Maestro Leo Brouwer assured the press that the upcoming Chamber Music Festival which bears his name will be impressive, given the artists of "uncommon talent" who are participating. This 6th edition is especially dedicated to the composer’s 75th birthday, a celebration which will continue through March, 2015. Isabelle Hernández, the festival’s general director, commented in a press conference at Havana’s Meliá Cohiba that the September 26 - October 12 schedule is "full of surprises." Maestro Brouwer described different aspects of several concerts among the 30 planned, and emphasized the stature of the many Cuban and international musicians who will perform. October 2, at the Mella Theater, Haydée Milanés is presenting a concert featuring works by Marta Valdés, in honor of her 80th birthday. Brouwer said, "It is a memorable portrait of Marta. Marta is, at the same time, Stravinsky and a Schonberg of ‘filin’ and one of the most beautiful composers I have heard." Composer Marta Valdés will be honored on her 80th birthday. Photo: KUKO. Marta Valdés commented to this reporter, "First of all, I thank Leo. We are going to do something very beautiful focused on love and respect, as he says. We are talking about a high point of my life, since Haydée Milanés has been working with me for two or three years, and this is the anthology of my songs she has recorded. I’m thrilled to be celebrating my 80th birthday. It has given me a tremendous desire to continue living. I have no fear of time." In her new CD, Palabras. Haydée Milanes canta a Marta Valdés, the young artist performs such renowned favorites as "Palabras" - the title track – "Deja que siga sola," "Tu dominas," "No te empeñes más" and "En la imaginación." Valdés herself added, "She has uncovered so many things that were stored away, included several classics, and moreover, she is the one who did the arrangements. This disc is a beauty. I am very happy with this work." In a brief conversation with Granma International, Haydée Milanés commented, "It is a great honor to be in the Festival, and to have performed the works of this great Cuban composer. It has really been hard, a big challenge, as they say, because it is a very difficult repertory, one which has, to boot, been performed by some of the legends of Cuban music, and from around the world. I’ve been working on this CD for two and a half years." Maestro Leo Brouwer announced that this will be his last Festival. With little attention to chronology, Brouwer moved on to discuss the September 27 opening of the Festival, in Karl Marx Theater, with a concert entitled Donde está la vida, by Pancho Céspedes (Cuba-Mexico). Céspedes, also met with the press and said of his concert, "It is possibly among the most important events in my life. I am grateful to Leo, for me his stature is that of Mozart and Beethoven, and his invitation makes me feel like an artist. I am going to sing my songs and do two tributes - one to Ignacio Villa (Bola de nieve) and one to Armando Manzanero." Brouwer listed some of the internationally known figures who will perform, including Spanish conductor and instrumentalist Jordi Savall, who he described saying, "To me, he is the greatest musician of the 20th century in ancient music. I discovered him 50 years ago, and am still hooked." Jordi Savall, a master of ancient music. Savall will present his concert Les voix humaines, in the San Fransico Convent Basilica, October 3, with Spanish guitarist Ricardo Gallén as a special guest. Gallén will also perform October 11 in José Marti Theater along with the extraordinary cellists Yo-Yo Ma (France-U.S.) and Carlos Prieto (Mexico), and a Brazilian guitar duo. Brouwer explained that the title of this concert, El arco y la lira, comes from a piece he wrote to celebrate the centenary of Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz. The work appropriates the name of a book written in 1956 by the Nobel Prize for Literature winner. "We will also have Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud, who is taking the place of Jacha Heifetz, David Oistrakh and Itzhak Perlman". September 28, in José Martí Theater, he will perform his own works and those of other Norwegian composers including Halvorsen, Ole Bull, Grieg, and Svendsen. Also participating will be the Schola Cantorum Coralina choir led by Alina Orraca, and the Havana Chamber Orchestra with Maestro Brouwer conducting. The Cuarteto latinoamericano de cuerdas (Mexico), Brouwer said, "has in its repertory all of Ginastera (Argentina), Revueltas (México) and Villa-Lobos (Brazil) – the three greats. They will also do works by British rocker Elvis Costello, and Cartas a Julieta, a tribute to William Shakespeare." In their October 9 concert in Martí Theater, Cuban flautist Niurka González will join the group, along with singer Augusto Enríquez. Argentine Fito Páez will perform October 1. Performing October 1 in Karl Marx Theater is Fito Páez. "He wants to sing to Silvio and Pablo. I did some arrangements of both, and I am going to conduct the Havana Chamber Orchestra, sharing the podium with Daiana García, who is directing the orchestra with excellence. It is a joy to invite young talents," Brouwer commented. Among new features of the Festival – he continued – are the White Nights, "which in Europe mean grand nighttime celebrations, and, on the initiative of Isabelle Hernández, we will celebrate the memories of Julio Cortázar, during his centenary, Tata Guines, Santiago Feliu, Juan Formell and Paco de Lucía." The Festival has always been characterized by its inclusion of diverse art forms, and will again this year include conferences, master classes, performance art, theater, dance, cinema and visual arts expositions. In particular, Leo Brouwer commented on the exposition entitled Pintura en accion, to be presented by Eduardo Roca (Choco), "One of our great painters… We are going to have a singular exhibit for his 65 years."
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma will premiere a piece written especially for him by Leo Brouwer Choco said his birthday will be celebrated during a music festival "because with Leo, there is nothing strange. Impressive things occur to him, things that always surprise.
For me, this invitation is a commitment. I wanted to be a musician, and it’s been a big frustration, but now musicians give me colors. The Fábrica de Arte gave me the opportunity to put my work into motion. It can be touched and you can talk with it, too. There are textures, colors, rhythms. There will be pictures, installations and something more. They are works which will come to life." This year, October 2-3, Maestro Brouwer will present master classes in guitar performance, for the first time during a Festival, and the first time in Cuba in 15 years. Reserved for the closing event is a concert dedicated to prize-winning Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, appropriately - or coincidentally - entitled Ancestros, to take place on October 12, the day the Americas were "discovered." Brouwer said, "I am dedicating the concert to Chucho, because he is a genius on of piano, a younger brother I love enormously. He asked me and I couldn’t resist.
It’s a concert for a jazzist, not of jazz, although it has an air of jazz." The singer will present a concert to launch her new CD Palabras. Haydée Milanes canta a Marta Valdés. There was a powerful moment of silence during the press conference. Maestro Leo Brouwer confirmed, "Yes, this is the last Festival. The first was to be the only one, but it continued at the request of participants who performed and audiences who put up with my music.
It so happened that the first coincided with my 70th birthday, and now, five years later, well then, I think it’s a cycle we are completing. It has been a great deal of work and we are happy with it. I am going to take advantage of these 30-40 years I have left, I want to write. I’m not going to do my memoirs, since generally they contain the good and the bad, and I erase the bad."
Thus, let us enjoy this exceptional Festival to the max, its intense, marvelous days of music, dance and visual arts, a gift from Maestro Leo Brouwer.
