Louth Contemporary Music Society presents Monk’s Music and Other Works by Alexander Raskatov
Monk’s Music and Other Works
by Alexander Raskatov
Saturday 3 May 2014 at 8pm
St.Peter’s Church of Ireland, Drogheda
The Carducci Quartet with Robert Macdonald, Alexander Raskatov and Elena Vassilieva
Louth Contemporary Music Society presents Monk’s Music and other works by the Russian Composer Alexander Raskatov. Monk’s Music, Seven Words by Starets Silouan Raskatov’s monumental work for string quartet and bass voice, was completed in 2005 but following the death of its commissioner, cellist Valentin Berlinsky of the Borodin Quartet, the work was never performed. The premiere finally took place in Dundalk, Ireland in February 2013, courtesy of Louth Contemporary Music Society which then recorded the album, Monk’s Music. Michael Dervan in the Irish Times included the performance and subsequent recording as one of the cultural highlights of 2013 writing “Alexander Raskatov’s Monk’s Music, modelled on Haydn’s Seven Last Words, made a big impression in concert in Dundalk and on disc”. On 3 May 2014, Monk’s Music will be performed by the Carducci Quartet and Robert Macdonald.
The composer Alexander Raskatov with soprano Elena Vassilieva will also perform some additional Raskatov song cyles. The performance will take place on Saturday 3 May 2014 at 8pm in St. Peter’s Church of Ireland Drogheda as part of the Drogheda Arts Festival.
Raskatov’s composition Monks Music is based on seven brief texts by the Russian Orthodox monk Elder (“Starets”) Silouan, who was described by Thomas Merton as the “most authentic monk of the 20th century”, and declared a saint in 1987. Loosely modelled on Hadyn’s Seven Last Words from the Cross, Raskatov has scored the work, by turns mystical and dramatic, for solo bass and string quartet. It was written in memoriam Mieczyslaw Weinberg.
Raskatov whom Alfred Schnittke once called “one of the most interesting composers of his generation” has received commissions for new works from Gidon Kremer, the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Hilliard Ensemble and the Schoenberg Ensemble, among others. He received the composition prize of the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1998. Raskatov was born in Moscow in 1953 and finished his studies at Moscow Conservatory in 1978. In 1990 he joined the Russian Contemporary Music Association. His interests centre especially on vocal and instrumental chamber music and symphonic sonorities.
The Carducci Quartet is recognised as one of today’s most successful young string quartets. Based in the UK, the quartet holds residencies at Cardiff University and Dean Close School and is visiting quartet in residence at Trinity Laban in London, Repton School and the Cork School of Music in Ireland. Regulars at London’s Wigmore Hall, they perform throughout the UK, including their own festival in Highnam, Glos.
Robert Macdonald, Bass. Robert Macdonald began his professional musical career at an early age as a Chorister at Hereford Cathedral. From there he went on to be a Choral Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford where he read a rare combination of Biochemistry & Music. After a brief period at The Royal Academy of Music, Robert has gone on to develop a diverse career as both a Consort Singer & a Concert Artist. He is a regular member of Alamire , The Cardinall’s Musick, The Tallis Scholars & The Sixteen. He is also a frequent guest with The Hilliard Ensemble & The King’s Consort. As a soloist Robert has sung for Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Raymond Leppard, Christopher Robinson, Nicholas Kramer & David Hill among others. Operatically Robert has sung the roles of Sarastro, (Die Zauberflote), Commendatore, (Don Giovanni), Il Tempo, (Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno di Ullisse) & The Abbot, (Britten’s Curlew River). He also holds the singular distinction of having been employed at one time or another by all three of London’s major choral foundations & is currently a Lay Vicar of Westminster Abbey. Robert lives in west London with his wife, the Soprano Rebecca Outram, & their young son.
Soprano Elena Vassilieva was born into a musical family in France and trained as a classical dancer and pianist before her vocal studies with Régine Crespin, Jacques Jansen and Christian Lardé at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Paris. Composers such as Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Vinko Globokar, Wolfgang Rihm and Hans Werner Henze have composed for her. Vassilieva was awarded with numerous prizes, including “Salzburger Mozartpreis”, “Maître du Chant Français” and a “Diapason d’Or”.
Monk’s Music is funded by the Arts Council and financially supported by Create Louth.
Tickets : €10 available from www.droghedaartsfestival.ie and www.centralticketbureau.com
Tel: 041 9833946 and 0818 205 205