Saturday 18 June 2016

Guitares en Cormatinois 2016

Like every year, there will be a new episode of our own guitar festival with all concerts in the Romanesque church of Chazelle.

The church of Chazelle
Apart from some new artist (at least for us until now), this year will also see the (welcome) return of some repeated offenders.
In chronological order:
Saturday July 9 (20h00): Duo Duende, 2 classical guitarists with a program entitled "Carmen, etc…". No doubt some transcriptions of Bizet's music will be brought into the limelight.
Sunday July 10 (17h30): Bernard Bruel chante Brel, a singer / guitarist bringing a program with mostly songs written and sung by Jacques Brel. Knowing the great liking many French have for artists interpreting or even imitating a great artist from the past, I would not be surprised if this concert will draw a full house.

Emmanuel Rossfelder
Sunday July 17 (17h30): Emmanuel Rossfelder, a very classical guitarist, renowned nationally as well as internationally, who has performed regularly in Cormatin throughout the years. We are certainly expecting a full house tonight. Good wine need no bush.
Saturday July 23 (20h00): Meridianu, a Corisican group bringing Corsican polyphonic music. Corsican music is totally unknown to me; I am anxious to find out!

Full house: sorry!
Sunday July 24 (17h30): Irish kind of, a French group from Grenoble bringing Irish folk music. This group performed last year for the first time in Chazelle, whereby we actually sold more tickets than available. The volunteers had to stay outside and quite a number of people had to be turned down.

The program for 2016
The above run-down does not imply that the concerts with a concise description are not worth going to! It only implies that those who would like to get tickets for the other three concerts at any price are wise to make a reservation.
Reservations can be made by phone: 03 85 50 19 06 or 06 88 40 91 73. One can also send us an email, and we will take care of the rest.

For our own website click here.

Saturday 4 June 2016

A recurring Ascension Day outing

Eglise Saint-Martin - Chapaize
Since 2007, when we saw an announcement for a concert by Roundelay in the beautiful Romanesque church of Chapaize, we have been present every Ascension Day in that church ever since. The Dutch (Madrigal) Choir Roundelay, specialized in Early Music, performs there each year on that particular day.

Roundelay 2016
This year they celebrated their tenth concert in Chapaize, from which we could figure out that we had attended all their concerts in that church.
Each year they have a different repertoire, and each year they draw a full house. Just to find out where in the Netherlands this choir is based I have been searching the internet, but to no avail.

Roundelay o.l.v. Renée Kartodirdjo 2013
Until I got this bright idea to search for the name of the conductor, Renée Kartodirdjo. With a (Javanese) name like that the chances to stumble on the wrong person are quite slim. The lady in question lives or has lived in the Southern part of the Netherlands (Noord-Brabant), and is or was the artistic leader of the Ensemble Ariosto.
I quote: "The Ariosto Ensemble, performing since 2002, is a project ensemble, varying its membership per projected programme".

Roundelay 2013
On their website I noticed a number of faces I recognized from Roundelay, hence Roundelay could well be one of the occasional groups recruited from the Ariosto Ensemble. They ended up in Chapaize because one of Roundelay's singers has a (most likely second) house in Chapaize.
Although I am not knowledgeable when it comes to Renaissance and early Baroque composers, I have found in the diverse programs several well-known names, like those of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, William Byrd, John Dowland, Josquin des Prez.

Roundelay 2013
Whether the Ariosto Ensemble is still alive I do not know; their website has been updated for the last time in 2015, as was their Facebook page.
However, as long as Roundelay keeps returning to Chapaize, we should not complain!

For our own website click here.