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.

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.

Corfiot Easter 2012 - a video compilation

   Ι made this compilation of videos that I found on the net to show to the world how special is our Easter festivities and traditions.

   The first video shows the traditional easter carrols performed by the Mantzaros Philharmonic Society on Easter Monday:



   The epitaph (funeral procession) of Saint George's church in the Old Fortress:



   The Philharmonic Society of Corfu performing the famous Albinoni's Adagio at the epitaph of the Cathedral (Mitrópoli):



   At the epitaph of Saint Spyridon which takes place on Easter Saturday morning, the Kapodistrias Philarmonic Union performs the funeral march from Beethoven's Third Symphony (Heroica) while the Philharmonic Society of Corfu performs Franco Faccio's "Hamlet":





   The so called "First Resurrection" takes place at 11 a.m. with the throwing of clay pots ("mpotides") from the windows: 



   Also at the very same moment, another custom takes place: that of "Mastela". A guy dives into a barrel of water which is full of coins thrown by passerbys and he collects them:



   At 12 p.m., the Philharmonic Society of Corfu gave a marching show attended by hundreds of spectators:



  At midnight, after the Resurrection an amazing fireworks show brightens the skies. Afterwards, the bands parade in the streets of old town playing the "Graikoi" march and giving shows by their percussion teams:







   The procession of Resurrection of "Panaya ton Ksenon" church on Easter Sunday morning: 




  The Philharmonic Society "Mantzaros" performing Kritikos "Marcia Trionfale" at the procession of Resurrection of Saint Spyridon:


 


   - Read more about what is happening during the Holy Week in Corfu here: http://johncorfuworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-in-corfu.html

Watch Good Friday's funeral processions live wherever you are

   Tomorrow, Good Friday, from early in the evening until late at night, you can watch the live stream of the funeral processions that pass outside the Philharmonic Society of Corfu building. Click on the following link to connect:

http://www.livestream.com/OfficialFEK

   Also here is the link of tonight's general audition of the funeral marches that the Philharmonic Society of Corfu will perform tomorrow and on Holy Saturday.
The pieces performed are the following:

• Dimitrios Kafiris "O Pónos tis Manas"
• Tomasso Albinoni "Adagio"
• Franco Faccio "Hamlet" 

OfficialFEK on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

HAPPY GREEK ORTHODOX EASTER TO ALL OF YOU!

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.

This year's Philharmonic Society of Corfu marching show

   This year too, celebrating our indepedence day, the Philarmonic Society of Corfu presented a fabulous marching show at the cricket ground of Esplanade.
   The show started with the theme from "Rocky" and the "Commandery" march. Then, they played a greek march called "Taxiarchia" and the famous "Memories" melody from "Cats", originally sung by Barbara Streisand. The show ended with a selection of famous melodies, "Con te partiro", the "Colonel Boogie" march and "Rocky theme" once again.
   Here is the video covering the whole show, courtesy of Corfweb.



-Last year's show: http://johncorfuworld.blogspot.com/2011/03/philharmonic-society-of-corfu-marching.html

This year's "Sunday of Orthodoxy" litany

   Last Sunday, the greek orthodox church celebrated the "Sunday of Orthodoxy" (known as well as "feast of Orthodoxy"). In Corfu we celebrate it with the litany of St. Theodora's relics around the old town accompanied by the philharmonic bands, numerous schools and the scouts.
   That day the weather was great. It was sunny and warm so lots of people decided to come to old town centre to watch the litany. Below, there are two videos covering the whole procession, courtesy of corfweb1 channel in YouTube.

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 beautiful article about the Philharmonic Society of Corfu

   The Ionian magazine kindly published an article about the oldest philharmonic society in Greece in their January 2012 issue. I have contributed to the article by providing two photos and making some remarks about my experience as a member of this band. Also it features a brief history of the philharmonic and mention a passage from reknown british writer Lawrence Durrell's desciption of a typical corfiot religious procession in his "Prospero's cell" novel. 

Download the photo in your computer for better resolution (courtesy of the "Ιonian magazine")

- You can download the issue from  the magazine's site: http://www.theionian.com

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.

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)

The Philharmonic Society of Corfu at the 11th of August celebrations

Here are two videos from the 11th of August celebrations in Corfu Town with the Philharmonic Society of Corfu performing the famous march from Tannhäuser and Alford's "Colonel Bogey" march..

