Armonica Stanza addresses in this program the music of the Spanish Baroque that shines in its own right within the Golden Age, taking as representative of the vocal music of this time, its piece par excellence: The Human Tone.
The so-called Human Tone of the Spanish Baroque is any musical piece with a profane text for one or more voices, which differs from the Divine Tone in that it presents lyrics with a religious content.
The human tone used to have love as its main theme, generally unrequited or disgraced, and it was illustrated with popular airs, which gave it a freshness and a very attractive rhythm that enchanted the public then as well as today, inside and out. out of Spain.
In the Golden Age there was a direct relationship between poets and musicians, often cemented by a close friendship, which led writers to supply composers with texts directly. Calderón, Lope de Vega… the great writers of the time collaborated closely with the union of musicians such as those who appear in this program, Juan Hidalgo and José Marín.
The most characteristic feature of Spanish baroque music is, above all, the search for the rhythmic expression of the poetic text. Thus a new rhythmic style was born, with an abundance of syncopations, displaced accents and frequent changes in the beat, which tried to musically reflect the metrical innovations of the new poetry.
Regarding the composers, José Marín is considered, together with Juan Hidalgo, the most important author of secular music apart from the Spanish Baroque. Author of more than 70 pieces, almost all of them secular in one voice with instrumental accompaniment (with the exception of a few duets and religious carols), his style represents, together with Hidalgo’s, the quintessence of the Hispanic Baroque. Juan Hidalgo is considered the creator of opera and zarzuela in the Spanish language.
For his part, Gaspar Sanz, was the greatest exponent in guitar music. His book “Instruction of music on the Spanish guitar” is an indispensable source to learn about Spanish popular music of the time and the most complete method of baroque guitar; contains the first known manual for instrumental accompaniment and was used even by Manuel de Falla and Joaquín Rodrigo.
Deceived by the beauty of this music, we can only hope that the public will be as happy to listen to it as we are to interpret it.
MARIVI BLASCO / Soprano
Born in Valencia, where she studied piano, oboe and singing in the Conservatorio José Iturbi. She studied also Psicology in the Valencia University.
During her studies she was oboist of the “Unión Musical de Yátova”, winner of several international prices.
Mariví continues her singing studies following masterclasses with the most prestigious international voices such as: Victoria de los Ángeles, Marta Almajano, Elena Obratsova, Mª Ángeles Peters, Ana Luisa Chova. Robert Expert, Josefina Arregui e Isabelle Poulenard, Anatoli Goussev y Daniel Muñoz.
As a soprano she has collaborated with groups and directors such as Europa Galante (Fabio Biondi), L’ arpeggiata (Christina Pluhar), La Fenice (Jean Tubèry), “B' Rock” (Frank Agsteribbe),Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla (Monica Hugget), Ensemble ELYMA (Gabriel Garrido), R.C.O.C. (Juan Bautista Otero), Banda Municipal de Sevilla, Camerata Iberia (Juan Carlos de Mulder), Orquesta Camerata XXl, La Correnta (Juan Carlos Rivera), Ensemble Pian&Forte (Antonio Frigé), Accademia del piacere (Fahmi Alqhai), Hippocampus (Alberto Martínez- Molina), Coral de Cámara de Pamplona (David Guindano), La Hispanoflamenca (Bart Vandewege), Música Ficta (Raúl Mallavibarrena), Forma Antiqva (Aaron Zapico), Speculum (Ernesto Schmidt), Capella de Ministers (Carles Magraner), Victoria Musicae (Jose Ramón Gil-Tárrega) y Vespres d´Arnadí (Pere Saragossa): with whom she has performed in concert venues such as La Maestranza, Teatro Lope de Vega (Sevilla), Teatro Arriaga (Bilbao), Kursaal (Donosti), Petit Palau (Barcelona)Teatro Villamarta (Jérez), Festival Mozart (A Coruña), Teatro dei Rozzi (Siena), Teatro Metropolitano (Medellín), Salle Gaveau (Paris), Castello Sforzesco (Milán), Teatro Corral de Comedias (Alcalá de Henares), Palau de les Arts, Palau de la Música, (Valencia), Auditorio Eduardo del Pueyo (Zaragoza), Teatro Real and Auditorio Nacional
(Madrid). She works regularly with artists like Lorenzo Ghielmi, Juan Carlos de Mulder, Antonio Frigé , Jory Vinikour , Javier Somoza and Robert Cases.
Among the best productions she has taken part of we can highlight: In the TeatroReal in Madrid, “Diálogos de Carmelitas” by F. Poulenc, under the direction of Jesús López Cobos and Robert Carlsen. The Opera “Philemon und Baucis” by Haydn, with Europa Galante and Fabio Biondi, at the Teatro dei Rozzi in Siena.
Her recordings include: “Réquiem por la infanta doña Bárbara de Braganza” by José de Nebra with Estil Concertant; two records with music of with Victoria Musicae; “ Concerto di Trombe”with Gabriele Cassone and Enrico Onofri, the oratorio “La forza del Divino Amore” of Bernardo Gaffi with Ensemble Pian&Forte; "Insólito estupor", with Forma Antiqva; "Artaserse" by Terradellas with Real Compañía de Opera de Cámara; "Le lacrime di Eros", with Accademia del piacere, awarded with the Prelude Classical Music Award 2009 Early Baroque and “Las idas y las vueltas” with the cantaor flamenco “Arcángel” in a unusual flamenco-baroque fusion.
