About 100 OAK supporters’ ears and eyes were opened to the tradition of processing old Argentine (and other) folk songs in classical compositions for piano, violin and voice recently.
After a fascinating hour-long presentation on Sunday 15 May, in the Hermanus Dutch Reformed church by pianist Albert Combrink, soprano Louise Howlett and violinist Elina Koycheva, one concert goer said he would definitely advise everyone not to miss such an opportunity.
At the end Howlett expressed great appreciation for the energy they could sense. “That’s what makes organisations like OAK so important,” she said.
It was not only the artists’ brilliant performance that carried the audience along, but also the snippets of information they shared before or after the 14 items and an additional encore.
At the start, they heard about Astor Piazzola (1921-1992) who learns the tragic news of his father’s passing by telegram while on a concert tour in Puerto Rico. Shortly afterwards in New York he closed himself in his hotel room and an hour later came out with the piano composition “Adios Nonnino” (Farewell Daddy), which was performed that same night.
Manuel de Falla’s “Nana” for piano and violin was performed by Combrink in tribute to the mezzo-soprano and piano master Tereza Berganza, who died on Friday 13 May 2022 at the age of 89 as well as to his own mother, who regularly had to pay his library fines when he kept favourite records for too long. It was people such as they who inspired him to be a pianist, he said.
Howlett has a voice as sweet as syrup and showed her knack as Evita when she made “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” the highlight of the concert.
The programme also included composers such as Frenchman George Bizet (Carmen), Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos and Briton Andrew Lloyd-Webber (Evita) as well as the rich South American music genres like tango, cumbia, bachata, bossa nova, merengue, rumba, salsa, samba and sun. The encore was Besame mucho (Kiss me a lot) by the Mexican Consuelo Velasques.
OAK’s next presentation (after the FynArts festival) is Nina Schumann and Luis Magalhäes’ Four Hands on piano on Sunday 17 July at the Overstrand Auditorium in Hermanus.
Enquiries can be directed to René du Plooy on 082 940 4238 or e-mail her on renedup@telkomsa.net. – Fanie Krige
