The contemporary ballets ‘Parade’ and ‘Les Biches’, accompanied with the music of Erik Satie (1866-1925) and Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), will open the programming of ‘Serenates’ Festival on Saturday 24 June, which is held at the Cultural Centre La Nau until 9 July. The festival ‘Serenates’ organised by the Universitat de València and the Valencian Institute for Culture celebrates this year its 30th anniversary with concerts of different style during 12 days. The concert tickets cost only 3 euros and can be purchased at latenda.es
‘Serenates’ Festival devotes its first two nights (24 and 25 June, at 22:30h) to value one of the first contemporary ballets ‘Parade’, that commemorate its 100 anniversary, and to give back other innovative ballet called ‘Les Biches’. Both were released in the Parisian artistic époque after the First World War. This period encouraged the creators, who were very influenced by the emerging avant-garde movements, to experience new things
The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Universitat de Valencia, together with the students of the Higher Conservatory of Dance and the Chamber Choir ‘Ad Libitum’ of the Choir School of Quart de Poblet, will perform both ballets with scenography, costume and audiovisual material designed and created by the EASD students in Valencia, and the personal image carried out by the students of IES El Cabanyal. All together will provide a current approach of both ballets that were a breakdown of the nineteenth-century tradition.
This is not the first time when Serenates carries out a pedagocial project that gathers more than 200 students of higher education. The festival began four years ago with the work titled ‘La consagración de la primavera’ by Igor Stravinsky, on the occasion of its 100 anniversary.
The director of the Orchestra, Hilari Garcia as well as the artistic director of the performance, Maribel Bayona, state that they want to open a current dialogue through this proposal with two revolutionary works, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the work composed by Satie. Therefore, it is a performance and not an historical recreation of both key masterpieces that initiate the modern époque.
Serenates has the support of the City Hall of Valencia (Councils of Cultural, Festivities and Youth), the Valencian Provincial Council, the Higher Institute of Artistic Teaching of the Valencian Community (ISEACV), The Valencian Academy of Language, the Bancaja Foundation, the Sabadell Bank Foundation and the French Institute of Valencia.
The first contemporary ballets
With Erik Satie’s music, Jean Cocteau’s script, Léonide Massine’s choreography and Pablo Ruiz Picasso’s scenography and costume, ‘Parade’ was the first contemporary ballet and worked as a model for the following ballets. Satie added to the score some innovative elements, such as jazz rhythms. In addition to that, he also included the sound of a typewriter or the siren’s boat, among others. This situation linked closely the ballet’s music with the machinism of one of the first avant-garde movements: Futurism. On the other hand, Picasso created a new vision of the scenography and costume, whereas Massine’s choreography was addressed to the comedy, the contemporary farce. To sum up, ‘Parade’ brought together in an eclectic way the vision of modernity through several artistic forms and several creative activities of the vanguards of the early 20th century.
The script of the work is based on the popular plot of the époque: four circus performers (a Chinese conjuror, an American girl and a couple of acrobats) performs a part of their plays to attract the public attention and the story is located in a fair stall.
‘Parade’ was released on 18 May 1917 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris by the company Ballet Russes. The authors, who were supervised by Sergei Diaghilev, created this paradigmatic ballet that gathered the discoveries of each author in their disciplines.
On the other hand, ‘Les Biches’, with Francis Poulenc’s music, Bronsilava Nijinska’s choreography and Maris Maurencin’s scenography and custome, was released on 6 January 1924 by Ballet Russes of Diaghilev at the Opera in Montecarlo. It had no specific topic (it is associated with the French Jean Cocteau, but it is not confirmed). The characters were several young girls of complex nature and three boys, in a white environment full of light and the play was full of irony and courtship.
Concerts during twelve nights
After the opening, the festival will continue on Monday 26 with the performance of El Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana, directed by Jordi Blanch. It wil give a concert titled ‘Música de hombres con voz de mujer’.
On 27 June, the Valencian band ‘Capella de Ministrers’, which specializes in the revival of historical music directed by Carles Magraner will play ‘La ruta de la seda’.
On 28 June, the Orfeó Universitari de València, which celebrates the 70th anniversary this year, will play two pieces, ‘Stabat Mater’ (1876) of A. Dvorák and ‘Lachrimae’, which was written by the Valencian composer Francisco Coll for the Orfeó in the framework of the Artistic Residences Project that was started in 2014.
On 29 June the Valencia Orchestra, directed by Albert Gonzálvez, will perform pieces of S. Prokofiev, P. Dukas and C. Debussy for the benefit of the Spanish Association Against Cancer.
On Friday 30, the voice of Amancio Prada will liven up the night of Serenates with ‘Sonetos del amor oscuro, canciones y gacelas de Federico García Lorca’. Three years after of its performance in this festival, he returns to La Nau with the poems of the poet from Granada.
On Saturday 1 July, Capella i Escolania of the Misteri d’Elx will perform at the Cloister of La Nau this exceptional sample of the medieval theatre which is recognised by UNESCO as a master piece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001.
Between 6 and 9 July, the programming of ‘Serenates’ is coproduced with the ‘July Festival’ and it adopts a more popular and folk character. The first concert will be the 6 at the Cloister but the rest will take place at the Patriarca Square. It will be a concert of the group Danses del Corpus de Valencia. The entry to all concerts is free.
On 7 July, the groups of dolçaines, tabalers and percussion of La Socarrà and the Universitat de València, which are directe by Pere Molina i Gonzàlez, will give a performance.
Next day, it will be the turn of Sociedad Musical Santa María Magdalena de Novelda, directed by Juan José Cuenca, with a programme of festive music.
The singer-songwriter from Alcúdia, Jonatan Penalba, will close the festival on Sunday 9 with ‘De so ca-rel’.
Last update: 22 de june de 2017 10:45.
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