Jordi Savall, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, and Hespèrion XXI
The Tears and the Fire of the Muses
Saturday, October 12, 2024, 8pm
Zellerbach Hall
Major support for this performance is provided by The Bernard Osher Foundation.
From the Executive and Artistic Director
Welcome to the start of an exciting new season at Cal Performances! Over the coming year, we’ll spotlight fresh perspectives, captivating stories, and brilliant talent in presentations that will expand the boundaries of the performing arts and inspire us to engage more deeply with the world around us.
It is a singular pleasure to begin our season with a visit from the American Modern Opera Company (also known as AMOC*), which will present its rich and wonderful new production of Olivier Messiaen’s 1945 song cycle Harawi (Sept 27, Zellerbach Hall [ZH]). Among today’s most ambitious and important performance collectives, AMOC* is renowned for presenting some of the most significant interdisciplinary art on the international scene. The company’s landmark production of Harawi features the accomplished classical singer Julia Bullock—who also serves as our artist in residence over the course of the 2024–25 season (see Thomas May’s informative article beginning on the next page)—and pianist Conor Hanick in a production that is expanded and enhanced through the work of choreographers/dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, all under the direction of Zack Winokur. (All five artists are among the 17 sought-after composers, choreographers, directors, vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers, writers, and designers who form AMOC*, and all are united by a commitment to collaborative authorship and maintaining important ongoing relationships with other creators.)
And there’s so much more to see this season! I encourage you to visit our website and check out the special interactive season brochure that has been designed to provide the best possible online reading experience; this dynamic new online tool has also been configured to map perfectly to your device, whether it’s desktop, laptop, or mobile.
As you explore the calendar, I recommend you give particular attention to our 2024–25 Illuminations theme of “Fractured History,” which will introduce nuanced accounts and powerful new voices to enrich our understanding of the past and explore how our notions of history affect our present and future.
As part of our Illuminations thematic programming this season, a major highlight will be the welcome return of the multitalented South African artist William Kentridge, with the Bay Area premiere of his mind-expanding new chamber opera, The Great Yes, The Great No (March 14–16, ZH). (Berkeley audiences will fondly recall Kentridge’s remarkable SIBYL from March 2023, in addition to the many other performances and events that were part of his residency that season.)
I’m also delighted to recognize the Maria Manetti Shrem and Elizabeth Segerstrom California Orchestra Residency, which will host three special performances with one of the towering artistic institutions of our time, the peerless Vienna Philharmonic, under preeminent conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin (March 5–7, ZH) and joined by pianist Yefim Bronfman on March 7.
And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our outstanding dance season, which is distinguished by Twyla Tharp Dance’s 60th anniversary Diamond Jubilee (Feb 7–9, ZH), toasting the artistic output that has easily made Tharp one of today’s most celebrated choreographers; as well as the Cal Performances debut of the world-renowned Brazilian troupe Grupo Corpo (Apr 25–26, ZH).
I look forward to engaging with so many fresh artistic perspectives alongside you throughout the season. Together, we will witness how these experiences can move each one of us in the profound and unpredictable ways made possible only by the live performing arts.
Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances
Welcome to the start of an exciting new season at Cal Performances! Over the coming year, we’ll spotlight fresh perspectives, captivating stories, and brilliant talent in presentations that will expand the boundaries of the performing arts and inspire us to engage more deeply with the world around us.
It is a singular pleasure to begin our season with a visit from the American Modern Opera Company (also known as AMOC*), which will present its rich and wonderful new production of Olivier Messiaen’s 1945 song cycle Harawi (Sept 27, Zellerbach Hall [ZH]).
Among today’s most ambitious and important performance collectives, AMOC* is renowned for presenting some of the most significant interdisciplinary art on the international scene. The company’s landmark production of Harawi features the accomplished classical singer Julia Bullock—who also serves as our artist in residence over the course of the 2024–25 season (see Thomas May’s informative article beginning on the next page)—and pianist Conor Hanick in a production that is expanded and enhanced through the work of choreographers/dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, all under the direction of Zack Winokur. (All five artists are among the 17 sought-after composers, choreographers, directors, vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers, writers, and designers who form AMOC*, and all are united by a commitment to collaborative authorship and maintaining important ongoing relationships with other creators.)
