Archive for August, 2016

09 Aug2016

How it all started and continued

Written by Carmen Marcuello. Posted in Blog

On November the 19th, 2012, the first concert of Musethica took place at the public school of especial education “Rincón de Goya”. The repertoire were Concerto for four violas by Vivaldi and the Chaconne for four violas by J.S. Bach (I. Nodaira). Among the public, children from 4 years old up to young people of 20 with disabilities together with teachers of the school. Almost eighty people in the dining room of the school, a space not especially prepared to listen to music. While the public was entering the dining room there was a big flurry and excitement. The music began and all of a sudden, expectant silence. The reactions were many: kids moving with the rhythm of the music, hugs and words spoken aloud. Concentrated musicians were getting the attention, the smile and the eyes of your audience. The 14 minutes long Bach Chaconne, went by in a blink, directly from the hearts of the musicians to the heart of the public. The moment was unique.

This concert was followed by others: in the unit for spinal injured at Hospital Miguel Servet, in two nursing homes, in the reformatory school, in a public school, in an elementary school, in a Centre for adults with mental health problems. In all of them, what had seemed to be unique happened again. Even in March 2013, at the 11th concert, at the warehouse of a work integration social enterprise. In the factory, the wind produced a terrible noise, hitting heavy on the roof, workers listened while standing and the cold was intense, but Bach and Vivaldi created the same effect. More and more the musicians not only interpreted music with a great technique and solvency but they became musicians in deep communication with their audience. Every time a moment of perfect communication between musicians and public in a concert of classical music, carefully selected and interpreted.

The project, dreamed or imagined had become reality. In 2016 there are associations of Musethica in Germany, Israel, Poland, Spain and Sweden and collaborations with China and France. More than 640 concerts in seven countries and more than 160 musicians have participated from the first concert.

The idea is very simple. Musethica is a project for training excellent young musicians in musical performance, offering them the opportunity to perform many concerts on a regular basis, sharing their music with people who have difficulty accessing traditional concerts. But, we still wonder, what is this very simple idea? Is it a model for education of young musicians? Does it  work as a model for inclusion? Public without special training, or not old enough to “understand” music, such as children in a nursery, can they be a demanding audience? Can these concerts of classical music support the task of the social centres?

There are other projects aimed at the diffusion of classical music to people who have difficulties in accessing the concerts and the traditional rooms open their doors with special concerts for children and families. Other projects give opportunities to children and youth through music, creating life projects. However, Musethica approach is not only broadcasting classical music or giving opportunities, our approach is excellence in education for young musicians through the connection with all kinds of audiences. Excellence is possible only if it is for the whole society. To be an excellent musician is matter of technical abilities and of interpretation and communication are acquired only through playing regularly for a broad and diverse audience. It is cannot be taught, it has to be lived and to enjoyed

You can watch some of these special moments in:

06 Aug2016

More about Raz Binyamini

Written by Carmen Marcuello. Posted in Musicians

 

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Dr. Raz Binyamini has been the Music Director of the Chamber Music Center at the Israel Conservatory of Music, Tel-Aviv, since summer 2006, where he has been collaborating with leading ensembles and musicians from Israel and overseas, and establishing the Center as one of the most important musical institutions in Israel. He holds a PhD in musicology from the Tel-Aviv University, where he wrote his dissertation – an interdisciplinary study of 16th-century Venetian Music in its social, political, religious, literary and artistic contexts. He was a faculty member of the Musicology Department at the Tel-Aviv University and the General Studies Unit at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. In recent years he has been a jury member in music competition in his country, as the Chamber Music Competition of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the Aviv Competition of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He joined Musethica Israel as an Artistic Coordinator in March 2015, finding it as the ideal context for nurturing the next generation of excellent young Israeli musicians and making a significant change in the sociocultural scene in Israel.