A video from the 11th of August litany

  The 11th of August litany is one of the greatest processions in the island. We celebrate one of Saint Spyridon miracles which took place in August 1716 when Corfu was sieged for many days by the Ottoman Turks. Legend has it that at the most critical point of the siege, when the Turks were about to gain access to the Old Fortress, a fierce storm broke out which made the enemy to give up. Since then, every 11th of August we celebrate with this  big procession which takes place around the Esplanade and Liston. Many wind bands participate and there are lots of tourists from mainland Greece and abroad attending.
  Here is a video I found at YouTube from this year's procession.

Philharmonic Society of Corfu marching show

  Yesterday we celebrated, like every 25th March, the start of the 1821 Greek War of Independence (or Greek Revolution) against the Ottoman rule. There was a parade in Esplanade, in which the four biggest bands, local schools and the navy took part. When the parade ended, the Philharmonic Society of Corfu did a little marching show on the grassy grounds of the cricket field, at the front of Liston. It was the first time a show like this has been given since 2004 and the locals seemed to appreciate this iniciative remind them the good old days when every 21st of May there was a big show given by the majority of the local wind bands at the very same place.

 Below there is a video in which you can see a big part of yesterday's show.



Edit: This is the best video to date - it covers the whole show and was taken from ground level and from a balcony of a Liston building. (Courtesy of mr. Stamatis Katapodis - mr. Spiros Margaritis)

The Feast of Orthodoxy litany

  As every year, yesterday the island celebrated the feast of Orthodoxy (a commemoration of the final defeat of Iconoclasm and the restoration of icons to the churches)  with the procession of Saint Theodora holy relics. The litany started from the cathedral in Spilia, followed the road in Mouragia, entered the Liston area from the Palace and headed back to the Cathedral via Nikiforou Theotoki street.
  Five corfiot wind bands, the Philharmonic Society of Corfu, Mantzaros, Kapodistrias, Korakiana and Gastouri philharmonic bands took part at the procession playing their religious marches, sounds which made corfiot music famous in Greece and beyond.





- Some videos from last year's procession: http://johncorfuworld.blogspot.com/2010/02/wind-bands-playing-at-santa-theodora.html

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 old documentary about the corfiot wind bands

  This is a 34-minute long documentary broadcasted in 1983 by ERT (Greek Radio and Television) which narrates the long music tradition of the island, the birth of the first philarmonic bands and the state in which local musical affairs had been in the -now distant- early 1980s. Though in greek, you can appreciate the rare footages of the bands perfoming in the street, which they will bring you back some good memories.

This video is courtesy of the youtube user Tetrafonia.

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 visit to the new "Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros" music museum

  Our town acquired a brand new museum dedicated to the island's most popular art, the music. The new music museum is housed in the first floor of the Old Philarmonic Society's building on Nikiforou Theotoki street, behind the Liston complex. It's main theme is the foundation's 170-year-old history, the oldest of its kind in Greece. Its first director, Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros, dedicated its life to teach and promote the art of music with no personal profit.
  The museum is divided in five sections: 1) the foundation, administration and organisation, 2) educational activities 3) the concerts 4) the wind band and 5) the people and their work. All those sections take up four rooms. Although it is quite small, it is rich and the visitor can learn a lot about the music heritage of our place. There is also a multimedia unit in which documentary videos and sound archives can be seen and heard.
  The museum was funded by the European Union and it was organized by Konstantinos Kardamis, a professor of musicology in the Ionian University.

Let's do now a little tour of the museum. These are some photos from the biggest room which house the sections decicated to the philarmonic's people and the band. There are some old instruments behind a glass panel some of which date from the mid-19th century. The rest of this big room is full of old partitures, including some handwritten ones by Mantzaros and Samaras.

The next room is smaller and dedicated to the concerts. There is an old Bernstein piano and some old paintings. There are  a bassoon cleverly being hold by a metallic stand which resembles a bassoonist and a cello which is exposed in a similar way.

  The space dedicated to the band's foundation and organisation history is housed in the aisle at the museum's first floor entrance. The founding proceeding, some administration documents, the musicians' registry and some statues could be found. All those documents are invaluable and witness the foundation's early history.

  The last room houses some educational material. An old Bogs & Voigt piano can be admired and next to it few old instrumental methods and programmes of pupils' concerts. A big book with all the pupils' registries are exhibited as well.

  If you will ever pass by the philarmonic's building, you can get a billingual leaflet with the museum plans and a short history. I scanned it for you and I post it here for those who can obtain it.

   I highly suggest visiting this museum. It's unique in its kind and the visitor can learn a lot about the island's rich music tradition. There is a free entrance and it is open from Monday to Saturday 09.30 to 13.30

- The museum's official site: http://www.fek.gr/museum/index.htm