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Report

SARAJEVO CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina August 24 – September 1, 2012

www.sarajevochambermusicfestival.org

 

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INTRODUCTION:

From August 24 until September 1, 2012, the most ambitious chamber music festival in the South East European area took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – The Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival. The Festival was developed in cooperation between the Manhattan String Quartet from New York and Sarajevo’s Academy of Music.

Army Hall, before the concert One of the most renowned American chamber music ensembles, the Manhattan String Quartet, called a "national treasure" by the U.S. media, began its collaboration with the Sarajevo Music Academy in 2010. Inspired by the extraordinary reception they received in Bosnia’s capital, MSQ embraced the initiative to become a partner of the Academy in organizing an international festival of chamber music. Because of the tremendous initial enthusiasm for this project, 2011 saw the first season of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival and featured a program based on the performance of the 15 quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich by the Manhattan String Quartet. On that occasion the concept of this festival was presented - a long-term vision with the highest artistic ambitions. The second season of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival in 2012 saw performances by many distinguished artists, among them David Finckel and Wu Han, who were proclaimed Musical America’s Musicians of the Year in 2012. In addition to the Manhattan Quartet as its resident ensemble, brilliant performances were given by baritone Benjamin Bloomfield (USA), pianist Christopher Taylor (USA).), pianist Sangmi Lim (South Korea / USA), pianist Dino Mulic (BH / USA), clarinetist Boris Rener (Slovenia), in addition to MAS faculty members violinist Yeonju Jeong (South Korea / BH) and guitarist Alexander Swete (Austria). Their performances were dedicated to celebrating the lives and works of two of the great

 

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masters of chamber music, Franz Schubert and Antonín Dvořák, who were the focus of the festival. Other composers performed included the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Stravinsky and the world premiere of a SCMF commission by American composer Eric Moe. The uniqueness of the festival is in its very ambitious educational component. The Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute offered a comprehensive program of daily masterclasses involving all participants of the concert program. The Institute was open to domestic and international students of college age and above. The program Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute was directed by the Manhattan String Quartet members themselves, in collaboration with the professional staff of the Academy of Music in Sarajevo.

Granting the Letter of Thanks to the Manhattan String Quartet by the Mayor of Sarajevo But their cooperation was not only program-related. MSQ’s Chris Finckel, together with Bosnian pianist Dino Mulić have taken on the role of co-directors of the Festival and have invested great energies in bringing together numerous supporters in the United States of America, who have shared their enthusiasm and provided part of funding of its activities. On the other hand the Sarajevo directorate, as headed by the Music Academy Dean Ivan Cavlovic and professor Amila Ramovic, have secured substantial funding from Bosnia and Herzegovina and have co-ordinated the entire organizational aspect in Sarajevo, together with the operative team of teachers and students who have worked on the preparation of the Festival.

 

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Festival preparations The Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival is an artistic, educational and nonprofit intercontinental initiative based on the belief that music is a language that connects people and a language that everyone understands. For the duration of the festival, Sarajevo’s Army Hall becomes a home of art because of the dedication of hundreds of artists, educators, students, sponsors and audiences alike, as well as a home of friendship and faith in the cooperative production of beauty.

Students’ organization team of the Academy of Music

 

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CONCERTS AND ARTISTS Manhattan String Quartet, founding ensemble in residence (USA) Benjamin Bloomfield, baritone (USA) David Finckel, cello (USA) Wu Han, piano (USA) Yeonju Jeong, violin (S. Korea) Sangmi Lim, piano (S. Korea / USA) Dino Mulić, piano (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Boris Rener, clarinet (Slovenia) Alexander Swete, guitar (Austria) Christopher Taylor, piano (USA)

David Finckel & Wu Han Through the interpretations of its dedicated musicians, the SCMF concert programs gave a fascinating insight into the works of two giants of chamber music, Franz Schubert and Antonín Dvořák. Festival audiences will long remember the committed performances of the Manhattan String Quartet, who performed five of the eight Festival concerts and gave iconic performances of representative works. These performances will remain an indelible memory in the history of this ensemble. Particularly memorable were the opening night concert dedicated to Schubert, as well as the final concert, dedicated to Dvořák, as well as the MSQ’s energetic and inspired performance of Debussy's Quartet in G minor, which was followed by a long round of applause that echoed in the concert hall.

