"Carmina Burana" in the OId Fortress

   Yesterday there was a great concert inside the Old Fortress. The Greek State S.O. in collaboration with the  local municipal choir "San Giacomo" presented Carl Orff's masterpiece "Carmina Burana". Although I did not attend the concert, it should have been an amazing event. More than three thousand people attended, filling in the esplanade in front of Saint George neoclassical church.
  There are two videos of "O Fortuna" (the most famous part from "Carmina Burana") below. As you can see, the atmosphere was amazing. It was a really unique event for our island.

Vivaldi's "Juditha Triumphans" oratorio by the Philharmonic Society of Corfu

   On August 11th, Corfu celebrates the abandon of the turkish siege of 1716 which was very crucial for the european history. On that day a tremendous thunderstorm forced the turks to break the siege and leave the island. The locals believe that it was St. Spyridon that saved the island from the muslims.
  The doge, in order to commemorate the victory, commisioned the famous venetian baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi to compose a musical piece dedicated to this important event. He eventually composed "Juditha Triumpans", a war oratorio. The plot takes place in ancient Israel where Judith, a young Jewish widow, behead Assirian general Holofernes saving the country from the assyrian king Nebuchadrezzar. Judith's victory is an allegory of Venice defeating the invading turks in Corfu.
  This year, Philharmonic Society of Corfu symphonic wind band performed the famous "Arma, caedes, vindictae, furores" part from the oratorio. On the solo trumpets: Andreas Riggas and Aggelos Protopsaltis.

A special concert featuring only percussion instruments

  Last Monday in the front of Town Hall there was a special concert given by Philharmonic Society of Corfu's percussionists. They performed a wide range of pieces, some of them directed by the dutch percussionist and music teacher Ruud Mourik.
  Below there are two videos from Monday's concert. In the first one, a group of percussionists who back in 1994 performed the first rhythmic solo for percussion while giving a marching show at the Esplanade. The second one is the well-known "Sabel dance" by Khacharturian performed by xylophones, metallophones and other percussion instruments.

The Philharmonic Society of Corfu & Philharmonic Society "Mantzaros" junior band concerts at "Plakada Tou Agiou" square

   Last Friday 20th of July and yesterday, 23rd of July the junior bands of the Philharmonic Society of Corfu and the Philharmonic Society "Mantzaros" respectively gave two marvellous concerts at the Plakada tou Agiou square demonstrating to corfiots and tourists alike the high quality of music education in Corfu.
  The young musicians performed a wide selection of music with passion and dedication and were warmly being applauded by the public each time a musical piece ended.
  I would like to congratulate them for those great concerts, the future belongs to them! Corfuweb1 was there and uploaded five videos from the concerts. Hope you will like them.

"Indiana Jones Raiders March" by the Philharmonic Society of Corfu junior band




Ruud Mourik's "City Hopper Marsch" by the Philharmonic Society of Corfu junior band




"Cine...Manos" by the Philharmonic Society of Corfu junior band



"The Mantzaros theme" by the Philharmonic Society "Mantzaros" junior band




"Come back to Sorrento" by the Philharmonic Society "Mantzaros" junior band

Α little concert with songs by the corfiot composer Giorgos Katsaros

   Yesterday the Philharmonic Society of Corfu performed four famous songs of the well-known corfiot composer Giorgos Katsaros.
    First song was "Kathe Limani Kai Kaimos".



Then, "Kithira"...



...and finally, "To Petinari" and "Kerkyra me to Pontikonissi" originally sung by the old corfiot actress Rena Vlachopoulou





All videos taken from CorfWeb1 channel in YouTube.

Philarmonic Society of Corfu yesterday's Easter concert

   Yesterday, the band which I'm a proud member of, gave a marvellous concert at the Municipal theatre performing pieces by Verdi, Purcell, John Williams and many more. There were three soloists: trumbetist Dimitris Agathos, clarinetist Aggelos Politis and percussionist Marios Mouzakitis. The last one played a segment from Ney Rosauro's "Concert for Timpani and Band" which was really impressive and unusual because most of people think that doesn't exist concerts for percussion.
  Below, there are three of the pieces performed, uploaded today by a user named lisistratos62 on YouTube. The first one is Purcell's "Concert for trumpet", the second is Hellmesberger "Devil Dance" (usually perfomed by the Vienna S.O.) and the last one is the segments from Rosauro's concert for timbani.







  It was a great night packed with melody, rhythm and styles from distinct eras proving that corfiot bands' artistic level is quite high.

