NI SU REPERTORIO HABITUAL LO QUE ESTABA EN JUEGO.
INEFABLE RETRANSMISIÓN DE RADIOTELEVISIÓN ESPAÑOLA. HASTA EL AÑO QUE VIENE, PUES.

Riccardo Muti interview with Dennis Polkow 12/17 — As Riccardo Muti prepares to conduct the 2018 annual Vienna New Year’s Concert that will be heard and seen across more than 90 countries, he discusses the behind-the-scenes process, its cultural milieu and considers the melancholic nostalgia embodied in the Viennese waltz with Chicago journalist Dennis Polkow in an all-new radio broadcast. The interview also includes details about a new asteroid named after Muti, as well as a look back and ahead at CSO tours and repertoire.


Muti aims to evoke ‘smiles and tears’ in Vienna New Year’s concert

As Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director Riccardo Muti prepares to conduct the 2018 annual Vienna New Year’s Concert that will be heard and seen by as many as a billion people across more than 90 countries, he discusses the behind-the-scenes process, its cultural milieu and considers the melancholic nostalgia embodied in the Viennese waltz with Chicago journalist Dennis Polkow in an all-new radio broadcast from which the following interview was taken. The interview also includes details about a new asteroid named after Muti as well as a look back and ahead at CSO tours and repertoire. (Click here to hear the full interview.) For the Vienna concert, the local  air times are Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. CST on WTTW-Channel 11, with repeats on Jan. 2 at 1:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., and on radio, Jan. 1 at 10 a.m. via WFTM-FM (98.7).

It’s an unseasonably warm November afternoon near the end of Riccardo Muti’s late fall Chicago Symphony Orchestra residency, but the music director is already looking weeks ahead to New Year’s Day: “As soon as I get home [to Italy], I have to immediately spend an entire day doing parts,” says Muti. “Where I want there to be repeats, where not, for two hours of music. There are so many details to doing a Vienna New Year’s concert that the public never knows.”

Muti ought to know. He has done four New Year’s concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the first back in 1993. “We have a long partnership,” says Muti, “47 years together: longer than any other orchestra I have worked with.” That lasting relationship began in 1971 at the Salzburg Festival at the invitation of Herbert von Karajan, then the festival’s artistic director.

In those years, concertmaster Willi Boskovsky led the annual VPO New Year’s concerts, which he did from 1955 until 1979; as general manager and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera, Lorin Maazel took over from 1980 through 1986, after which a new system emerged where celebrated conductors were brought in annually, beginning with Karajan in 1987.

“When I was first asked to do the New Year’s concert,” Muti recalls, “for several weeks I said ‘no’ and refused to accept because I thought this concert should be conducted by conductors who have the music of the Strauss family or Lanner or Suppé in their blood. I asked, ‘Why should a Neapolitan be on the podium in the Musikverein on the first of January? I am from Napoli, I am not from Vienna.’

“They reminded me that Napoli and Vienna were very much connected culturally, that the Neapolitan school and Viennese school were two very important capitals in the world of music at that time. They also brought up the fact that the Queen of Napoli was Maria Carolina, the daughter of Maria Teresa. So they found all sorts of connections.

“The president of the Vienna Philharmonic said to me, ‘You have just recorded all of the Schubert symphonies with us, and from the way you conduct Schubert, which is the typical Viennese composer, that is the direct path, the door, to Johann Strauss. We musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic feel that you are the right person to do this music.’ ”

That first Muti-led New Year’s concert was such a success that he was offered a second in 1997, and again for 2000, the millennial year, “a great honor,” Muti concedes. “Everybody wanted to do that concert. That was very special not only because of the new millennium, but because for the first time, China was directly connected, so suddenly the number of people who saw the concert was more than 1 billion around the world.

“After 2000, I said, ‘That’s it,’ because all the other concerts seemed less important. But then I accepted in 2004 because they wanted me to do it, but then I stopped. People maybe don’t realize that the New Year’s concert is very demanding, very heavy and tiring for the preparation because you have to learn a lot of music. Despite what people can think, listening to the beautiful melodies of Strauss, it’s not easy music to conduct properly. So after 2004, I said, ‘Basta, that’s it. No more.’ And in fact, I didn’t do any more. But this time, again they came asking, ‘Please, Maestro, do it once more, because it’s been a long time since you have done it.’ So finally, I accepted last year to do this concert.

