Founded in 1999, the Bach Consort Wien quickly developed into one of the most important baroque ensembles in Austria, having remained true to its chamber music origins to this day and the desire to present each repertoire in as intimate a setting as possible, thanks to the artistic direction of their founder Rubén Dubrovsky, Argentinian conductor of Polish-Italian roots. He is one of the most important conductors specializing in baroque and classical repertoire in his homeland, as well as a multi-instrumentalist and arranger with a passion for exploring the very sources of European music.
Zamba de Lozano
Hermanos Simón:
Chacarera de un triste
Atahualpa Yupanqui:
Piedra y camino
Justiniano Torres Aparicio:
La vi por vez primera
Tradicijska:
Coca Quintucha
Inchausti / Ferreyra:
Cuando muere el Angelito
Andrés Chazarreta:
La telesita
Traditional:
La bolivianita
Traditional:
Canto en la rama
Dávalos / Falú:
Sirviñaco
Raúl Carnota:
Gatito'e las penas
Cuti y Roberto Carabajal:
La sachapera
Andrés Chazarreta:
Cuando nada te debía
Genaro Prieto:
Apure en un viaje
Traditional:
Montilla
Abel Saravia:
Chacarera de Gualiama
Porfirio Vásquez:
Mi compadre Nicolás
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The Bach Consort Wien, a Viennese ensemble dedicated to baroque music, named after Johann Sebastian Bach, is coming to Dubrovnik with a special programme entitled Vidala, which will bring to the fore the baroque roots of South American music. Vidala is the name of one type of Argentine traditional music.
Rubén Dubrovsky and the Bach Consort Wien describe this evening’s programme as an exploration of a musical continent, from Argentina to Venezuela, following the ancient roots of different genres. The programme comprises traditional music of Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile, collected, or composed in traditional style, by Atahualpa Yupanqui, Andrés Chazarreta, the Díaz Brothers and others. Dubrovsky and the ensemble add:
‘Many of the songs are anonymous, transmitted over generations since centuries. The dances have roots in the baroque times, influenced by the music of the Spanish colonizers, aboriginal South American population and African slaves.
Today’s traditional music of Latin America is the result of a fascinating kaleidoscope, whose development never stopped. It was born in the 16th and 17th century, as a side effect of the clash of original cultures with colonizers from baroque Spain and also with African slaves, becoming one of history’s most interesting musical melting pots.
Spanish melodies and harmonies blended with African polyrhythmic and aboriginal instruments. The resulting music was played and distilled by the following generations, maintaining the essence of the ancient rhythms and dances until today.’
Gustavo ‘Cuchi’ Leguizamón
(Salta, 1917 – 2000) was an Argentine poet, pianist, guitarist and composer, as well as a rugby player, lawyer and professor of history and literature. In his music, he combined Argentine tradition with the harmonies of the 20th-century classical music, Debussy, Ravel, and Schönberg. He composed over 800 works.
Los hermanos Simón, ‘the Simón brothers’, were in fact brothers and a sister, an Argentine family band from the province of Santiago del Estero, consisting of singer Juanita Simón, bandoneonist Miguel, guitarists José and Juan, and percussionist and singer Ricardo Simón. They performed together since the 1930s. Juan and Miguel Simón were the composers, and José Simón wrote the lyrics. They recorded more than 200 songs.
Atahualpa Yuapanqui (Héctor Roberto Chavero, Pergamino, 1908 – Nîmes, 1992) was an Argentine composer, poet, guitarist and singer. Yupanqui and the Chilean folklorist Violeta Parra are considered the founders of the traditional music movement in Latin America and the nueva canción (‘new song’) movement that emerged from it. Yuapanqui collected traditional music throughout Argentina for more than thirty years, and included many of the collected melodies, sayings and verses in his own works. He was forced into exile several times because of his political views and songs, and in 1967 he moved to Paris. His goal was cantar artes olvidados (to sing the forgotten arts).
Justiniano Torres Aparicio (Humahuaca, 1906 – San Salvador de Jujuy, 1992) was a medical doctor, multi-instrumentalist and folklorist from the north-western Argentine province of Jujuy and one of the first researchers of its musical tradition. He was particularly active in the field of criolla music; he led the Humahuaca ensemble and released a number of records.
Chany Inchausti (Eugenio Inchausti, San Nicolás de los Arroyos, 1942 – 2008) was a composer of classical music and songs inspired by Argentine tradition, as well as film music. He was the founder, pianist and director of Los Arroyeños ensemble and artistic director of several record companies. He collaborated with the songwriter, composer and folklorist Federico Marcelo Ferreyra
(Santiago del Estero, 1930 – 1993), author of 140 songs.
Andrés Avelino Chazarreta
(Santiago del Estero, 1876 – 1960) was one of the first researchers and collectors of traditional Argentine music and a composer. He was called Patriarca del Folklore Argentino (‘patriarch of Argentine folklore’). Argentina’s National Folklorists Day is celebrated on his birthday.
Jaime Dávalos (Salta, 1921 – Buenos Aires, 1981) was an Argentine poet and musician, whose epitaph says that he ‘expressed the silence of his people with words’. Eduardo Falú (El Galpón, 1923 – Buenos Aires, 2013) was an Argentine guitarist and composer of Syrian origin, who ‘married the rigor and harmony of folk music with the virtuosity of classical technique and became the leading cultural ambassador of his country’ (Washington Post).
Raúl Carnota (Buenos Aires, 1947 – 2014) was an Argentine guitarist, singer-songwriter and percussionist, who composed under the influence of Argentine tradition and American rock music. He led an instrumental trio, later a quartet, from 1979, and wrote for the theatre.