Bizet and Joplin at the theatre

   Tonight the Philharmonic Society of Corfy symphonic orchestra gave a wonderful concert. A diverse selection of music works were skillfully performed like the Rodion Shchedrin/Bizet "Carmen" suite and Gunther Schuller "Journey to Jazz". Four ragtimes, specifically arranged for symphonic orchestra were presented, including Scott Joplin's "The entertainer" theme heard in the famous 1973 american film "The Sting".
  Here are three short videos from tonight's concert. The first two are taken from the "Carmen" suite while the last one is "The entertainer" ragtime.

A concert in honour of our patron saint

  Today our island celebrates its patron saint, Saint Spyridon who has helped Corfu and many people in many occasions. In order to honour him, every year on December the 12th, the Philharmonic Society of Corfu is giving a concert in its own mini concert hall on Nikiforou Theotoki street. The hall is always full of people waiting for the concert to start.
  Below, there are three videos from today's concert.

Spiros Samaras "Flower dance" from "Flora Mirabilis"

  Yesterday the Philharmonic Society of Corfu gave a concert celebrating the 150th anniversary of Spiros Samaras birth. Samaras is one of the most important and acclaimed greek composers, mostly known for its operas. The band performed pieces of his era and style which was pretty close to that of Puccini and Leoncavallo.
  Here is a video in which the band is perfoming one of the most famous melodies composed by Samaras. It is the "Flower dance" from the "Flora Mirabilis" opera.

Abba's "Mamma Mia" performed by Philharmonic Society of Corfu junior band

Last month Philharmonic Society of Corfu junior band gave a concert at the square on the front of St. Spyridon church (colloquially known as "Plakada tou Agiou"). They played a selection of easy listening music which demonstrated that these young musicians have talent. Here is a video with the band performing the famous "Mamma Mia" song by Abba.

 
Copyright: CorfuWeb (Spyros Margaritis)

A wonderful concert at St. George (Old Fortress)

  Last weekend, there was an interesting concert given by the symphonic orchestra and the vocal ensemble of the Ionian University inside the church of St. George in Old Fortress. The church is hosting some classical music concerts, being somewhat like our version of St. Martin-in-the-fields. The soloists, the choir and the orchestra performed a diverse repertoire ranging from early baroque to modern atonic music.

  Here is a video with the "Gloria" part from Mozart's Coronation mass. 

  I consider myself lucky having the chance to participate or simply attend concerts like this - Corfu has long music tradition in music - local people are obliged to protect and preserve this long tradition and support it by participating in the concerts given by our musical institutions.

"Mantzaros" Philharmonic Society Easter concert

 Yesterday there was amazing concert given every year by the "Mantzaros" Philarmonic Society at the recently renovated catholic cathedral of "Duomo di San Giacomo e San Christoforo".  As the church was full of spectators, a projector was placed at the square on the front in order more and more people enjoy the concert.
The band played pieces of secular music including "Kyrie Eleison" from Mozart's Requiem. The vocal ensemble "Camerata Vocalis" and corfiot cellist Amvrosios Vlachopoulos participated in some of the pieces performed. Alexis Kostalas, a well known journalist (the man which announces the greek votes in the Eurovision contest every year)
 

  At the video below, you can watch yesterday's concert:


Πασχαλινή συναυλία της Φ.Ε. Μάντζαρος στον... by jvnadr

Another marvellous concert given by the Corfu Philharmonic Society's S.O.

  Yesterday night I had the chance to go to another wonderful concert given by the Corfu Philharmonic Society's symphonic orchestra under the direction of Alkis Baltas. The concert, which took place in the Municipal Theatre, consisted of 19th and 20th century music like Bizet, de Falla and Arutiunian.    

                               

  It is obvious that the orchestra, founded by Dimitris Kafiris and now directed by mr. Baltas has been envolved from a small amateur orchestra into a semi-professional one, judging from its continuous improvement in terms of quality and quantity. It aspires to become the new professional symphonic orchestra of Corfu which will substitute the now defunct Municipal symphonic orchestra, a victim of local government's lack of funds.

                                

  We should support this initiative. Corfu, an island with such an important music tradition should have its own professional symphonic orchestra which will present us the best of classical music world and interact with the local wind band tradition.