“When you have a busy schedule like I have with opera, concerts, recordings, music directorship of a major orchestra like the Chicago Symphony, you don’t have so much time free to study. You have to study new scores for contemporary music, modern music, old music that is new for you, so time free to study for a long program — because it’s two hours of music — requires a lot of energy and sacrifice. Every time you have one hour or two hours free, even if you have been busy during the day, you have find time to study, to be prepared when the end of December arrives. Then you have to go to Vienna, you arrive the 27th, then you have the rehearsal on the 28th and then the 29th.

“Dec. 30th is the first concert that is a sort of a general rehearsal, then the 31st is a concert in the evening, with television, so they practically film the entire program just like the first of January. The concert ends at 10 o’clock in the evening, then you have two hours for the end of the year. Maybe you want to celebrate a little bit: you cannot drink too much, just a glass of champagne, possibly of good quality, and then you go to bed after midnight at 1 o’clock. And the next morning at 8 o’clock, you have to be ready and in good health, in good spirits, in good energy, because at 11 o’clock sharp, the concert starts.”

There will be two nods to Muti’s Italian heritage in the 2018 New Year’s Concert: Johann Strauss’ William Tell Galopp and Johann Strauss Jr.’s Un ballo in maschera Quadrille, which Muti describes as “parodies of Rossini and Verdi, but done with great respect,” along with the signature waltzes long associated with these concerts.

“I can conduct a waltz, but I cannot dance a waltz,” Muti admits. “Sometime many years ago, my wife tried to convince me to, but then I was dancing on her feet, so she said, ‘That’s enough,’ and we stopped. But I find it very natural to conduct the waltz, but as pure music. The waltz is always in three: one, two, three; one, two, three. But the Viennese joke that the Viennese waltz is: one, two and maybe three; one, two and maybe three! There is a sort of hesitation or rubato that is not easy. You can try to imitate, but then it becomes a caricature of what for the Viennese is so, so natural. I’m sure I don’t have any Viennese blood, but on the other hand, as the Viennese used to say, ‘Who is a Viennese?’ A Viennese is a combination of Italian, Austrian, German, Czech, Hungarian, the former Yugoslavia, it is the combination, a melting pot of central Europe.

“What is important when you do the Viennese waltz is that you must feel that it is a combination of life and death. We must not forget that this music has a nostalgia, a melancholy, that comes from the period, that we are near the end of an empire. Not only do you feel this in the music of Bruckner, but the music of Mahler, and before that, in the music of the Strauss family: that something is about to disappear. And so it’s a combination of life and death, of smiles and tears together. That is the most difficult part of this kind of waltz. They are not full of joy. Maybe this is one of the reasons why on the first of January, this music enters into the homes of every county in the world and fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the New Year because there is a hope for the future that is coming, and yet a nostalgia for the past that is gone.”

Award-winning veteran journalist, critic, author, broadcaster and educator Dennis Polkow has been covering the CSO across various national and international media for more than 30 years and Riccardo Muti since his arrival as CSO music director in 2010. His Con Brio “with spirit” column in Newcity Chicago highlights multi-genre aesthetic sensitivity.


http://www.riccardomuti.com/en/2017/12/22/intervista-cso-soundsstories/

viernes, 29 de diciembre de 2017

EXHIBITION CELEBRATES WARTIME ARTIST FAMOUS FOR MILLS & BOON COVERS

Elizabeth Friedlander, whose design career flourished after she fled Nazi Germany, honoured in Ditchling retrospective



Elizabeth Friedlander’s drawings for a Mondadori ad in 1937. Photograph: Elizabeth Friedlander/Courtesy of the Ditchling Museum
Maev Kennedy
Few will recognise the name Elizabeth Friedlander but many may be surprised to discover they have examples ofthe artist’s work at home, in the thousands of books, cards, posters and advertisements she designed, or even text set in Elizabeth-Antiqua, the font she created.

