26.02.2024
Violinist-conductor Hugo Ticciati conducts OCO and Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Choir
- music from Hildegard von Bingen to Arvo Pärt
The versatile violinist and conductor Hugo Ticciati returns to the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. This time the programme includes meditative vocal music from the Middle Ages as well as English string music and touching pieces by Arvo Pärt and Peteris Vasks.
The concert on Friday 8 March at the Central Ostrobothnian Conservatory will be lead by Hugo Ticciati, both as conductor and violinist. Ticciati is known for his innovative programming ideas, which he puts into practice as artistic director of the O/Modernt chamber orchestra and festival. He also regularly performs at Wigmore Hall in London. Many important composers have dedicated works to him and he regularly collaborates with international star soloists and orchestras.
Ticciati has been soloist at the OCO twice before, but this is the first time he will also be conducting: he will conduct part of the programme from the concertmaster's chair, part from the front of the orchestra and will also be the violin soloist in the same concert. The concert will also feature the local choir Keski-Pohjanmaan Kamarikuoro. The choir and OCO have been working together for several decades. The choir has been lead by Marita Kaakinen since 2002.
The concert starts with Vos flores rosarum (The Rosebuds) by Hildegard von Bingen (1097-1179)., the earliest known composer of Western music. The song, originally intended for performance at the Martyrs' Day Mass, will be performed in an arrangement for choir and orchestra. From the meditative vocal music of Hildegard we continue to the music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935). One of the most beloved contemporary composers, Pärt's Fratres from 1977 is one of his best-known works and the composer has made versions of it for many ensembles. This time we hear a version for violin, string orchestra and percussion.
From English composer John Tavener (1944-2013) the OCO and the choir will perform a beautiful choral piece Mother of God, here I stand from the Veil of the Temple. Like Pärt's music, Tavener's music has spiritual and mystical elements. Pēteris Vasks (b.1946), Latvia's most internationally renowned composer, shares the same style and emotional states. His work Lonely Angel, a meditation for violin and string orchestra, was inspired by a vision he experienced of an angel bringing comfort and healing to an otherwise painful world.
The second half moves to England, with Chacony in G minor by baroque composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695). The concert ends with Benjamin Britten's (1913-1976) classic, Memories on the Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10, which he composed as a tribute to his long-time teacher, Frank Bridge.
The concert starts at 19.00, but already at 18.15 the audience has the chance to meet Hugo Ticciati in the Conservatory's lobby, where he will be interviewed by the orchestra's producer and outreach planner Emilia Otava.
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Hugo Ticciati, cred: Kaupo Kikkas