Alexander Arutiunian - Concert for trombet and orchestra (excerpt) - Solo trombet: Sokratis Anthis


George Bizet - Symphony no. 1 in C major, 1st movement: Allegro vivo


Manuel de Falla - Ritual Fire Dance (from "Wedded by Witchcraft")

An amazing Christmas concert by the Filarmonic Society of Corfu symphonic orchestra

  Yesterday I went to the Ionian Academy to watch the annual Christmas concert given by the symphonic orchestra of Filarmonic Society of Corfu, conducted by Alkis Baltas. The concert should had taken place in the Municipal theatre but, due to yesterday's national strike, it took place in the smaller auditorium at Ionian Academy.  

The venue soon was full of people waiting impatiently for the concert to start. Around 20.30, the members of the orchestra took their seats, then the conductor entered and they started perfoming their first piece, the three german dances by W.A. Mozart. "Simfonia da caccia" by Leopold Mozart followed and next, four religious music pieces by G. Caccini, Franz Liszt, M. Reger and M. Praetorius. All of those four featured solo singers and the last one even had a local vocal assemble called "Camerata Vocalis", consisted mostly by students of the Ionian University music department.

  The second part was exclusively dedicated to greek composers. Two small melodic pieces written by corfiot composer Alexander Grec were performed first, followed by three other pieces of dance music by another corfiot composer Iosif Kaisaris. Last but not least was "Elliniká Kálanta", an upbeat selection of greek carols arranged by the conductor himself, Alkis Baltas.

  

  Overall, the concert was amazing. Being now the only symphonic orchestra this island has, it should be supported by the local people. Many of the musicians are amateurs but this does not mean the result is "amateurish". In my honest opinion, this orchestra can compete even with some professional orchestras.

After all, the word "amateur" doesn't mean "love for the art"?

A clarinet concert at Corfu Reading Society

  Few days before, I've been to an interesting concert in which two clarinetists performed accompanied by a pianist. The clarinetists performed were Guy Dangain, a famous french clarinetist with an important carrier in various music institutions in France and Angelos Politis, a corfiot clarinetist. The concert was dedicated to H.E. Klosé, a 19th century clarinetist who invented the Boehm system, the standard clarinet keywork used in most of the countries in the world (the other is the Müller system used only in the german speaking countries).

  Most people don't know that Hyacinthe Eléonore Klosé was born in Corfu in 1808. He was son of a french military official (Corfu in the beginning of the 19th century was under french occupation) who lived there for some years serving in the local french military force. We don´t know who was Klosé's mother but some say that it may have been a corfiot woman as most young french officials were unmarried. When he was a teenager, Κlosé went to the Paris to study music. In 1831 he was admitted in the National Conservatory of Paris in which he attended the classes of the great clarinetist Frederic Berr. Soon he became himself a virtuoso and in 1838 he became a professor replacing his teacher. He wrote the famous method, known as the Bible of the clarinet and he had many famous soloists (like Holms, Frederic Selmer and Turban) as students. He died in Paris in 1880.

  Below there are two videos from this interesting concert at the Corfu Reading Society.

- Guy Dangain performing " After you mr. Gershwin" by Βelá Kovács



- Guy Dangain and Angelos Politis performing Amilcare Ponchielli's "Il Convegno"

A 1986 video of Philharmonic Society of Corfu's youth windband

A 24 years old video, shot in the bandstand of Esplanade with the society's youth windband playing "Kathe limani kai kaimos" ("Every port and nostalgia") directed by Giorgos Katsaros, the composer of the piece of music heard. This footage was part of an old ERT production and is considered very rare. The sound of these young musicians (most of them aged between 10-18) is close to perfection, which proves the quality and the talent of their playing.

Haydn Concerto for piano and orchestra in F major - 3rd mov. by the Orchestra of Ionian University

Very elegant playing, congratulations to the students and the teachers of our University for this excellent concert they gave yesterday.

Solist: Vasiliki Drigogia

Direction: Paulos Pappas

Matisse live @ Spianada, Corfu 21/06/2009

Kratiki Orchistra Athinon (National S.O. of Athens) concert in Corfu.

One of the most important symphonic orchestras of Greece gave a concert tonight inside the Corfu Town's Old Fortress for the celebration of the Unesco's decision to announce Old Town Corfu a monument of international cultural inheritance. They played three pieces: Giuseppe Verdi's "Va, pensiero" from "Nabucco", Ntinos Konstantinides "Divertimento of New Orleans" and Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov's "Scheherazade".

It was really a good concert, because here in my island you haven't got the often chance to see a descent S.O. playing. I hope more and more concerts like this will take place in my town more often than usual.






KOA (National S.O. of Athens) playing "Scheherazade" in Old Fortress, Corfu - July 2008.