The 1917 silent film The Assassination of the Duke of Guise is a milestone in the development of cinema. A historical drama depicting the murder of the French nobleman and warlord Henry I of Guise in 1588, it is one of the very first examples of music written specifically for a film. French composer Camille Saint-Saëns composed six pieces for piano, harmonium and strings that follow the plot and mood of the film. The music and film have a running time of about 17 minutes.

Game Songs of Travel is part of the EU project of the same name. The game consists of five chapters exploring different aspects of migration by following the personal stories of five individuals fleeing their home countries to a new beginning in Europe. The music is by Fairplay Chamber Music and was composed by Irish composer Elaine Agnew.
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This evening concert is part of the EU project Songs of Travel and reflects different aspects of travel, both physical and spiritual. We will be immersed in music originating from many geographical locations and often related to dramatic contexts.

Traveling is a magical phenomenon, which transforms the old person into a new person. From this point of view, our life is a journey with the final destination of meeting our death." - Hawar Tawfiq

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Sergei Prokofiev 'sHebrew Overture was written in 1919 in the USA, inspired by a collection of Jewish folk melodies. The work is written for the unusual combination of clarinet, string quartet and piano, and the sound world is reminiscent of Klezmer and other Jewish music.

This is followed by a selection of short works for solo piano by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, performed by Daria van der Bercken. Silvestrov's deeply meditative and atmospheric piano music has been described as 'silent songs', expressing a longing for the lost and the eternal.

The festival's second commissioned work is by the Kurdish composer Hawar Tawfiq, now based in the Netherlands. Written for chamber ensemble and voice, Voyage is based on texts by the 13th century Persian poet and mystic Jalal al-din Rumi. Rumi's poems express Sufi mysticism and use rich images and symbols to depict the boundlessness of love and the essence of religion.

Chopin's Ballade in F minor, one of his most popular and dramatic works for piano, performed by Finghin Collins. The ballad is an example of Chopin's genius for creating a story with music that evokes strong emotions in the listener. Chopin wrote the ballad between 1842 and 1843, during a period when he was traveling between Paris and Nohant, where he lived with his beloved George Sand.

The concert ends with Ralph Vaughan-Williams ' song cycle Songs of Travel with lyrics by Robert Louis Stevenson. The songs depict the experiences and reflections of a traveler and express wanderlust, beauty, love, doubt, loneliness and spirituality. Vaughan-Williams wrote the songs between 1901 and 1904 and they have become one of his most frequently performed works.