After the pianist Aliénor Khalifé, the ensemble Les Cordes résonnantes and the lyrical singers Michel Bou Rjeily, Lara Jokhadar and Éliane Saadé, the Beit Tabaris artists’ residence welcomed, thanks to the support of Buffet Crampon, the world’s leading manufacturer of clarinets, a flute and clarinet masterclass with Silvia Careddu and Patrick Messina.
These two internationally recognized performers are respectively first solo flute and first solo clarinet of the Orchester National de France. They simultaneously pursue careers as soloists and pedagogues and embody the French school of winds, a mixture of velocity and sensitivity. Thus, their teaching is in great demand throughout the world, and now, after Japan, Korea, Italy and Great Britain, they have settled down in Beirut, in order to give a masterclass in Beit Tabaris closed by a concert.
Five flautists, Antonio al-Mallah, Thérésa Bou Tanios, Raphaël Maalouf, Jad Milaneh and Rana Obeid, as well as three clarinettists, Natalia Abou Haïdar, Marvin Madi and Marc Selfani, attended a masterclass at Beit Tabaris. Photo DR
Five flautists – Antonio al-Mallah, Thérésa Bou Tanios, Raphaël Maalouf, Jad Milaneh and Rana Obeid – and three clarinetists – Natalia Abou Haïdar, Marvin Madi and Marc Selfani – followed this intense training, several hours a day for five days. Technique, posture, breath, phrasing, musicality, everything is diagnosed, dissected with precision and meticulousness by the two masters, so that the students can progress and make the most of these few days of total immersion in music.
Then comes the day of the concert and the fever that accompanies it. Everyone has carefully chosen the pieces they wish to perform, with the valuable assistance of pianist Sirvart Sabonjian, present for everyone throughout the masterclass and who is a key element of this musical moment.
The program is very eclectic. It ranges from baroque music to contemporary music, passing through classical and romantic, without forgetting of course the Lebanese musical heritage, dear to the heart of the organizers. The passages follow one another, flutists and clarinettists alternate. Works by Donizetti, Beethoven, Massenet, Gossec, Tchaikovsky, Weber, Stamitz, Godard, Morricone. Three precious oriental moments punctuate the concert with a work by Antonio Mallah, an improvisation by Rana Obeid and a moving Melancholy by Toufic Succar (1922-2017), a tribute to this great Lebanese composer who would have turned 100 on November 29. The extremely attentive audience can see that the bar is set high and that these young people, thirsty for musical knowledge, have something to say and to transmit. The concert ends with Choros by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), whereas it had begun with the Prelude by Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), two works interpreted by Silvia Careddu on the flute and Patrick Messina on the clarinet, both dazzling in virtuosity and musicality.
These moments of intense musical sharing represent the very essence of the mission of Beit Tabaris, and these training sessions followed by the young people, despite the constraints of their daily lives, add a stone to the building of the hope of which they have much needed.
After the pianist Aliénor Khalifé, the ensemble Les Cordes résonnantes and the lyrical singers Michel Bou Rjeily, Lara Jokhadar and Éliane Saadé, the Beit Tabaris artists’ residence welcomed, thanks to the support of Buffet Crampon, the world’s leading manufacturer of clarinets, a flute and clarinet masterclass with Silvia Careddu and Patrick Messina. These two performers…