Perhaps Friedlander’s most famous work is the classic volumes of the 1950s and 60s she designed for publishers including Penguin, Reader’s Digest and Mills & Boon.

An exhibition opening at the Museum of Art and Craft in Ditchling, East Sussex, in January, the first devoted entirely to her work, will include some of her more recognisable work as well as delicate handpainted geometric designs for covers and endpapers, and commercial work including technical drawings for cosmetics.


A printed paper pattern from the Friedlander archive. Photograph: Elizabeth Friedlander/Courtesy of the Ditchling Museum

When she fled Nazi Germany in 1936, and then a few years later Italy as the net tightening on Jews made it impossible for her to work, she took three treasures with her: two portfolios of her work and an early 18th-century Klotz violin that had belonged to her mother. The items – which stayed with her through her years working in England, and travelled again to her final home in Ireland – will be on display for the first time at the exhibition.
It will also include some of her wartime work – designs for food and clothing stamps – but she also worked forging Nazi documents and stamps for the Political Intelligence Unit. She designed Christmas cards for her colleagues in the unit, but only those in the know could have realised in 1942 that “The Season’s Greetings from Room 609A” came from within a secretive government department based at Bush House in London. She was EF; EH was the author Ellic Howe, an expert in psychological warfare and black propaganda.

The exhibition is curated by the artist Katharine Meynell, who had never heard of Friedlander until she found a volume of correspondence and original artwork among the papers of her grandfather Sir Francis Meynell.

He was a poet, printer, socialist and conscientious objector, co-founder of the Nonesuch Press as well as a friend and patron to Friedlander. He gave her invaluable networking connections when she came to Britain on the only visa she could get, as a domestic servant, after repeatedly being refused admission to the United States even though she had offers of work there.
In the early 60s, Friedlander followed her friend Alessandro McMahon to Kinsale, in Cork, where she made a circle of artistic friends including the writers Elizabeth Bowen and Molly Keane, and grew exotic vegetables from seeds imported from Italy. Though failing eyesight limited her work, she continued to create striking pieces for local friends and firms including a map showing the best sites for fishermen.

Little was signed, and there are only a handful of photographs, a couple of self-portrait sketches from her art student days, and one biographical study by Pauline Paucker published in a limited edition. Meynell spent months going through uncatalogued archive material in Cork: “I only wanted to put in the things that were really brilliant,” she explained.

When Friedlander died in 1984, she left her archive and the violin to her friend Sheila Goldberg, the wife of Gerald Goldberg, who became the first Jewish lord mayor of Cork. They in turn left the archive to University College Cork, which has loaned most of the original graphic work, and the beloved violin to the Cork School of Music, which loans it every year to an outstanding pupil. The violin will be heard again in England for the first time in more than half a century when it is played at a recital during the exhibition.

The Elizabeth Friedlander exhibition will be at the Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft from 6 January until 29 April 2018


https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/dec/26/exhibition-wartime-artist-famous-mills-boon-covers-elizabeth-friedlander

REFUSING THE END INTERVIEW WITH CLAUS GUTH —

By Yvonne Gebauer
Invited to stage Handel’s oratorio, Claus Guth has chosen to seize the bull by the horns and question the very notion of fatality that governs the work: “Must it really be this way?”



The myth of Jephtha deals with the question of oaths and sacrifice. How do these themes speak to us today?
In effect, before leaving for battle against a neighbouring tribe, Jephtha promises God to sacrifice the first living creature he encounters on his return. Having won the battle, the first living thing he meets on his way back is his only daughter. Not wishing to break his oath, he sacrifices her. At first sight, this story appears archaic, dry and brutal, very disturbing also since, in all evidence, it stages a human sacrifice. The reception of the work has been marked by this for centuries and the story, which offers no explicit moral message, has been the subject of much questioning. Is this an illustration of religious faith misunderstood, or that of human hubris? Is Jephtha a criminal or a victim of circumstances? It is significant that, even at this time, human sacrifice was not common in Israel where, on the contrary, it was forbidden; it was a more widespread practice among Israel’s enemies.
How do you interpret his gesture?
We have chosen to narrate part of the story's antecedents as of the overture, in order to show where Jephtha was coming from and the burdens he had to carry during his life. What do we know of the reasons that prompted Jephtha to make this vow? The Bible tells us nothing on this subject … After undergoing so many setbacks, after all those years spent isolated from the world, in utter solitude, he finds himself in a state of euphoria, of excessive pride, of hubris. The fact that he has been sought out, that he begins to feel that reparation might be possible, excites a sort of megalomania in him. He believes himself to be in a position to negotiate with God, offering to sacrifice a human life in exchange for his help in securing a victory.

