Sunday 29th September
Teatro Farnese, 8.30 pm
European Jazz workshop Orchestra
The Silk Road
A musical journey in the centenary of Marco Polo.
A special production of ParmaFrontiere/Conservatorio A.Boito of Parma for The European Jazz Workshop.
The prestigious European project The Jazz Workshop, which brings together a network of conservatories and academies from all over Europe, returns to Parma for a new production phase. On the occasion of the seventh centenary of Marco Polo’s death, the project begins, right in Parma, its second phase called BIP (Blended Intensive Programme) and will be hosted by the “Arrigo Boito” Conservatory.
The best European students, coming from Parma, Vienna, Oslo and Nuremberg, will immerse themselves in an unprecedented musical adventure. Inspired by the legendary travels of Marco Polo along the Silk Road, they will create an original repertoire that blends the sounds of jazz with musical influences from all over the world, in an imaginary musical bridge between East and West.
The choice of the title “The Silk Road” is not accidental. Marco Polo, a symbol of curiosity and cultural exchange, embodies the spirit of adventure, curiosity and the ability to create bridges between different cultures. Likewise, The European Jazz Workshop promotes cultural exchange and the creation of universal music, capable of uniting people of all backgrounds.
Sunday 13th October
Teatro Farnese, 8.30 pm
ParmaFrontiere Orchestra – Roberto Bonati
The Blanket of the Dark, a Study for Lady Macbeth
The Festival’s stable ensemble, active for 20 years, investigates various musical fields through the production of original music: from the School of Notre Dame to the songs of the Synagogue, from echoes of Stravinsky to tributes to the jazz canon, up to meditations on cultural and social themes.
For this year’s edition, at the request of the Teatro Regio di Parma, the Festival wants to propose a historical work by the orchestra The Blanket of the Dark – study for Lady Macbet. The show debuted in 2001 and was published in album form in 2003; this year a revised score and an updated ensemble, which sees some of the musicians of the original ensemble joined by the latest acquisitions of the Parmafrontiere Orchestra, will allow a contemporary reinterpretation of the work.
Once again we want to celebrate both Giuseppe Verdi and William Shakespeare
Friday, November 15th
Voltoni del Guazzatoio, 8.30 pm
Evan Parker and Walter Prati
Sax and electronics
Evan Parker is a figure who needs no introduction: a historical exponent of the European avant-garde, inventor of a very personal use of circular breathing, a wind instrument technique that allows for a virtually infinite emission of sound, he was a central figure of the English scene first and then of the European one, forming an important artistic partnership with the historic ECM label.
Walter Prati, cellist and electronic musician, has been working since the 70s on the integration between acoustic instruments and electronics, an ideal terrain for the encounter with Parker. The two in fact founded the Electroacoustic Ensemble, an extended group directed by Parker that wants to explore the possibilities of real-time processing of the audio signal in an improvisational context.
The duo will bring the experience of the extended group into a more intimate context, dialoguing in balance between pure improvisation and structures given by the digital sound processing apparatus, a concert of sound research and meditation on electroacoustic music.