 

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The recital by virtuoso pianist Christopher Taylor, gave an insight into the currents of the world’s supreme pianism, which was exemplified by his profoundly constructed interpretation of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B flat major. The festival will also be remembered by a rare and very successful performance of the entire cycle of Schubert’s "Die Winterreise" performed by the American baritone Benjamin Bloomfield. Sangmi Lim proved to be a sophisticated and highly capable pianist performing a very demanding program playing Mozart with Dino Mulić, the Schubert “Die Winterreise” with Ben Bloomfield and a virtuoso performance of Schubert‘s Fantasy in C Major with violinist Yeonju Jeong. Memorable performances were also given by the guitarist Alexander Swete, playing Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Guitar Quintet and clarinetist Boris Rener performing Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A Major. The audience was particularly interested in the appearance of Dino Mulić, once Sarajevo's famous student and young talent, and today an American professor, whose artistic growth and maturation was particularly identified in the performance of Mozart’s Piano Quartet in Eflat Major with the Manhattan String Quartet. Unexpected was the success of the marathon concert of all participants and ensembles of the SCMF Institute, which showed that focused work even in a short time can create very successful musical solutions, and this was especially evident in the collective orchestral performance of Dvořák ‘s Serenade for Strings with Deborah Wong as the conductor. The highlight of the Festival was, however, the extraordinary music making that was given to the Sarajevo audience by David Finckel and Wu Han, musicians whose reputation of musical genius’ was once again justified by their impressive performance. Only in rare situations are we privileged to hear artists such as these who are able to build a bridge through the spirit and time to the greatest musical moments of our past.

Alexander Swete & Manhattan String Quartet

 

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FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

CONCERT PROGRAMME SARAJEVO CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL Army Hall, Sarajevo

Friday, August 24, 2012, 7:30 PM SCHUBERT, CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO, BOCCHERINI Alexander Swete, guitar Manhattan String Quartet Saturday, August 25, 2012, 7:30 PM BEETHOVEN, DVOŘÁK, ARENSKY Wu Han, piano David Finckel, cello Manhattan String Quartet

Dino Mulić & Manhattan String Quartet Monday, August 27, 2012, 7:30 PM ALL SCHUBERT PROGRAM Sangmi Lim, piano Dino Mulić, piano Yeonju Jeong, violin Benjamin Bloomfield, baritone

 

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 7:30 PM ALL MOZART PROGRAM Boris Rener, clarinet Dino Mulić, piano Manhattan String Quartet Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 7:30 PM DEBUSSY, DUTILLEUX, MOE, STRAVINSKY Manhattan String Quartet Thursday, August 30, 2012, 7:30 PM BACH, BRAHMS, RZEWSKI, SCHUBERT Recital Christopher Taylor, piano Friday, August 31, 2012, 7:30 PM Participants of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute

Yeonju Jeong & Sangmi Lim Saturday, September 1, 2012, 7:30 PM ALL DVOŘÁK PROGRAM Christopher Taylor, piano Manhattan String Quartet All concerts were free and open to the public.

 

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SARAJEVO CHAMBER MUSIC INSTITUTE

