Invitation to a Piano Recital with Ranko Markovic and Marialena Fernandes

May 29th 2012, 7 p.m.

Theatre Hall of the Hind Al-Husseini College

of Al Quds University Jerusalem

Pieces and arrangements by Gustav Mahler, Alfredo Casella, Anton Bruckner und Sergej Rachmaninov.

 

Marialena Fernandes, Professor of Chamber Music at the State University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, was born in Mumbai. Having graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, she has both performed and lectured throughout the world, appearing at prestigious venues such as the Musikverein in Vienna. Alongside her career within the Western Classical Tradition, she has received acclaimed success for projects involving highly innovative concert programmes, integrating a wide range of styles and approaches including classical, improvised, ethnic and contemporary music.

Ranko Markovic, Artistic Director of the Konservatorium Wien University, was born in Croatia. He graduated from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and completed his studies at the Tchaikowsky Konservatorium in Moscow and in London. He keeps up a demanding international schedule - recent lectures, masterclasses and performances include institutions such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmony Hall in St.Petersburg and the Shanghai Conservatory.

Fernandes und Markovic have been appearing in concert as a four-hand piano duo since 2000. Their international performance schedule is extensive, and they have receiving outstanding critical acclaim for their performances of transcriptions of both Mahler’s and Bruckner’s Symphonies in New York, Canada, Vienna, London, Poland, Italy, Kazakhstan and India.

The concert is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum.

Further information and reservations:

Mail: petra@music.alquds.edu

Phone: +43 664 2549593 or +972 (0) 54 235 9171

Nicolas Dufetel returns to Al-Quds University Jerusalem

Al-Quds University College of Music is very honoured and delighted to announce that Dr. Nicolas Dufetel will return to Jerusalem in July 2012 for further readings at the music department in Abu Dis and the Centre for Jerusalem Studies in the Old City of Jerusalem.  

Musicologist Nicolas Dufetel wrote a PhD on Liszt’s music. He also graduated in piano and history. After his studies in France, Italy, and Germany, he was granted several awards for his academic activities. He wrote and edited 8 books and published more than 40 articles in France and abroad. He was given the Liszt Award from the Istituto Liszt (Bologna) and the Nordell Fellowship of Harvard University. In 2011, he received a Voltaire Award from the Académie de Berlin for his work on the relation between French and German cultures. He was also awarded a postdoc fellowship from the prestigious Humboldt Foundation; he was the Secretary for the 2010 Chopin Year and the Counselor for the 2011 Liszt Year. 

In 2012, the French Minister for Culture gave him the medal of Chevalier in the Order for Arts and Letters.

Beside his academic activities, Nicolas Dufetel is professor of Musical Culture at the Angers Conservatory. He is frequently invited to give lectures and lessons in France and abroad (Rencontres musicales de Vézelay, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra de Tours, Lisztomanias in Chateauroux, Festivals de Nohant, Lille, Chopin à Bagatelle, National Gallery of Arts, Washington DC, Philharmonie du Luxembourg). 

Concerts and workshops with Aglaia Maria Mika

Mezzo-soprano Aglaia Maria Mika has been performing widely across Europe, specialising in sacred and operatic Early music as well as Improvisation. She further received academic traning at masters level in the UK, where she also completed a training as a music therapist. Sponsored by the province of Vorarlberg/Austria, she will visit Jerusalem in July for concerts and workshops at Al-Quds University, Bethlehem and in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Emma-Jane Willan at Al-Quds University

A prize-winning graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Emma-Jane Willan pursues a range of interests within the Western Classical tradition which include analysis, music history and performance. Her research has focused primarily on the early chamber music of Benjamin Britten, but has also extended to issues concerning musical recording, postmodern ways of listening, various forms of musical notation and the analytical techniques of Hans Keller. She is an accomplished oboist, having studied at the Royal College of Music in London and performed widely across Europe. In addition, Emma has experience working for the BBC’s Classical Music unit and for several international festivals.