How have you compensated for the Bible’s omissions?
We have drawn on the novel Jefta und siene Tochter (Jephtha and his daughter) by Lion Feuchtwanger, a work that delves into the historic sources whilst opening up an imaginative dimension within the narrative. In it one learns something absolutely essential to the story: Jephtha is illegitimate, a marginal, an underdog whose family history reveals some important incidents. At the point at which the oratorio begins, many things have already taken place: Galaad, his father and a celebrated judge, had three sons (in Handel, there are two) only two of whom are legitimate, Jephtha, the youngest, being the son of a prostitute. He is, nevertheless, his father’s favourite; but when his father dies, Jephtha is disinherited and denied succession to the position of judge. His family casts him aside. He has to leave his homeland and seek refuge in the desert where he remains for eighteen years.
Handel’s oratorio deviates from the myth…
Yes. The end of the Bible story is brutal and shocking and shows Iphis sacrificed by her father. When the work was first performed, such an ending was unthinkable for an oratorio: so an angel appears, saving Iphis’s life before the sacrifice can take place. This raises questions for us about the reasons for this deliverance. The appearance of the angel is without doubt the librettist’s most interesting modification of the biblical narrative. We have taken this angel very seriously and completely literally, but we also asked ourselves the following question: in what state of delirium must one be to see a vision of an angel? What is the psychological state of those about to witness the appearance of an angel or the performing of a miracle?


https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/magazine/refusing-the-end

ROMA, PANTHEON A PAGAMENTO DAL 2 MAGGIO 2018: PER ENTRARE BIGLIETTO DA 2 EURO

Firmato l'accordo tra il Vicariato e il Mibact. Continuerà a essere libero l'accesso per l'esercizio del culto e le attività religiose. Il vicesindaco Bergamo: "Chiederò la revoca del provvedimento". Franceschini assicura: "Nessun ticket per le altre chiese della Capitale"
Entrata a pagamento per il Pantheon a partire dal 2 maggio 2018. Lo stabilisce l'accordo firmato tra il Vicariato e il Mibact alla presenza del ministro della cultura Dario Franceschini e del Vicario per la Diocesi di Roma monsignor Angelo De Donatis.

Il biglietto costerà 2 euro e servirà al Mibact per far fronte a una migliore valorizzazione e tutela del monumento, alle spese di manutenzione e a garantire una maggiore sicurezza durante le visite. Continuerà a essere libero l'accesso per l'esercizio del culto e delle attività religiose.



Franceschini aveva annunciato l'intenzione di inserire un biglietto di ingresso ai primi di gennaio, facendo scoppiare un vespaio di polemiche col vice sindaco e assessore alla Cultura, Luca Bergamo, da subito contrarissimo. Ma a quanto pare Franceschini ha mantenuto la promessa.

"È un momento triste, prodotto dall'idea che il godimento dell'arte sia principalmente ad appannaggio del turismo invece che veicolo per la formazione delle persone e del loro benessere", è stato il commento del vicesindaco sull'introduzione sul ticket.

"Nuovamente - ha aggiunto Bergamo - il Governo adotta decisioni che hanno impatto sulla vita della Capitale senza cercare un accordo con chi l'amministra. Mi auguro che il ministero abbia pensato ad accantonare fondi da trasferire a Roma per coprire i costi delle misure aggiuntive di vigilanza urbana e polizia amministrativa che necessariamente deriveranno dalla formazione di code sulla piazza. Chiederò la revoca del provvedimento".

