Canterbury Guitar Society Chairperson: Miles Roberts, Secretary/Treasurer: John Kemp, 61, Chipstead Lane, Chipstead, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 2AJ 55, South St., Whitstable, Kent CT5 3EA Tel: 01732 453523 Email: [email protected] Tel: 01227 265503 Email: [email protected] Gaëlle Solal

FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, CANTERBURY

Monday 16th June 2014 7.30pm

Gaëlle Solal Born in Marseilles () in 1978, Gaëlle began the study of the guitar at age of 6 with René Bartoli. At 14, she won three gold medals at the Conservatoire de Marseilles and, as the best student of all instruments, was awarded the Prix de la Ville de Marseille. She has studied with Alberto Ponce at Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de , Roberto Aussel at Musikhochscule Köln and Alvaro Pierri at Université du Québec à Montréal. She has enjoyed participating in master classes with legendary guitarists including Antigoni Goni, Pepe Romero, Roland Dyens, Oscar Ghiglia, , Alvaro Pierri and Joaquin Clerch.

Her list of prizes ot international competitions includes: 1st Grand Prix at Alessandria Competition, 1st Prize in Locquémeau, 1st Prize in Savona, 1st Prize in Sernancehle, Finalist at Concert Artists Guild New York, Honor Diplom at Accademia Chigiana and 2nd Prize at Guitar Foundation of America. She has performed in the Festival d'Ile de France, Noches en los Reales Alcázares in Sevilla, Festival dAvignon, Festival Montpellier- Radio France and at Salle Cortot (Paris), Zellerbach Hall (Berkeley), Tsuda Hall, Nikkei Hall, Oji Hall in , Merkin Concert Hall (NY), and the Guitar Foundation of American Convention in Columbus (GA). She recorded for NHK, France Musiques, RFI, and RAI.

Gaëlle has performed in concert with the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Reims, the Berkeley Symphony, the Garde Républicaine Orchestra and the Philharmonic Turin Orchestra. She has toured in more than 30 countries including , Myanmar, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Israel, Spain, France, Gabon, India, Iceland, Italy, Laos, Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico, Palestine, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, USA and Japan.

With a passion for contemporary music, Gaëlle has performed the premiere performances of the Concerto by Maurice Ohana, the Double Concerto by Naomi Sekiya with Kent Nagano in Berkeley and three new compositions at the Cordoba Guitar Festival 2006. Gaëlle’s eclectic passions have led her to combine her commitment as a performer with teaching as well as dance and theater experiences. She has created two solo recital projects “Sol” where she travels around the borders of classical and popular music and "Açaï," totally dedicated to Brazilian music.

An appreciated and challenging teacher, she now travels the world presenting concerts, master classes and workshops and serving as juror at international competitions. Her next concerts will include a USA Tour with recitals in Ohio, Texas, Florida, and California. Additional concerts are scheduled in Germany, Singapore, France, Portugal and Italy.

Gaëlle plays guitars by Daniel Friederich and Manuel Contreras and performs on Savarez Cantiga strings. Programme

Prelude BWV 995 J.S.Bach Constance* Guinga Chaconne from Partita* 2 J.S. Bach Di menor* Guinga

Drama Köprüsü (Traditional Turkish Palhaço* Egberto Gismonti theme arranged by Kevin Seddiki) Brejeiro* Ernesto Nazareth

20 Abril (Planh), from Si le jour paraît... Maurice Ohana Agua e vinho* Egberto Gismonti Torre Bermeja Isaac Albeniz Lamentos do morro * Garôto INTERVAL *Arrangements: Gaëlle Solal

***EXTRA FIRE EXIT: Door to left of the kitchen hatch*** *** Please SWITCH OFF your MOBILE PHONE!***

LIGHT REFRESHMENTS will be available in the interval. We have a collection box to offset some of the costs of refreshments and the programme notes. CDs will be on sale as usual.

J. S. Bach (Germany, 1685-1750) Bach had a masterly understanding of the lute, and, along with his friend and almost exact contemporary, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, was one of the last composers to write for the instrument before its modern revival. He wrote seven works, some original, some his own transcriptions of works he wrote for other instruments. They are now are an important part of the guitar repertoire. The Suite in G minor BWV 995, was written between the spring of 1727 and the winter of 1731, and is Bach's own transcription of his Cello Suite No. 5, BWV 1011. It appears that the cello version came first, though experts agree that Bach was profoundly attached to the lute, invariably introducing religious symbolism into his compositions for that instrument. The Prelude, which opens with a stately, deliberate, almost verbose introduction is followed by a brisk, laconic fugue. Seemingly different in spirit, the two sections nevertheless easily coalesce in the listener's mind, constituting a logical and aesthetically convincing entity.