In addition to performing chamber music concerts, the artists of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival conducted the parallel program of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute. This program was designed for the most talented young musicians from all countries of the Balkan Region and from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The educational program activities of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival are gathered under the title of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute, which is directed by the Manhattan String Quartet. These prestigious musicians invited all participants of the concert program to participate in ten-days of master classes with selected students from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region at the Academy of Music. After two months of an open call, fifty students were selected from music academies from Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Zagreb, Split, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Graz and Skopje,. The students were grouped in ensembles to rehearse and be coached by SCMF artists. Their efforts and achievements were crowned with a special concert held on the penultimate night of the festival at the Army Hall, in which all 50 students performed, finalizing their ten-day stay in Sarajevo with the long applause. The Manhattan String Quartet has shown great dedication to this project, one they see as their gift to Sarajevo. Cellist and Festival co-director Chris Finckel emphasizes that the aims of this festival include the uncompromising revival of the highest artistic standards: “Our primary goals are to strive to produce concerts of the very highest caliber and to uphold the ideals that make our art as vital and expressive as possible. And to attempt to demonstrate the pertinence of classical music in today’s society and the necessity and benefits of a rigorous, complete musical education. We hope to help the Sarajevo Academy of Music gain more visibility in their country and to give the students a sense of Bosnia as a place where positive international attention, collaboration and recognition is possible.” The Chamber Music Festival aims to raise awareness for reflecting upon musical art and its highest achievements. This is particularly important not only in the current context of populist attitude towards art in Bosnia, but also internationally, in which music is measured solely by its ability to be pleasant and attractive, while increasingly ignoring the value and weight of the artistic creation. The goal of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival is to present the most important works of musical literature that define music as art, with this year's focus directing light to the masters of chamber music, Antonín Dvořák and Franz Schubert. At the same time, SCMF has prepared a series of programs so that this music will be analyzed on an educational level – lectures and masterclasses for young musicians, and talks in the concerts themselves, with the performers providing a structure to listen and understand the works in question. The presentation and understanding of musical art and its sophistication does not come by itself, the effort of creation must be accompanied by the effort of the process of understanding,

 

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Masterclass with Wu Han

Calvin Wiersma, coordinator of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute stated, “The Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute is dedicated to the belief that when people make music together, wonderful things can happen, lives can change, misconceptions can disappear, bridges can be built, bonds can form. We have devoted our lives to this principle, and to make it happen here we expect nothing but all of your effort, energy, intellect, and passion in the next ten days. The music, the idea, the principle deserves nothing less. We are very excited to be working with such a talented and diverse group of students, to share with you our love of chamber music, and to work with you on this great repertoire. It is our hope that, with our hard work together, we may learn from each other how to more convincingly speak the universal language of music.“

Diploma for the SCMF 2012 participants

Criteria for participation in the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival and Institute program were announced on the www.sarajevochambermusicfestival.org and www.mas.unsa.ba websites in May 2012. The deadline for applications to participate in masterclasses was June 1, 2012, followed by a selection of fifty finest young musicians in the region who participated in the SCMF Institute programs.

 

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SARAJEVO CHAMBER MUSIC INSTITUTE PARTICIPANTS    Violin Jelena Aleksijadis, Academy of Music, East Sarajevo Tamara Arsovski, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Džana Begović, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Nikola Ćuković, Academy of Music, East Sarajevo Alma Dizdar, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Asja Draganović, Academy of Music, East Sarajevo Marina Drmić, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Adnan Handanagić, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Ilma Hodović, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Kajetan Kamenjašević, Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Graz Maja Kurevija, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Eva Mach, Academy of Music, Zagreb Svjetlana Mandić, Academy of Art, Split Anamarija Marić, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Marija Marković, Academy of Music, East Sarajevo Dragan Petaković, Faculty of Music Art, Belgrade Jovana Raljić, Academy of Art, Banja Luka Samra Svraka, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Ariana Škrinjar, Academy of Music, Zagreb Sanja Tavić, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Amra Vojvodić, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Sonja Vojvodić, Academy of Art, Banja Luka Viola Aida Dajić, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Muhamed Hrustanović, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Ivor Ivančić, Academy of Art, Split Aleksandra Kijanović, Faculty of Music Art, Belgrade Aleksandra Mirnić, Music High School, Sarajevo Amila Muharemović, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Petar Obradović, Faculty of Music Art, Belgrade Ana-Maria Pilj, Music High School, Sarajevo Nerimana Prguda, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Mersiha Teskeredžić, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Lazar Vinković, Academy of Music, Sarajevo

 

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Concert of the SCMF 2012 participants Cello Sara Andrić, Faculty of Music Art, Belgrade Paola Bralić, Academy of Music, Zagreb Lucija Gregov, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Anthony Havelka, Academy of Art, Split Adrian Ivičević, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Vanda Janković, Academy of Art, Split Jelena Marković, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Lidija Paulin, Academy of Art, Banja Luka Dijana Pelidija, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Naida Solak, Music High School, Sarajevo Josipa Tikvicki, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Luka Tikvicki, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Emil Zubčević, Academy of Music, Sarajevo

 