Dal ministro dei Beni Culturali nessuna replica, ma rassicurazioni sulla portata del provvedimento che, sottolinea, non interesserà altri edifici religiosi oltre al Pantheon. "Nell'accordo che abbiamo firmato con il vicariato - precisa Dario Franceschini - c'è scritto esplicitamente che il tema riguarda soltanto il Pantheon e non altre chiese". E aggiunge: "A Roma, per scelta, le chiese sono gratuite, a differenza di altre città dove ce ne sono altre con ingresso a pagamento per i turisti".

Il Pantheon attira oltre 7 milioni di visitatori l'anno con punte giornaliere di 30mila persone ed è tra i monumenti più visitati d'Italia. Diffusi dal Mibact i dati degli ingressi tra il 2010 e il 2016: sono oltre 46 milioni le persone che hanno varcato la soglia della basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres. Il picco proprio nel 2016, con 7.994.505 visitate.


http://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2017/12/11/news/roma_pantheon_a_pagamento_dal_2_maggio_per_netrare_si_pagheranno_2_euro-183773127/

jueves, 28 de diciembre de 2017

MI MADRE LA OCA … TIENE MUCHO QUE CONTAR. TEATRO REAL DE MADRID


Las funciones tendrán lugar los días 29 y 30 de diciembre y 2, 3 y 4 de enero, siempre a las 12.00 horas, en la Sala Principal.
La bella durmiente, Pulgarcito, Serpentino verde y La Bella y la Bestia, protagonizan este espectáculo navideño del Teatro Real.
Este concierto animado cuenta con los dibujos de Iban Barrenetxea y la voz de Fernando Palacios, responsable también del guion
Mi madre la oca estará interpretada por la Orquesta Titular del Teatro Real y el coro Siyahambas, bajo la dirección musical de Carlos Chamorro
El público dispone de información ampliada sobre el espectáculo en la página web del Teatro Real a través del siguiente enlace: Guía didáctica
 http://bit.ly/TR-MadreOca
Con la colaboración de la Fundación Bancaria "la Caixa"  y el apoyo del Banco de España
Madrid, 26 de diciembre de 2017.- Cuentos de hadas, música mágica, dibujos animados… un mundo de fantasía para despedir el viejo año y recibir el nuevo con toda la familia en el Teatro Real, bajo el hechizo de Maurice Ravel y su historia para niños Mi madre la oca. Un concierto para niños que devolverá a los adultos a su infancia los días 29 y 30 de diciembre y 2, 3 y 4 de enero, siempre a las 12.00 horas, en la Sala Principal.
Este nuevo espectáculo de El Real Junior, pensado para toda la familia, cuenta con Fernando Palacios como responsable de la narración y el guion, basado en el original del compositor francés. La dirección musical correrá a cargo de Carlos Chamorro, quien estará al frente de la Orquesta Titular del Teatro Real y el grupo vocal Siyahambas. Las ilustraciones han sido diseñadas por Iban Barrenetxea, con animación de Iñaki García e iluminación de Lía Alves.
Maurice Ravel compuso esta fantasía musical para los hijos del escultor Cyprian Godebski, a cuya familia se sentía muy unido, y con los que solía jugar frecuentemente. Para ello, buscó la inspiración en algunos de los cuentos más conocidos de la literatura francesa: La bella durmiente del bosque y Pulgarcito, de Charles Perrault; Serpentino verde, de Madame Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy; y La Bella y la Bestia, de Madame Leprince de Beaumont.



A modo de prólogo acompañará las palabras del narrador la Pavana para una infanta difunta, hermosa y sencilla melodía que el compositor dedicó a su mecenas, Winnaretta Singer, princesa de Polignac. Los pasos de esta antigua danza llevarán al espectador hasta las aventuras de cada personaje, una ensoñación que finalizará con dos fragmentos extraídos de otra obra del maestro francés, La tumba de Couperin.
Como cierre, el público descubrirá las sorpresas de Los cuentos al revés y la divertida historia de Un sueño muy pesado, en un final muy divertido que compensa la delicadeza y ensoñación de todo el concierto.
Mamá Oca es, según la tradición, una mujer adulta, generalmente de campo, que cuenta historias y poemas para los niños. Así, Ravel, emulando esta entrañable figura, recrea los momentos estelares de los cuentos infantiles: cuando se duerme la Bella, cuando los pájaros se llevan las migas que ha dejado Pulgarcito, cuando Feuchilla se baña y cuando la Bestia se convierte en príncipe, dando forma a un cuento único.

