Zoë has arranged the Spring season from Piazolla's Buenos Aires series to perform today. They will play the Aria from Bachianas Brasileras No. 5 and Café 1930 from Piazzolla's Histoire du Tango.
i Otoño (Autumn), ii Invierno (Winter), iii Primavera (Spring), iv Verano (Summer)
The Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas, also known as the Estaciones Porteñas or The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, are a set of four tango compositions written by Ástor Piazzolla, which were originally conceived and treated as different compositions rather than one suite, although Piazzolla performed them together from time to time. The pieces were scored for his quintet of violin (viola), piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneón. By giving the adjective porteño, referring to those born in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital city, Piazzolla gives an impression of the four seasons in Buenos Aires. The order of performance Piazzolla gave to his "Estaciones Porteñas" is: Otoño (Autumn), Invierno (Winter), Primavera (Spring), Verano (Summer). It was different from Vivaldi's order.
i Hot, ii Milonga, iii Interlude in a discrete mode, iv The Hotel Kempinski, v Tango brawl, vi The Ajman
From Honey to Ashes (2007) is a companion piece to The Raw and the Cooked for two guitars (2004). Guitarist Richard Hand and flautist Jennifer Stinton had been performing arrangements of some of the movements from The Raw and the Cooked and they asked me if I’d like to write some new music to make a longer suite for flute and guitar.
i Ária, ii Dança
Villa-Lobos (1887 – 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as “the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music”.
i Bordel, 1900, ii Café, 1930, iii Nightclub, 1960, iv Concert d'aujourd'hui
Histoire du Tango attempts to convey the history and evolution of the tango in four movements: Bordel 1900, Café 1930, Nightclub 1960, and Concert d’aujourd’hui. Café 1930 is another age of the tango. People stopped dancing it as they did in 1900, preferring instead simply to listen to it. It became more musical, and more romantic. This tango has undergone total transformation: the movements are slower, with new and often melancholy harmonies. Tango orchestras come to consist of two violins, two concertinas, a piano, and a bass. The tango is sometimes sung as well.
i Pompeya, ii Palermo, iii San Telmo, iv Microcentro
Born in 1957, Máximo Diego Pujol is an Argentine classical guitarist and composer.
Fika Duo & Laila Arafah (Flute/Guitar Duo)
The Fika Duo was formed in 2023 by Emma and Zoë, both first year undergraduates studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. They have played a wide range of repertoire in particular focusing on popular music styles from South America. During their time at the Academy they hope to explore new genres and styles of music, and expand the existing repertoire with commissions and arrangements.
The duo’s name comes from the Swedish ‘fika’, a break spent with friends and family over a cup of coffee and cinnamon bun, regularly enjoyed by Emma and Zoë after concerts and rehearsals.
Laila Arafah is a London based composer whose works centre on interdisciplinarity, intimacy, temporality, decay, and self-guided explorations of unstable sonic objects.
Recent commissions have come from London Symphony Orchestra, Explore Ensemble, Aldeburgh Festival, Purcell Symphony Orchestra, and Westminster Abbey’s Commonwealth Service. Laila’s piece ‘CONCRETE’ for soloists and 70+ phones was published in a book on Pauline Oliveros, and as the youngest appointment in the LSO Panufnik Scheme’s history, she’s received numerous accolades and residencies. She has also written for members of London Sinfonietta, Carducci Quartet, London Mozart Players, Roadrunner Trio, Quatuor Bozzini, CoMA Orchestra, Talea Ensemble and others.
Violin/Piano Duo
3 October 2024
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