Maestro Leo Brouwer is premiering his new Festival, Les Voix Humaines(Human Voices), which will see, as is to be expected given his reputation, major vocalists of Cuba and the world come together in Havana, September 15 - October 18.
According to musicologist Isabelle Hernández, director and general producer of the event, the program will see some 29 concerts, with the presence of over 200 artists of excellence, both Cuban and international, taking place at the Karl Marx, Martí and Mella theaters, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Hispanic-American Cultural Center and the Iglesia del Espíritu Santo.
Among the guests are British tenor John Potter, U.S. gospel music group Take 6, Spanish Flamenco singer Mayté Marín, Dulce Pontes of Portugal, Brazilian countertenor Rodrigo Ferreira, Bosnian guitarist Edin Karamazov and German countertenor Andrea Scholl.
Among the Cubans performing n are both the young and the renowned: singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, trumpeter Yasek Manzano, pianist Ernán López-Nussa, singers Miriam Ramos, Diana Fuentes, Augusto Enríquez and Rochy Ameneiro, the groups Vocal Sampling and Camerata Vocale Sine Nomine, the Entrevoces choir led by Digna Guerra, the Chamber Orchestra of Havana and children’s theater company La Colmenita.
A comprehensive program that includes conferences, lectures, film series, exhibitions, flash mobs, jam sessions, video-art, theatrical performances, and the presentation and sale of CDs, books and sheet music has been developed for the Festival.
Isabelle Hernández has reiterated that Les Voix Humaines is the “heir and successor” of theLeo Brouwer Chamber Music Festival.
Precisely during the sixth and final edition of that festival, in 2014, the great maestro Jordi Savall from Barcelona, presented a program during his only function at the Basílica Menor de San Francisco which he had been performing on international tours under the very same title, Les Voix Humaines, based on the convergence of the human voice and the viola da gamba, according to his research.
Added to the surprise that a Festival presided over by the distinguished Cuban guitarist and composer have vocalists as its focus, is the inclusion of two further competitions, Voces a capella (Voices a cappella) and Contratenores (Countertenors).
Adding further distinction to the event, the Oficina Leo Brouwer website announced that Les Voix Humaines is dedicated to famous musicians on the anniversaries of their birth: the 330th of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel; 130th of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz; 120th of Ernesto Lecuona; the centenary of Frank Sinatra and Tadeusz Cantor and the 80th of Mercedes Sosa.
The website offers details of the programmed 29 concerts, with highlights including: “Voces del mundo” by the Entrevoces choir; “Voces de naranja”, as part of the UNETE campaign to end violence against women and girls, with Rochy Ameneiro and guests;“En mi país no cae nieve”byLa Colmenita; “Planeta planetario” withDiana Fuentes and guests; “Klagenlieder, canciones de lamento” by the Ensemble Desmarest of France and Brazilian countertenor Rodrigo Ferreira; “De Lecuona a Sinatra” with Miriam Ramos, Ernán López-Nussa, Gastón Joya and Enrique Plá; “Sinatra meets Benny Moré” by Augusto Enríquez & the Back Alley Big Band(Canada); and “Las voces de los gritos” by the Ensemble Kayra(Mexico-Senegal), Daniel Santos Diébaté, Babou Diébaté and guests.
The Les Voix Humaines Festival takes its name from the one-act operatic monologue, with music by Francis Poulenc and French libretto by Jean Cocteau, based on his 1930 play of the same name.
Introducing the new Festival earlier this year, maestro Brouwer summarized: it is “dedicated to peace firstly...and will be a chance to have the best musicians in the world at home...Human voices with a rare repertoire, those that exist and always will.”