Graça Prata Ramos

EXHIBITION HIROSHI SUGIMOTO: GATES OF PARADISE

First Rotation: Through November 17, 2017
Second Rotation: November 21, 2017—January 7, 2018


This fall, explore one of the earliest, and largely unknown, encounters between Japan and the West in the 16th century, as seen through the eyes of artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. In celebration of Japan Society's 110th anniversary, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Gates of Paradise charts the story of four Japanese boys, who were swept up in the tide of religion, commerce and politics during the first Global Age and sent to the princely and papal courts of Europe. Journey in their footsteps through Sugimoto's new monumental photographs of the sites they visited, and navigate the germination of cultural exchange between East and West with classical masterpieces of visually hybrid (nanban) art from Japanese and American collections.


https://www.japansociety.org/page/programs/gallery/sugimoto-gates-of-paradise

À JÉRUSALEM, DONALD TRUMP AURA UNE STATION DE TRAIN À SON NOM PRÈS DU MUR DES LAMENTATIONS

"En raison de sa décision historique et courageuse de reconnaître Jérusalem comme la capitale de l'Etat d'Israël".
À Jérusalem, Donald Trump aura une station de train à son nom près du mur des Lamentations.

TRUMP - Israël va donner le nom de Donald Trump à la station de train qu'il entend construire près du mur des Lamentations, haut lieu du judaïsme situé dans la Vieille ville à Jérusalem-Est annexée, a décidé le ministre des Transports.

Le ministre, Israël Katz, a décidé, mardi 26 décembre, d'adopter les recommandations d'un comité visant à prolonger jusque dans le quartier juif de la Vieille ville la future ligne à grande vitesse entre Tel-Aviv et Jérusalem, et à établir une station à quelques dizaines de mètres du mur des Lamentations, ont indiqué ses services dans un communiqué consulté mercredi par l'AFP.

Cet arrêt s'appellera "Donald John Trump", a décidé le ministre, "en raison de sa décision historique et courageuse de reconnaître Jérusalem comme la capitale de l'Etat d'Israël et de sa contribution au renforcement du statut de Jérusalem comme capitale du peuple juif et de l'Etat d'Israël".

En remerciement d'une décision "historique"

Donald Trump a décidé le 6 décembre de rompre unilatéralement avec des décennies de diplomatie américaine et internationale, et de reconnaître Jérusalem comme capitale d'Israël.

Cette décision a provoqué une large réprobation internationale et des violences qui ont causé la mort de douze Palestiniens dans les Territoires. Elle a en revanche été saluée comme "historique" par presque toute la classe politique israélienne.

Les Palestiniens revendiquent Jérusalem-Est, annexée et occupée par Israël, comme la capitale de l'Etat auquel ils aspirent. Israël proclame tout Jérusalem sa capitale "indivisible". Pour l'ONU, le statut de Jérusalem, l'une des questions les plus épineuses du conflit, doit être réglé par la négociation entre Israéliens et Palestiniens.

Une prolongation de ligne à 1,69 milliard d'euros

Le mur des Lamentations est situé dans le quartier juif de la Vieille ville, directement en contrebas de l'esplanade des Mosquées. L'esplanade est le troisième lieu saint de l'islam, et le site le plus sacré pour les juifs, qui le révèrent sous le nom de Mont du Temple.

La nouvelle ligne de train doit relier les deux principales villes du pays en moins d'une demi-heure en 2018.

Le coût de la ligne de 56 kilomètres, qui desservira la ville de Modiin et l'aéroport Ben Gourion, est estimé à 7 milliards de shekels (1,69 milliard d'euros), selon le ministère.


http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2017/12/27/a-jerusalem-donald-trump-aura-une-station-de-train-a-son-nom-pres-du-mur-des-lamentations_a_23317738/