The second concert in this year’s Glebe Music Festival features Coro Austral and brilliant Italian guitarist Ermanno Brignolo in a concert to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the birth of composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) was an Italian-born Jewish composer, spending much of his life in Italy before moving to the United States at the start of World War II. He was a prolific composer for guitar and the voice and in later life became a significant composer of film music in Hollywood.
The main work, Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Romances), based on Poema del cante jondo by the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca is a superb suite of Spanish dances for solo guitar and choir depicting stories of the common people in a Spain soaked with passion.
Ermanno Brignolo will be joined by actress and singer Minie Minarelli for a performance of excerpts from Platero y yo (Platero and I), a touching and deep reflection by Spanish Nobel Laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez about the narrator’s best friend – a donkey. They will also perform Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Ballata dell’Esilio (The Ballad of Exile), by poet Guido Cavalcanti, who was forced into exile in 1280 by his friend Dante Alighieri.
As well as performing Romancero Gitano, Ermanno and Coro Austral will give the Australian Premiere of Concierto Juglar (Minstrel Show) by contemporary Catalan composer Bernardo Juliá. This rare work for choir and guitar expresses the joy of singing and the joyful mood of a dancing party as the minstrels share their thoughts and feelings. Other works for choir include Australian composer David Basden’s setting of the poem by García Lorca, Los Cien Enamorados.
Since its formation in 2010 by Margot McLaughlin, Coro Austral has gained an excellent reputation as a choral ensemble specialising in the authentic presentation of Spanish and Latin American choral music to a high standard.
Romancero Gitano takes place in the Record Reign Hall, corner of St Johns Road and Derwent Street Glebe at 3.00pm on Saturday 7th November. Tickets are $25 with $20 concessions, and can be purchased online at Sticky Tickets or through Glebe Music Festival outlets. Refreshments and wine will be available after the performance.
