Concerts featuring a program of cinematic jazz works and varied Romantic creations are part of the upcoming edition of chamber music festival SoNoRo, which starts in Bucharest on October 30.<\/p>\n
Colors: Jazz in Motion<\/em>, a show featuring Ksenia Parkhatskaya, David Duffy, and their band, is scheduled for October 31 at Bragadiru Palace. The program combines original cinematic jazz composed by David Duffy, with lyrics by Ksenia, and jazz and swing standards from the genre\u2019s golden age.<\/p>\n Dancer, choreographer, singer, and actress Ksenia Parkhatskaya has performed and taught in more than 35 countries, appearing alongside the Christian McBride Trio, Postmodern Jukebox, the Paris Opera Orchestra, and the Barcelona Jazz Orchestra. Born in Leningrad, she began dancing at the age of six. She studied philosophy in St. Petersburg, has lived in Berlin, Stockholm, and Cork, and is now based in Barcelona. Since 2016, she has composed original music with her husband, Irish composer David Duffy. Her single \u201cHow Long\u201d has surpassed 1.5 million streams on Spotify, while their album Colours <\/em> has been released on vinyl by Japan\u2019s Terashima Records.<\/p>\n The band includes Ksenia Parkhatskaya on vocals and dance, David Duffy on double bass, Marc Martin on piano, Gabriel Amargant on saxophone and clarinet, Jordi Pallares on percussion, and Keelan Kenny on guitar.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s edition of SoNoRo draws inspiration from Richard Wagner\u2019s artistic universe and the concept of endless melody, a musical idea in which a phrase does not come to a definitive close but continues to flow, evolve, and create a sense of continuity. \u00a0The festival program takes audiences on a journey through Romanticism, modernism, and contemporary composition, bringing together works by Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Liszt, Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg, Brahms, Schubert, Enescu, and others, with each concert part of \u201ca musical thread connecting cities, heritage venues, international artists, and communities of listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n In keeping with this, the concert The Romantics\u2019 War <\/em> will highlight two musical visions that stood in opposition: those of Brahms and Wagner, each convinced that the other was taking music in the wrong direction. Brahms regarded Wagner\u2019s radical Romanticism as shapeless, excessive, and endlessly long, while Wagner considered Brahms too restrained, too pedantic, and too bound by the constraints of musical form, the festival organizers explain.<\/p>\n The concert, set for November 4, will feature works by Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin, and Johannes Brahms, performed by violinists Boris Brovtsyn and Aylen Pritchin, violist Sarah McElravy, cellist Valentin R\u0103du\u021biu, and pianists Diana Ketler, Louis Lortie, and Eldar Nebolsin.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the concert Cosmic Chord<\/em>, scheduled for November 7, will feature works by Richard Wagner, Ernest Chausson, and Arnold Schoenberg, performed by violinists Boris Brovtsyn, Mihaela Martin, and Aylen Pritchin; violists Sarah McElravy and R\u0103zvan Popovici; cellists Justus Grimm and Valentin R\u0103du\u021biu; pianist Diana Ketler; and mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu. The title of the concert references Wagner\u2019s famous \u201cTristan chord,\u201d from the opera Tristan und Isolde. \u201cWith its unresolved tension and aching beauty, it gave rise to a new musical language, inspiring generations of composers, from Mahler to Schoenberg.\u201d<\/p>\n