And there’s so much more to see this season! I encourage you to visit our website and check out the special interactive season brochure that has been designed to provide the best possible online reading experience; this dynamic new online tool has also been configured to map perfectly to your device, whether it’s desktop, laptop, or mobile.
As you explore the calendar, I recommend you give particular attention to our 2024–25 Illuminations theme of “Fractured History,” which will introduce nuanced accounts and powerful new voices to enrich our understanding of the past and explore how our notions of history affect our present and future.
As part of our Illuminations thematic programming this season, a major highlight will be the welcome return of the multitalented South African artist William Kentridge, with the Bay Area premiere of his mind-expanding new chamber opera, The Great Yes, The Great No (March 14–16, ZH). (Berkeley audiences will fondly recall Kentridge’s remarkable SIBYL from March 2023, in addition to the many other performances and events that were part of his residency that season.)
I’m also delighted to recognize the Maria Manetti Shrem and Elizabeth Segerstrom California Orchestra Residency, which will host three special performances with one of the towering artistic institutions of our time, the peerless Vienna Philharmonic, under preeminent conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin (March 5–7, ZH) and joined by pianist Yefim Bronfman on March 7.
And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention our outstanding dance season, which is distinguished by Twyla Tharp Dance’s 60th anniversary Diamond Jubilee (Feb 7–9, ZH), toasting the artistic output that has easily made Tharp one of today’s most celebrated choreographers; as well as the Cal Performances debut of the world-renowned Brazilian troupe Grupo Corpo (Apr 25–26, ZH).
I look forward to engaging with so many fresh artistic perspectives alongside you throughout the season. Together, we will witness how these experiences can move each one of us in the profound and unpredictable ways made possible only by the live performing arts.
Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances
About the Performance
The Tears and the Fire of the Muses
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI REVOLUTION
Arianna awakens to find that Teseo has abandoned her on the island of Naxos, and in her despair, she cries out, “Lasciatemi morire, lasciatemi morire!” (“Let me die, let me die!”). The opening of Il Lamento di Arianna is constructed from melodic tensions that draw the audience downwards (like falling tears), full of sorrow, and upwards, as if ascending to the heavens—reflecting an inner and solitary turmoil. This dramatic intensity, challenging to perform yet deeply palpable,
captivated audiences from its premiere in Mantua in 1608, and its popularity swiftly spread throughout Europe.
This collection of four madrigals is the only surviving fragment of the opera Arianna, composed by Claudio Monteverdi with a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, based on the mythological tale of the Cretan princess. Arianna is Monteverdi’s second opera, a work that not only marked a significant turning point in his career but also profoundly influenced the creative landscape of the late 16th century. Arianna became a symbol of the betrayed heroine and the archetype of the wounded lover: Teseo, despite rescuing her from the Minotaur’s labyrinth, left her to her fate, and she remained in love with him until her death.
Though the musical form known as the madrigal first appeared around 1510, Monteverdi refined and evolved it, ultimately publishing nine books (this concert features works from the sixth and seventh). His legacy profoundly impacted Europe, paticularly in the north; he placed music at the service of the text, captivating listeners with a poignant poetic force, and was particularly innovative in expressing human suffering and pain. Monteverdi did not aim to create beautiful melodies or pleasing harmonies but to convey a message, to communicate through emotional expression, and to leave no one unmoved.
In this program, Jordi Savall demonstrates Monteverdi’s influence on composers from England and Germany. We will hear works by Samuel Scheidt, one of the most fascinating Lutheran composers of the early 17th century, who embraced the expressive techniques of the Italian madrigal. Additionally, we will explore the music of John Dowland and Anthony Holborne, who often employed melancholy and lament in their efforts to forge a closer union between text and music, emphasizing the words through specifically musical means. Thus, this concert presents the tears—the lament, the sorrow—and the fire—the anger, the helplessness—of the muses.
—Alba Nogueras