Singer, writer and composer Cuti Carabajal (Saúl Belindo Carabajal, La Banda, 1947) comes from a large musical family from the north of Argentina. They founded the group Los Carabajal in 1967, and Cuti Carabajal has been performing in a duo with his nephew Roberto Carabajal (1953) since 1988. They have released 25 albums, mostly with original compositions in traditional style and covers of traditional songs.
Venezuelan composer Jenaro or Genaro Prieto
(Santa Anita, 1941) has been involved in local joropo music since childhood and played the cuatro guitar and maracas. He has composed over 300 songs, of which Apure en un viaje
is probably the most popular.
Abel Segundo Mónico Saravia (Salta, 1928 – 2008) was a poet, writer, composer, lawyer and politician. He composed around three hundred songs and taught at the Catholic University of Salta. He used to say that he was ‘first a gaucho, then a lawyer and professor.’
Carlos Porfirio Vásquez Aparicio (Aucallama, 1902 – Lima, 1971) was a Peruvian guitarist, singer, dancer, cajón player and author of traditional Peruvian poetry, la décima. He helped shape several Afro-Peruvian musical styles and was called El Patriarca de la Música Negra (‘the patriarch of black music’). He taught at the Folklore Academy in Lima.
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Argentine tenor Francisco Brito (Salta, 1985) began his musical studies at the age of 11. In 2004, he moved to Italy and specialized in the Rossinian repertoire under the guidance of Maestro William Matteuzzi. His debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 2006 marked the beginning of his professional career.
He has excelled in Rossinian roles in renowned theatres such as Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Opernhaus in Zurich, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Frankfurt Oper in Frankfurt, the Sydney Opera House, and the Canadian Opera Company. He is a bel canto tenor known for his versatility in roles such as Arturo in I Puritani and Giacomo in La donna del Lago. Among his recent projects, notable is his participation in the role of Narciso in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Opera in Lausanne.
Chilean-Swedish mezzo-soprano Luciana Mancini is internationally in demand for her intense stage presence and vocal expressiveness in repertoire that spans from the Renaissance and Baroque to Berio and Piazzolla. Last season she reprised her signature role of María in Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires at Kammeroper Wien and Theater Bonn. She performed various programs with Christina Pluhar and L’Arpeggiata throughout Europe as well as Bach’s Matthäus Passion with Collegium 1704 and Vaclav Luks at Bachfest Leipzig and Händel’s Messiah with Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons she performed the title roles of La Cenerentola and Handel’s
Serse at Theater Bonn, Melissa in Francesca Caccini’s La Liberazione at Theater an der Wien and was part of Sasha Waltz’ productions of Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Founded in 1999, the Bach Consort Wien is one of the most important baroque ensembles in Austria, led by Ruben Dubrovsky. It has performed at numerous festivals and in concert halls such as the Wiener Musikverein, Theater an der Wien, Brucknerhaus Linz, Mozarteum Salzburg, Carinthischer Sommer, the Baroque Days Melk Abbey, at the Palau de la Musica Valencia and Barcelona, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires and the Handel Festival in Halle.
The ensemble’s repertoire includes intimate chamber music as well as grand operas and oratorios. In the spirit of their chamber music origins, concertmaster Agnes Stradner unites the core members in a variety of programmes, often in dialogue with video art, dance or literature.
The ensemble has released several live recordings, including Monteverdi's Selva morale e spirituale (DVD, ORF) and Händel's
Messiah (CD, Gramola/DVD, Naxos). Other releases include Pace e Guerra with countertenor Terry Wey (CD, Sony/Harmonia Mundi), Vidala – Argentina and Roots of European Baroque
(CD, Gramola), which was nominated twice for the German Record Critics Prize, and two live recordings with works by Antonio Vivaldi, interpreted by Vivica Genaux (CD, Sony) and Andreas Scholl (CD, Gramola).
The Vienna-based conductor Rubén Dubrovsky was born in Buenos Aires. As artistic director of the Bach Consort Wien, he regularly performs at the Vienna Musikverein and Theater an der Wien. From 2016 to 2023 he was artistic director of the Third Coast Baroque Chicago. In 2023, Dubrovsky was appointed principal conductor of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz Munich.
Dubrovsky’s symphonic repertoire spans from 18th to 21st century, with works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Zemlinsky, Ravel, Bloch, Bartók, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Weinberg, Pärt, Jost and Strasnoy.
As an opera conductor, he initially focused on the stage works of Georg Friedrich Händel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He conducted Händel's Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo, Radamisto, Agrippina, Tamerlano, Orlando, Semiramide, Oreste, Semele, Serse, Alcina and Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, and Mozart’s Mitridate, Idomeneo, La clemenza di Tito, Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute.
Other highlights include L'incoronazione di Poppea at Semperoper Dresden, Rinaldo at the Bolshoi Theatre, L'arbore di Diana in Valencia, Polifemo at Theater an der Wien and The Rake's Progress at the Gärtnerplatztheater. As artistic director of the annual Hohe Tauern Festival Oberpinzgau (Salzburg), Dubrovsky promotes dialogue between traditional and classical music. His audio and video recordings have been released by Sony, Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Gramola, ORF and 3SAT.
In 2024/25 season Rubén Dubrovsky will conduct Carmen, Alcina, Tosca and Don Giovanni at the Gärtnerplatztheater Munich, Orlando and Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Cologne Opera, and Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at Theater an der Wien.
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Photo (c) Julia Wesely
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