14th Slowind Festival @ Slovenian Philarmonic

Emanuele Torquati will take part in the 14th edition of SLOWIND FESTIVAL in Ljubljana, from next 13th-16th October.The Festival is devoted to Matthias Pintscher, composer and conductor and will take place in Slovenian Philarmonic Hall.

Programme includes a vast selection of Schumann chamber music and some important works of New music repertoire, from Boulez to Saariaho. Torquati will perform in 4 different concerts, on 13th Sur Incises by Pierre Boulez, under Matthias Pintscher, on 14th in a matinée devoted to Schumann and B.A. Zimmermann, and then in an evening concert with Schumann and 2 new works related to his music, on 15th will present Pintscher’s “Lieder und Schneebilder” with American soprano Marisol Montalvo.

Impuls Romantik @ Alte Oper Frankfurt

Emanuele Torquati has been invited from Alte Oper Frankfurt to premiere 3 Cycles of Lieder as part of the three year project “Impuls Romantik”. Three new pieces will be performed by him with soprano Marisol Montalvo and mezzo Jenny Carlstedt. Composers are American Jay Schwartz, Slovenian Nina Senk, and French-Canadian Samy Moussa. Jay Schwartz composed his “Music for voice and piano” on a poem by Henry David Thoreau, Nina Senk used some Sonnets from the Portoguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning for “My Letters”, while Samy Moussa’s “Ahania’s Lament” is based on a poem by William Blake. These concerts are part of the “Auftakt Festival” 2012 and will take place on 8th September at 4 and 7 pm in Alte Oper’s Mozart Saal.

NEW CD OUT! Albert Roussel Complete Piano Music

The French composer Albert Roussel (1869–1937) was ideally placed to develop a unique musical style. Above all, Roussel’s piano music is characterised by its unique synthesis of rationality and feeling. This approach — exploring tradition while pushing boundaries — is captured expertly by the award-winning pianist Emanuele Torquati, a specialist of French repertoire; his subtle yet vital performances make this new album “Promenade sentimentale” a must-have for any enthusiasts of French music. The album has already been chosen by MDR Kultur in his Take 5 selection of this week! Read article here

LISTEN TO SOME EXCERPTS HERE

This is one of the few complete recordings of Roussel’s piano oeuvre, and unique because it contains the world premiere of Roussel’s own piano transcription of the Resurrection Op. 4. His piano music is a unique blend of musical Impressionism (with protagonists Claude Debussy, and, to a lesser extent, Maurice Ravel), and the Late Romantic style of composers like Cesar Franck and Vincent d’Indy, indulging in rich and dark Wagnerian chromatism.

Roussel’s background was more colourful than most of his fellow composers (he initially studied mathematics and worked as a naval officer before devoting himself to music), while his early years as a composer saw him exposed to a barrage of rich but conflicting musical influences: the impressionist movement (spearheaded by Debussy) and the more traditional approach of the Schola Cantorum (championed by d’Indy and Franck).

He absorbed the wide-ranging styles that he heard around him, blending and modifying them to establish his own distinctive voice — a voice that can be perceived clearly in his music for solo piano. Traditional musical forms are a frequent point of inspiration: in the Suite in F sharp Op.14, Roussel uses rustic dances as a basis to explore both counterpoint and tonal disintegration, while the Bach-inspired Prélude et Fugue demonstrates the neo-Classical style that he was drawn to in his later period.

La quarte parte della terra @ 75th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Emanuele Torquati has been invited with his long-term chamber music partner Francesco Dillon to take part at 75th edition of Festival del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, one of the oldest and most prestigious Italian music Festivals. For this special occasion, Duo Dillon-Torquati will give the premiere of “La quarta parte della terra”, a project completely devoted to Southamerican repertoire and inspired by Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci. In one of his letters, he named the new lands that he was about to discover, “The fourth part of Earth” (La quarta parte della terra).

In order to celebrate the 500th Anniversary from his death, Dillon-Torquati chose a wide selection of pieces written by most prominent Latinamerican composers, e.g. Alberto Ginastera, Heitor Villa Lobos, Carlos Guastavino and Astor Piazzolla.

The program is inspired by the idea of a mesmerizing journey between evocations, sounds and images, with the contribution of video artist Luca Di Pierro (USA-Italy) and film maker Gaston Solnicki (Argentina).

The project will feature Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras n. 2 and the beautiful Song of the Black Swan, as well as virtuosic pieces like Ginastera’s Pampeana n. 2 and Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango. Last but not least, Francesco Dillon will perform a new cello solo piece with electronics by Martin Bauer, while Emanuele Torquati will present Tango errante by Maria Cecilia Villanueva.