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Concert of the SCMF 2012 participants Piano Maša Babić, Faculty of Music Art, Belgrade Marija Bajo, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Sanela Džudža, Academy of Music, Sarajevo Dejan Janković, Academy of Art, Banja Luka

Concert of the SCMF 2012 participants, conductor Deborah Wong

 

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MASTERCLASSES AND LECTURES PROGRAM SARAJEVO CHAMBER MUSIC INSTITUTE Academy of Music, Sarajevo Thursday, August 23, 15:00 Introduction into Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival programs Dr. Ivan Čavlović, Dean, Manhattan String Quartet Saturday, August 25, 15:00 Masterclass David Finckel, cello & Wu Han, piano Sunday, August 26, 15:00 Lecture: Franz Schubert, Winterreise cycle Benjamin Bloomfield, baritone Monday, August 27, 18:00 Lecture: Franz Schubert Dr. Ivan Čavlović, musicologist

Masterclass David Finckel

 

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Tuesday, August 28, 16:00 Lecture: W. A. Mozart’s chamber works in the SCMF program Dr. Ivan Čavlović, musicologist Wednesday, August 29, 15:00 Masterclass Christopher Taylor, piano Wednesday, August 29, 15:00 Lecture: Some aspects of Debussy’s and Stravinski’s chamber works M. Sc. Amila Ramović, musicologist Thursday, August 30, 16:00 Lecture: Antonín Dvořák Dr. Ivan Čavlović, musicologist Every day except Sunday, August 24-30, 10.00 Masterclass Manhattan String Quartet

Chris Finckel & SCMI 2012 participants

 

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INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION

Christopher Taylor The Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival, a joint project of the Music Academy in Sarajevo and the Manhattan String Quartet, has in many ways exceeded all expectations in 2012, as it was assessed by the public, but also by the artists and the organizers themselves. The eight concerts in the Army Hall were always preceded by a search for an extra chair, proof that art music in Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina has a large audience, who particularly appreciated the fact that the organizers enabled the entrance to all concerts to be free. All artists merged their own energy with the endless energy of the audience in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who showed a great thirst for music, for excellent performances, and received ones that will surely be remembered for a long time.

Manhattan String Quartet

 

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This year we made a new step to raise the standard of the festival organization, which contributed to the excellent impression that the festival programs left on the audience and the students-participants. However, more than technically polished detail, what remained was the omnipresent sense of an undeniable exchange of energy, a positive charge and a friendly atmosphere, which could occur only in the atmosphere which, in every way and in any form, was the celebration of music. Therefore, the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival 2012 was a meeting place for youth and experience, forming beautiful friendships, with everyone learning a great deal about music and learning everything needed to make the 2013 Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival even better.

SCMF 2012 participants

 

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Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival 2012 Sarajevo, August 24 – September 1, 2012 Production Academy of Music in Sarajevo Manhattan String Quartet Co-directors Chris Finckel Dino Mulić Artistic Advisor Dr. Ivan Čavlović, Dean of the Academy of Music in Sarajevo Operations Director Amila Ramović Sarajevo Chamber Music Institute, Co-ordination Calvin Wiersma, artistic co-ordinator Deborah Wong, artistic advisor Manhattan String Quartet, teachers Marija Bajo, co-ordination assistant Expert Advisors Yevgeny Xaviereff Belma Alić Senad Kazić Mirjana Papić-Hrkaš Mersiha Teskeredžić Tatjana Romanić-Piralić Studnets’ Organisation Team Dženana Aganspahić Senka Hodžić Miron Konjević Mateja Milićević Esma Sulejmanagić Ivana Vučićević Visual identity and Communications Design Ideologija Sarajevo Anur Hadžiomerspahić, Art Director Tarik Zahirović, Co-ordinator

 

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Print Co-ordinator Esad Šuman Photographer Almin Zrno Audio-Video Production Admir Đulančić Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival Headquarters Sarajevo Muzička akademija Josipa Stadlera 1 71000 Sarajevo BiH T/F: +387 33 444 896 E: scmf@mas.unsa.ba www.mas.unsa.ba New York 18 Boulder Place Yonkers, NY 10705 USA T/F: +1 914 772 8531 E: info@sarajevochambermusicfestival.org www.sarajevochambermusicfestival.org Facebook page: Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival Facebook profile: Scmf Sarajevo

 

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