The ciaccona (commonly titled by the French form of the word chaconne), the concluding movement of Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004, surpasses the duration of the previous four movements combined. Along with its disproportional relationship to the rest of the suite, it merits the emphasis given it by musicians and composers alike. The theme, presented in the first four measures in typical chaconne rhythm with a chord progression based on the repeated bass note pattern D D C♯ D B♭ G A D, begets the rest of the movement in a series of variations. The overall form is tripartite, the middle section of which is in major mode. It represents the pinnacle of the solo violin repertoire in that it covers every aspect of violin playing known during Bach's time. It is still one of the most technically and musically demanding pieces for the instrument, described by Yehudi Menuhin as "the greatest structure for solo violin that exists". Violinist Joshua Bell has said the Chaconne is "not just one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, but one of the greatest achievements of any man in history. It's a spiritually powerful piece, emotionally powerful, structurally perfect." This famous Chaconne was first transcribed for guitar by Segovia, and many other players have made their own versions, assisted by study of how Bach approached the adaptation for lute of his own works for unaccompanied violin and cello.

Drama Köprüsü A Turkish song is based on the legend of Debreli Hasan, who lived at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. He was a soldier who killed his superior after a quarrel and was jailed in Drama. He escaped from the prison to hide in the mountains where he lived as a bandit. He was more or less like Robin Hood of English folklore. He robbed the rich and supported the poor. Before becoming a bandit he had been engaged to be married. Judging that life in the mountains would be too difficult for his fiancée, he broke his engagement, but continued to send her presents even when she married another man. According to the legend, he was later pardoned by the sultan. Kevin Seddiki (France, b. 1981) started playing guitar when he was 8. From his childhood, he remembers having listened to very different music styles, such as classical, jazz, and pop, among others. (His favorite artists were Mozart, Miles Davis, Sting, Fela, etc.). That maybe explains why his 'speciality' is his versatility and his eclecticism. He studied classical guitar at Clermont Ferrand, and then at Strasbourg's Conservatory with Argentinean master Pable Marquez He also composed for solo guitar, and taught. In April 2009, he won the prestigious European Guitar Award. He records for Wildner Records, who provided this short note.

Maurice Ohana (/France 1913-1992) was born in Casablanca, Morocco (during the French protectorate). His father, an Andalusian of Sephardic-Jewish descent, had been born in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, while his mother had Andalusian-Castilian origins. Ohana inherited British citizenship from his father. He originally studied architecture, but abandoned this in favour of a musical career, initially as a pianist. He studied under in , returning to France in 1946. Around this time he founded the "Groupe Zodiaque", which fought against prevailing musical dogma. His mature musical style shows the influence of Mediterranean folk music, particularly the Andalusian cante jondo. In 1976 he took French citizenship.

Ohana's output includes the choral works Office des Oracles and Avoaha (1992), three string quartets (1963, 1980, 1989), and two suites for ten-string guitar: Si le jour paraît... (1963) and Cadran lunaire (1981-2), as well as a Tiento for six-string guitar (1957).[5] He also wrote operas entitled Syllabaire pour Phèdre and La Celestina. He is also known for his extensive use of microtonality, for example, third- and quarter-tones in pieces like Le Tombeau de Debussy and Si le jour paraît.... He was influenced by the use of microintervals in the cante jondo. Ohana rarely composed for large symphony orchestra: Synaxis (1966), Livre des Prodiges (1979) and T'Harân- Ngô (1973-1974). He composed two cello concertos, one piano concerto, and a guitar concerto (1950–58) dedicated to .

Isaac Albeniz (Spain. 1860-1909) was a was a child prodigy pianist who first performed at the age of four. At age seven he passed the entrance examination for piano at the Paris Conservatoire, but he was refused admission because he took out a ball from his pocket and broke a glass window while playing with it. In 1883 he met the teacher and composer Felipe Pedrell, who inspired him to write Spanish music such as the Suite Española No. 1, Op. 47. Many of his compositions were transcribed for guitar – firstly by Francisco Tárrega (best known for the Nokia Ringtone), and subsequently by everybody and his dog. Albéniz himself preferred Tárrega's guitar transcriptions to his original piano versions, but he neither played nor wrote for the instrument. Albeniz's music was suffused with compositional quirks dictated by the technical idiosyncracies of the guitar, and the transcriptions could be thought of as restoring the music to its rightful instrument. Tonight's Torre Bermeja (Vermilion tower) was named after a tower on the Playa de la Barrosa in Cadiz.

The second half of Gaëlle's concert is devoted to Brazilian music, which has evolved into an almost totally different genre from its Iberian routes, having absorbed many African influences, as well as Amerindian traits. It can be languidly romantic or insanely frenetic and we have examples of both tonight.

Guinga (Carlos Althier de Souza Lemos Escobar) (Brazil, b.1950) was born in Madureaira, a working-class suburb of Rio de Janiero. As a child, he was nicknamed “Gringo” because of his pale skin, and the artistic name "Guinga" comes from the way he pronounced the word. His uncle taught him to play the guitar when he was eleven years old. Guinga began composing music at the age of 14. In 1967, when he was 17, his song "Sou Só Solidão" reached the first eliminatory round in Rede Globo's second Festival Internacional da Canção (International Festival of Song). At the age of 26, he began his five-year classical guitar studies with Jodacil Damasceno. During the 1970s, Guinga accompanied famous singers such as Beth Carvalho and Joao Nogueira and recorded with samba legends Cartola and Clares Nunes. He also began a fertile songwriting partnership with the poet and lyricist Paulo Cesar Pinheiro. Their songs were recorded by important artists like Elis Regina, Nelson Gonçalves, Miúcha, Clara Nunes, and Michel Legrand.

