Interpretation Course - Míča & Telemann - Wratislaia Cantans, Wrocław

13 September 2015, 06:41

The Wratislavia Cantans festival, now celebrating its 50th year, has a long tradition of holding an 'Interpretation Course' for young instrumentalists and singers to perform cantatas and oratorios. The importance of this course became quickly apparent in the first ever festival, where the participants of the course had to spring into action to replace an orchestra that could not get to Wrocław in time to play in the festival. The Interpretation Course has been included ever since, now with their own (intentionally pre-planned) concerts.

Kłodzko

This year, the musical director of the Interpretation Course festival orchestra was Benjamin Bayl. He directed the orchestra which was a mixture of professionals and students. The group rehearsed at the Academy of Music in Wrocław and gave concerts in the satellite towns of Kłodzko (10/09/2015), Brzeg (11/09/2015) as well as in the Red Hall in the brand new National Forum of Music (NFM) in Wrocław (12/09/2015).

National Forum of Music in Wrocław

The programme for the Wratislavia Cantans festival was entitled: "Cztery Żywioły" or "The Four Elements" and it featured the following works:

František Antonín Míča – Quatuor Elementa
Georg Philip Telemann – Die Tageszeiten TWV 20:39

The Míča featured two trumpets in C (myself and student Taras Kulbashnyi) in the final chorus and the Telemann featured one trumpet in F in one aria with the oboes as well as a part in a chorus.

I intially thought about using the coiled trumpet in F for the Telemann but I decided to use the traditional natural trumpet. When the NFM's photgrapher Bogusław Beszłej came with us to Brzeg, he asked me to have my photograph taken in front of a patterned wall - to give the impression of the the vines coming out from the coiled trumpet.

Taras Kulbashnyi & Russell Gilmour in Brzeg

Russell Gilmour

writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.

Russell Gilmour's innovative new book, 'Just' Natural Trumpet, is now available: please click here for more information.