Miguel Ángel Orero García / Percussion
He studied at the Elementary and Professional Music Conservatories of Buñol (Valencia) and Riba-Roja del Turia (Valencia), obtaining the title of professor and Honor Award in Professional Degree in the specialty of Percussion. After that, he entered the C.S.M. Zaragoza with Professor Manel Ramada, and later, at the C.S.M. “Joquín Rodrigo” (Valencia) with the professors Jesús Salvador, Joan Cerveró and Manuel Tomás, where he obtained the title of Superior Professor and Honor Award in the specialty of Percussion. From his qualification as a senior professor and after passing the teaching period and his research proficiency, he obtained the D.E.A. (Advanced Studies Diploma) in the PhD program in Music from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. At that same University he obtained a PhD “cum laude” in the”Art: Production and Research” program. He also has a Master’s Degree in Composition with New Technologies, from the International University of La Rioja.
He has belonged to the percussion groups of the C.S.M. of Zaragoza and the C.S.M. From Valencia; and he is a founding member of the “Kontakte” Percussion Group. He has participated with the percussion group “Amores”.
He is a founding member and director of the group specialized in repertoire of the Middle Ages and Renaissance “Estampida Real”. He has been part of the baroque music groups “La Reverencia” and medieval music “Capilla Antigua de Chinchilla”, and has collaborated with other groups early music such as “Victoria Musicae”, “Capella de Ministrers” and “Artefactum”.
With all these percussion and Historical Interpretation groups, he has made various recordings for labels such as Ars Harmonica, Vanitas, Several Records, Columna Música, Naxos, etc. He has been a regular member of the Youth Orchestra of the Valencian Community (JORVAL), and has participated with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Valencia. He has collaborated with the Zaragoza Auditorium Chamber Orchestra, the Alicante Symphony Orchestra, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, the Galician “Royal Philharmonia” Orchestra, the Valencia Orchestra, the Valencia Symphony Orchestra, the Albacete Symphony Orchestra and the “Valencia Instrumental Group”; with the latter, he received in 2005, from the Ministry of Culture, the National Music Award in the interpretation modality.
From 1998 to 2013, he has been a professor specializing in percussion at the “Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco” Professional Conservatory of Music in Albacete, holding the management of professional conservatory since 2010 too. From 2013 to 2022 he assumes the chair of percussion, as well as the direction of the Higher Conservatory of Music of Castilla-La Mancha. From 2022 he is currently a professor of percussion at the “Salvador Seguí” Higher Conservatory of Music in Castellón.
Robert Cases / Plucked String
He is specialized in the interpretation of historical plucked string instruments, from the Middle Ages to the present day. First he graduated in classical guitar at the “Joaquin Rodrigo” Superior Music Conservatory in Valencia and later moved to the Netherlands where he graduated in Early Music under the tutelage of Mike Fentross and Joaquim Held. His work as a solo musician, as well as an accompanist, has led him to the main venues on the international scene and to make more than twenty recordings, one of which, Quattrocento, was awarded the ICMA Awards in 2018 together with Capella de Ministrers. Thanks to his versatility as an interpreter, he was awarded a scholarship by the Spanish Guitar Foundation to recover the 10-string guitar that the maestro Narciso Yepes brought to its maximum expression. He is currently part of the Valencian group Capella de Ministrers, after having collaborated with groups such as the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Vespres d’Arnadí, Nereydas, Música Trobada or Victoria Musicae, among others. In addition, he carries out intense work as an artistic advisor and developing international cultural collaboration projects at the Fundació Cultural CdM.
Carina Pabst / Dancer
Carina Pabst was born in Germany and is living in Spain for nearly 30 years. She is a versatile dancer, moving both in the culture of her fathers as a contemporary dancer, in her adopted culture as a flamenco artist as Carina La Debla. She has been forged in masterclasses with the most relevant dancers of all flamenco expressions, from the traditional to the most avant-garde. At the same time she has extensive training in ballet, Spanish classical and contemporary dance and, most of all, in the German expressionist dance. The tours with her flamenco shows as soloist took her to the most relevant festivals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland. In Spain she won second prize in the Young Creation contest, toured outstanding cycles as “Get to know flamenco” and “A city for flamenco” and performed in the prestigious Seville Flamenco Biennial showing her “Foreign Farruca”.
As for the barock ensemble Armonica Stanza she creates danced illustrations for different projects. At the Literary Festival of Bad Homburg (Germany), she embodied different characters of Hemingways “Fiesta” dancing swing, tap-tance and tango argentino. Together with the string quintet Moscow Virtuosi, the renaissance guitarist José Miguel Moreno and the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra she performed as castenetist and classical Spanish dancer at Auditorio León, Teatro Villamarta of Jerez and Meistersingerhalle of Nuremberg. For the Rosalia Chladeck Hommage at the Festival ImPulsTanz of Vienna Carina Pabst reconstructed a romantic solo 1947, the “Camellia Lady” by this pioneer of expressionist dance in Austria. Other collaborations followed, such as at El Escorial together with the prestigious barock ensemble Accademia del Piacere, or Artefactum, an outstanding spanish ensemble for medieval music.