At the same time, Guinga embarked on a parallel career in dentistry, which he practiced for nearly thirty years. His music career took off in earnest in 1990, when Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins formed the Velas label in order to release Guinga's first album, with a repertoire of songs he co-authored with lyricist Aldir Blanc. Guinga is now widely considered to be Brazil's most innovative songwriter, as well as one of its foremost guitarists. He is known for drawing on many musical genres, including choro, samba, baiao, frevo, modinha, waltz, foxtrot, blues, classical musoc, and jazz. His compositions are often harmonically and rhythmically complex yet melodically accessible and emotionally resonant. Egberto Gismonti (Brazil, b. 1947) Composer, guitarist and pianist. He began his formal music studies at the age of six on piano and after studying classical music for 15 years, he went to Paris to study orchestration and analysis with Nadia Boulanger and the composer Jean Barraqué, a disciple of Schoenberg and Webern. After his return to Brazil, Gismonti began to explore other musical genres such as Brazilian Choro. Gismonti has described Agua e Vinho (Water and Wine) as being inspired by the mystery of Catholicism.

Ernesto Júlio de Nazareth (Brazil, 1863 – 1934) was a composer and pianist, studying first with his mother, then with Eduardo Moreira and Charles Lucien Lambert. He was especially noted for his creative Maxixe and Choro compositions. Influenced by African rhythms and ragtime as well as musical styles like the Lundu and the Choro. He never fully accepted this influence, refusing to give popular names to his compositions. A musician of classical training, he classified his music as "Brazilian tangos", since the Argentine tango and polka dances were considered fashionable at the time. His piano repertoire is now part of the teaching programs of both classical and popular styles, as Nazareth once served at the boundary between these two worlds. Strongly influenced by Chopin, Nazareth published his first composition Você Bem Sabe (1877), at age 14. At this time, he began his professional career playing in cafes, balls, society parties and in the waiting rooms of movie theatres. In 1893, Casa Vieira Machado published his famous tango Brejeiro, which achieved national and even international success, recorded by the Republican Guard Band of Paris. In 1879, he wrote his first tango Cruz perigo. In 1880, at the age of 17, he made his first public appearance at the Mozart Club. The following year, he composed the tango Não caio n'outra, his first great success, with several reprints. In 1885, he performed in concerts in different clubs of the court. In 1909 he participated in a concert held at the National Institute of Music, playing the gavotte Corbeille de fleurs and the tango Batuque. He taught private piano lessons and was hired as a pianist for "Casa Gomes" in 1921 and the Odeon Cinema from 1920-1924. In São Paulo and Campinas he performed several shows in the Municipal Theatre and at the Conservatory. He was then given a grand piano by his admirers. He was one of the first artists to play for the Society Radio of . In 1932 he presented for the first time, a recital in which he performed only his compositions. In 1933, after a period of mental instability, following the deaths of his wife and daughter, he was diagnosed with syphilis and, with worsening hearing problems caused by a fall during childhood, he died by drowning in 1934. He composed 88 tangos, 41 waltzes, 28 polkas and numerous sambas, galops, quadrilles, schottisches, fox-trots, romances and other types of scores, totaling 211 complete compositions. His tango Escovado was first published by Casa Vieira Machado & Co. and dedicated to Fernando Nazareth, the composer's younger brother. It became one of Nazareth's greatest success, and the main theme was borrowed by the French composer Darius Milhaud and used in his surrealist ballet Le Boeuf sur le Toit (1919).

Anibal Augusto Sardinha ('Garoto') (Brazil 1915-1955) The son of Portuguese immigrants, guitarist and multi- instrumentalist musician, playing, composing and arranging for most of the fretted instruments. He was one of the greatest and most influential Brazilian guitarists of all time, broadcasting on the national radio, and recording with artists of the calibre of Carmen Miranda and Ary Barroso. He died in 1955 of a heart attack before a planned trip to Europe. Programme notes by John Kemp, based heavily on information from Gaëlle Solal and from Wikipedia.

The CGS meets on Third Mondays, September to July at this present venue. Generally, we perform to ourselves (visitors are always welcome), but two of these meetings each year are public professional concerts. These have hitherto often been young players starting out on their careers, but they are all of the highest standard, but more recently, we have been engaging well established vitruosi - Fabio Zanon, Allan Neave and now Gaëlle Solal.

Our Chairperson, Miles Roberts, teaches guitar and runs one of the best guitar shops in Britain, Kent Guitar Classics www.kentguitarclassics.com +44 (0)1732 453523 in Sevenoaks. Established players and students from the music colleges alike come to him to try out and buy their instruments – and Miles gets to hear who is really good! ______

Our next concert will hopefully be in November or December. If you wish to be informed, please sign up on the form provided, or send me an email, or a stamped addressed envelope, or keep an eye on our page on the Canterbury Arts Council website: www.canterburyartscouncil.org.uk/index.php/members/16