CD - Music from the Balkans

Recently I was approached by Miroslav Hristov, a Bulgarian violinist living in USA who's currently a violin professor at the University of Tenesse in Knoxville and ass.concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Together with Vladimir Valjarevic, a Bosnian-Serb pianist who teaches at Mannes College of Music in New York City, they are planing to record a CD consisting in 5 works for violin an piano written by Balkan composers representing: Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and Serbia.
After a series of consultation the program will include: Enescu (RO), Vladigerov (BG), Skalkotas (GR), Zadeja (AL) and a piece by a young serbian female composer. The program will be first performed in Tenesse and New York City in May 2010 and after that in June they will travel to Bulgaria to record the music with the Bulgarian National Radio and perform as well in Bulgaria and Serbia.

Spring '09 Concerts - Tirana , Russe (BG)

Two acclaimed musicians: Andrea Giuffredi and Alain Trudel visited Balkan musical scenes.
On March 23rd, the renowned Italian trumpet player Andrea Giuffredi, appeared at "March Music Days 2009" Festival in Ruse - Bulgaria, in a trio performance with Bulgarian musicians, pianist Milcho Leviev and singer Vicky Almazidou. His virtuosity was highly regarded from the audience, critics and organizators.
One month later, in April 24th one of Canada's most appreciated conductor Alain Trudel, visited Tirana and directed the Albanian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra. It was the premiere of Bruckner's Symphony No.4 in Albania and abroad premiere of Trudel's composition "Rhea", a piece he wrote in 2008, commissioned by Toronto Symphony Orchestra based on ancient greek mythology.

A book written by June Emerson in 1994. She is the first western musician to have studied the evolution of Albanian music. Her book is the fruit of much travel in Albania and many meetings with performers, composers. She is founder of Emerson Edition and Albanian Musicians Trust in UK. I had a pleasure to meet her in Tirana on 2002 and to have her support in several my projects.

Chapter 1: Music in Albania

The urban art songs of 1930s can be considered the initial phase and a major part of Albanian classic music heritage . Urban song in the early 20th century could be divided into two styles: patriotic and the lyrical style. The lyrical style included a wide array of lullabies and other forms, as well as love songs. By the end of the 1930s, urban art songs had been incorporated into classical music, while the first recordings, however, of urban art song came as early as 1937, with the orchestral sounds of Tefta Tashko-Koço. A pivotal composer in modern Albanian classical music was Martin Gjoka, who composed several vocal and instrumental music which uses elements of urban art song and the folk melodies of the northern highlands. Gjoka's work in the early 1920s marks the beginning of professional Albanian classical music. Preng Jakova became well-known for operas like Scanderbeg and Mrika, which were influenced by traditional Italian opera, the belcanto style and Albanian folk song. Undoubtedly the most famous Albanian composer was Çesk Zadeja, known as the Father of Albanian classical music; he composed in many styles, from symphonies to ballets, beginning in 1956 with the Symphony Nr.1.
RTSH Symphonic Orchestra is the most prominent and important ensemble in Albania. It has 60 musicians and a season of 25 concerts with a wide range of styles from classic to pop and modern performances, many of them TV broadcasted and recorded as well. The orchestra has toured Europe and mostly Balkan area. The National Opera Theatre was created in 1957 and its orchestra is active even in the symphonic performances apart for the regular activity with the opera repertory. Both orchestras are formed totally by musicians educated in the Arts Academy of Tirana.
The establishment of chamber music ensembles and groups started at the beggining of '90s. Only few of them have been able to maintain a regular activity and the most persistent is “ New Sounds” string orchestra. It was founded in 2000 as part of a program supported by Swiss Foundation Pro Helvetia in Tirana. This ensemble has played a very significant role developing a modern style of musical performance, collaborating with renowned international artists, invited by many European Festivals in Sarajevo, Belgrade, Greece, etc. Its frequent conductors are George Chlitsios (GR), Malcolm Layfield, director of Goldberg Ensemble and Head of Strings at RNCM Manchester UK, Simon Camartin - Switzerland.

From: Drew McManus

Date: Tue, 6 May 2008, From: drewmcmanus@comcast.net

Thank you for the note and the update on your new blog. I do check in from time to time and it's looking good - you have quite a bit of regular content and the page is easy to navigate. Keep up the great work.

Drew McManus
Author of 'Adaptistration': a weblog on orchestra management.
http://www.adaptistration.com/ http://www.insidethearts.com/ http://www.orchestraconsulting.com/

Music of Southeastern Europe – Balkans

Historic view
The music of Southeastern Europe or the Balkans is musically distinctive from the rest of Europe. This is because of the influence of traditional music from Southeastern European ethnic groups and music influences from Byzantine and latter Ottoman Empire periods.
Byzantine traditional music was associated with the medieval sacred chant of Christian Churches following the Constantinopolitan rite. The development of large scale hymnographic forms begins in the 5th century with the rise of the kontakion, a long and elaborate metrical sermon, which finds its acme in the work of St. Romanos the Melodos (6th century). Medieval musical instruments included horns, trumpets, lutes, psalteries, drums and cymbals.

"Balkan" is a Turkish word which means sharp mountains.
Many musical instruments were introduced to the Balkans during the time of Ottoman control, but many Ottoman instruments were borrowed from the locals. The influence of Turkish rhythms can also be seen in Balkan Music. In the 19th century, imitations of the Turkish military bands replaced dethroned the ancient traditional oboe (zurna, zurla, or mizmar) and double-headed drum ensembles. Today these ensembles, formerly imported from Turkey are dying out, in part because of modernity, but also because of the growing Balkan nationalism.

The presence of classical music in Balkans starts in the late 19th, a development tied to the fall of the Ottoman empire. At this time, many Balkan countries established their first musical societies and professional ensembles.............will continue