Duo Dillon-Torquati on Tour

Duo Dillon-Torquati is going to perform extensively in the first two months of the year.

Their engagements include 3 concerts in Pescara, Rome and Campobasso, with a program devoted to Franz Liszt (recently released for Brilliant Classics), Busoni, Bartòk and Strauss, including a premiere of Italian composer Mauro Cardi especially written for them.

After this first round of concerts, they’re going to present a second version of last year successful project “DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES”, at Area Sismica, Villa Romana and NY Musikk in Oslo. This new edition will include beside Brahms and Schumann Lieder, a world premiere by Argentinian composer Martin Bauer and German composer Carola Bauckholt, a new piece by emerging talent Daniele Ghisi, plus Peter Ablinger Voices and piano and Jacob TV piece for cello, piano and electronic based on Chet Baker’s last interview.

Emanuele Torquati in Buenos Aires @ CICLO DE CONCIERTOS de musica contemporanea

Emanuele Torquati will take part in South American biggest New Music Festival, CICLO DE CONCIERTOS DE MUSICA CONTEMPORANEA in Buenos Aires. The opening concert will be a Recital with a selection of Peter Ablinger’s extensive cycle VOICES AND PIANO (1998-). Special guest will be the composer himself, playing the electronics. Voices includes Hanna Schygulla, Jorge Luis Borges, Pierpaolo Pasolini and Marcel Duchamp, among others. The event will take place on 12th November at Teatro Colòn. READ CONCERT’S REVIEW HERE

Torquati will perform three times more at the Festival, giving the Argentinian premiere of Feldman’s Piano and String Quartet on 23rd Nov. with Prometeo String Quartet, performing the project “DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES” with cellist Francesco Dillon on 27th Nov., and finally taking part in the 18th hours marathon performance of Erik Satie VEXATIONS between 29th and 30th Nov.

READ CONCERT REVIEW OF FELDMAN PIANO AND SQ

Morton Feldman – Piano + String Quartet

Emanuele Torquati will perform one of Feldman’s last pieces, PIANO AND STRING QUARTET (1985) with Prometeo String Quartet. This fascinating 80 minutes long work will be presented with a new video made especially for this occasion by visual artist Luca Di Pierro.

The performances will take place on 13th October at Villa Bassi in Abano Terme, on 15th October at Villa Romana in Florence and on 23rd November in Argentina, at Teatro San Martin Buenos Aires. This performance will be the Argentinian premiere of this work and will be part of the 15th Edition of CICLOS DE CONCIERTOS DE MUSICA CONTEMPORANEA.

READ BUENOS AIRES CONCERT’S REVIEW HERE

FOCUS AUSTRIA

On 28th September at Austrian Forum Rome (8 pm, free admission), Duo Dillon-Torquati will premiere FOCUS AUSTRIA. The project is solely devoted to Austrian music and includes a varied selection of both unknown Romantic pieces, eg. Heinrich von Herzongeberg Drei Legenden op. 62 and Alexander von Zemlinsky Drei Stuecke, and New music.

Emanuele Torquati will perform Beat Furrer’s Voicelessness – The snow has no voice and Francesco Dillon In freier Lust….verbunden by Georg Friedrich Haas. Last piece on the program will be the Duo “Mumien” by pianist and composer Thomas Larcher.

WATCH ZEMLINSKY DREI STUECKE.

Liszt Recital @ MITO Settembremusica

Following the recent release of his Liszt CD for Brilliant Classics, Emanuele Torquati will perform an all-Liszt Recital at MITO Settembremusica, featuring a wide selection from Second and Third Year of Années de Pèlerinage. The concert will take place on 17th September in Milan at Teatro dell’Arsenale, at 5 pm, and will have the contribution of narrator Luca Scarlini. LISTEN TO A CD SAMPLE HERE

Liszt CD Release on Brilliantclassics

Franz Liszt’s Complete Works for cello and piano are now available! This new, last release of Duo formed by cellist Francesco Dillon and Emanuele Torquati has been made for dutch label Brilliant. The program includes five original works written by Liszt, a.o. fascinating late piece La lugubre gondola, and rare Liszt’s epoque transcriptions of Six Consolations, Angelus! and Liebestraum n. 3. Read here the official presentation.

BUY IT ON AMAZON.COM

Some of these works will be included in Duo Dillon-Torquati next engagements, e.g. on 6th June at Casa della Musica in Parma, on 3rd July at Orsanmichele for Orchestra da camera fiorentina, on 12th August at Camerino Festival.