She will assist at the music department of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis and support the team with the development of the new Al-Quds University College of Music in Jerusalem.

GUEST LECTURES OF NICOLAS DUFETEL AT AL-QUDS UNIVERSITY

On July 16^th French musicologist Dr. Nicolas Dufetel visited the campus of Al-Quds University in Abu Dis followed by two lectures at the music department. He gave a reading on “Orientalism in Western Music” and offered fascinating insights and backgrounds to elements of music history, music analysis and aesthetics.

Dr. Dufetel who has been invited by the Consulate General of France through the French Cultural Center in East Jerusalem and the Edward Said Conservatory is based as musicologist at the Institute for Musicology in Weimar (Germany) and the University of Angers (France). He furthermore acts as artistic adviser and organizer of the Liszt Year 2011 in France.

His lectures focused on the presence of oriental elements in 18th-19th Century Western Music. They were illustrated with works by famous composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and Borodin as well as the little known Félicien David and showed references to contemporary trends in and the arts in order to understand that Orient and Occident have always been somehow linked in the world of the Arts, and especially in the world of music.

 

Nicolas Dufetel during his lecture

The vivid reading has been accompanied by astonishing images and musical examples as well as live piano playing, inspiring the audience to "listen" to classical music in a different way.

After this highly instructive and at the same time delightful musical encounter Al-Quds University hopes to develop further programs and academic events with Dr. Dufetel, the music department in Abu Dis and the new Al-Quds University College of Music in Jerusalem.

 Dr. Rishmawi, Dr. Dufetel and students of Al-Quds University

Article in Al-Quds Newspaper

Mohammad Shanti wrote an article about the development of Jerusalem's new College of Music in Al-Quds Newspaper on June 17th.

AWTAR AL-QUDS IN VIENNA

On May 30th the concert Awtar Al-Quds - Strings of Jerusalem" launching the project Al-Quds University College of Music gathered musicians from Palestine, Austria, France, Greece, Cech Republik and the U.S.A..

The new faculty of music will be providing musical education, professional training and academic activities at the highest level for young performers, composers and scholars. Students will be encouraged to develop their own individual musical language and expression, gaining artistic input and technical skills to better listen, analyze and produce musical works of art.
Music is an integral part of the profound spiritual and cultural life of Jerusalem and of its rich history. The work of the new centre shall be inspired by as well as inspire the surroundings at the crossroads of musical civilizations in the Old City of Jerusalem.

"We are very happy to present these wonderful Palestinian musicians for the first time to a Viennese audience. Together with distinguished artists living in Vienna they have worked on a very special program to bring the ambiance of Jerusalem to Austria" said development coordinator Petra R. Klose in her welcoming note.
"The sounds of Jerusalem today, the Church bells and the Muazen continue to go beyond the 8 meters concrete and barbeled wired Wall, that separates people. Al-Quds College of Music which will bring more sounds through an international exchange, will play the strings of hope and freedom" expressed Huda Al Imam, director of the Center for Jerusalem Studies of Al-Quds University. Theatre director Amira Bibawy was proud to host this unique new project in Vienna.

The program included works by Ramzi Aburedwan, Hugo Wolf, Georges Bizet, Fréderic Chopin and William Bolcom as well as recitation of abstracts from Sari Nusseibeh's book ‘Once upon a Country’.
Performers of Awtar Al-Quds were Ramzi Aburedwan (bouzouq, viola), Ibrahi Elfroukh (percussion), Oday Khatib (oriental voice), Sylvia Khittl-Muhr (soprano), Bakr Khleifi (oud, double bass), Anna Magdalena Kokits (piano), Dimitrios Mikelis (oud, piano), Kristin Okerlund (piano) und Bettina Waldner-Barnay (dramatic reading). The concert ended with a composition and improvisation on Mahmoud Darwish' poem "Et nous, nous aimons la vie tant que possible".