Cantus Ansambl 18th March continues to tell it's "neverending story"

 

At the latest concert of the season, the Cantus Ensemble reminds us of some really important stories on the way through the 20th century. The concert begins by "entering the labyrinth", as Pierre Boulez once said, and there we are greeted by an iconic composition of that great French master of contemporary music narratives.

 

His composition Constellation-Miroir "like entering a labyrinth" from the never-completed Piano Sonata Nr.3, performed by Damir Gregurić will open the concert. Why unfinished? Until the end of his life, Boulez remained convinced that the story of that composition was never actually possible to complete.

 

One of the conductors at the concert, the artistic director of the Cantus Ensemble, Berislav Šipuš, explains that the idea of the program is based on the famous story about composing using the 12-tone technique; and, more importantly, how this famous compositional method never became a "finished story".

 

It is Šipuš who will conduct the earliest work on the program, Ode to Napoleon written by Arnold Schönberg, to pinpoint the sources on which many composers base their author's stories, even today. The role of the narrator - because in that piece there is a story! - will be taken over by the second conductor of the evening, permanent CA conductor Ivan Josip Skender, and the performance will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of that indispensable Austrian master of contemporary music.

 

Skender will then take us further down the road of serialism. He will lead the performance of the work Polifonica - Monodia - Ritmica by Luigi Nono, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of that Italian ruler of numerous musical tales. A prominent role in the performances of works by Schönberg and Nono will be played by the long-time "storyteller" in CA, our great pianist Srebrenka Poljak.

 

The end of the concert belongs to Ana Batinica, our fantastic flutist who has also been writing the pages of CA history for years, who will bring us back to Pierre Boulez through his composition Mémoriale, which in itself is a "never-ended story" and so perfectly rounds off the entire concert.

 

We will also be joined by Neven Resnik, a young Croatian composer from Varaždin. His new composition is called Émeraude, which translates as emerald, and it features another young author at the beginning of his career who is getting the chance to tell his story in the CA season.

 

Get your tickets on time at the Lisinski box office or at ulaznice.hr

 

Cantus Ensemble continues to tell its "neverending story" on 18.3.

- See you at the concert!