Folk-Opera in Sefrou on Saturday

The contrast between modern urban life and the social structure of a village is the theme of a folk-opera to be performed in Sefrou on Saturday February 28th 

Village Dial Waheda (A Village of One) was developed by Paula Jeanine Bennett (pictured above), a New York based vocalist, percussionist, composer and artist, and first performed in Indonesia. It has been adapted as part of a month long residency with Culture Vultures in Sefrou.

The original concept was inspired by Bennett’s observations of the loneliness of daily life in her home of Brooklyn, New York, a city where fifty percent of people live alone. Bennett has contrasted this to the social structure of the small market town of Sefrou in the Middle Atlas.

Forty local women auditioned for a cast which includes a small choir in addition to traditional musicians and a local storyteller.

Sefrou locals audition for Village Dial Waheda

Following the performance in Sefrou on Saturday, February 28th, Bennett will visit the American Language Centers in Meknes, Fez and Casablanca where variations of the production will take place. Her Moroccan tour wraps up at the ALC in Tetouan,

A scene from the performance in Java

Bennet has performed in Italy, Indonesia, London, India and Japan. In New York City she as appeared at the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Paula is on the staff of the prestigious Juilliard School as well as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.

When: Saturday 28th February at 2.30 p.m.
Where: Town Hall, Sefrou
Info: Culture Vultures

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Opera Comes To The Fez Medina

Riad Fès have just announced that they will have a mini opera season in Fez. Two of Italy's young opera stars will be Fez with a programme of some of the best loved arias. And the best thing? They will be performing right beside your table as your eat dinner.

mezzosoprano Nadia Pirazzini 

From January 2nd  to 5th, opera is coming to Fez with a feast of fine music. The programme will include the great arias by Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Bellini, Donizzetti, Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Strauss, Puccini, Massenet, Saint-Saens, Gershwin and Tosti. The performances will be by mezzosoprano Nadia Pirazzini and sopranoValentina Corradetti accompanied by pianist Cristina Giardini.

sopranoValentina Corradetti

Dinner is 550 MAD per person (excluding drinks) 
Please note that the concerts start each evening at 8.30 pm. Punctuality is essential! 

Riad Fès - Relais & Châteaux

To find out more, or to make a reservation
Telephone: +212 535 74 12 06
Email: reservations@riadfes.com
Website:  Riad Fès - Relais & Châteaux
Address:  5 Derb Ben Slimane Zerbtana 


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Fes Festival of World Sacred Music 2011

The 17th World Sacred Music Festival will take place in Fez from 3-11 June this year. The theme is Wisdoms of the World.

While we can't bring the programme yet, we can tell you that the organisers, the Spirit of Fes Foundation, invite you "on a quest to explore beauty and your senses through diverse wisdoms, philosophies, arts and cultures of the world from Ethiopia to Afghanistan, from North India to Morocco, from Brazil to Senegal, from Spain, France and Italy to the United States".

"The quest for knowledge and the secret of love is expressed by the opening opera Majnoun and Layla, then carried on through the resonance of Samaa of Morocco, the percussions of Shanghai, the drums of Japan, the lyric voices of Paris or London operas and by the ecstatic reverberations of Qawwali".

MAJNOUN & LAYLA
The story of Majnoun and Layla can be found all over the Arab world, into India, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Persia. The story is one of unconsummated, or virgin, love, not dissimilar to the much later Romeo and Juliet. The story, dating from the 7th century, concerns the Bedouin poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah from Najd in the northern Arabian Peninsula. There are various versions of the story, in which Qays falls in love with Layla but is prevented from marrying her by her father, and goes mad with grief (majnoun meaning madman in Arabic).

In 12th century Persia, the poet Nezami Ganjavi embellished the story, which became very popular. The Festival banner is a Persian depiction of Qays in the wilderness.

I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla

And I kiss this wall and that wall

It’s not Love of the houses that has taken my heart

But of the One who dwells in those houses

poem attributed to Qays ibn al-Mulawwah

Opera Carmen in Morocco

The French Opera "Carmen" will be performed for the first time in Morocco on April 12-14 by the Moroccan philharmonic orchestra (OPM) and the "Eclaté Midi-Pyrénées" theater troupe, said, here Tuesday, OPM director, Zaki Zaz.

This event, held in celebration of the OPM 10th anniversary, is due to be performed in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech.

Several French and Moroccan musicians and artists will share the stage under the direction of maestro Thierry Weber to perform this Opera masterpiece by Georges Bizet.

First performed in 1875 at the "Opera Comique" of Paris, the four-act opera relates the story of Carmen, a fiery gypsy woman living in a moralistic constrained society. She caused the downfall of many men who fell in love with her, including the corporal Don José who, after a brief infatuation period, is driven to madness and ultimately kills her, as she turns away from him to the bullfighter Escamillo.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news