Love Dreams – Love Songs from Stage and Screen

On Sunday, November 3rd, at 3 PM we welcome to Shed & Silo Country Restaurant the celebrated musicians Michelle Veenemans (soprano), Miroslav Chakaryan (violin), and Paul Ferreira (piano). They will be presenting a chamber recital entitled Love Dreams, featuring highlights from operettas by Zeller, Strauss, Lehár, and Kálmán, as well as beautiful works for violin piano duo by Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and Sarasate.

South African-based dramatic coloratura soprano Michelle Veenemans has been lauded by the media as "The Nightingale of South Africa." She frequently performs in recitals, oratorio concerts, opera, and operetta concerts, engaging in collaborative performances with various South African orchestras, ensembles, and accompanists. The distinctive characteristics of Veenemans' performances include exemplary diction, crystalline attack, and a wide vocal range, encompassing a lusciously developed chest register and gleaming high notes. She imbues characters with life through her emotive interpretations, holding audiences in thrall with her artistry.

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, violinist Miroslav Chakaryan comes from a distinguished family of musicians. He made his first public appearance at the age of 8, playing concerti of Bach and Vivaldi. Having relocated to South Africa in 1991, Chakaryan has held prestigious positions in several orchestras, including assistant concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra, and more recently, concertmaster of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Paul Ferreira acted as répétiteur, vocal coach and rehearsal pianist for various PACOFS, UFS, Opera Africa, Gauteng Opera and Cape Town Opera productions. These include The Medium (Menotti), Don Giovanni (Mozart), Ein deutsches Requiem (Brahms), Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Ziyankomo and the Forbidden Fruit (Mnomiya), Große Messe in c-Moll (Mozart), L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti), Rigoletto (Verdi), Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) and Tiger Bay (James).

The musical term operetta - at the height of its popularity from the mid-19th century until its demise in the 1930’s due to the rise of musical theatre - refers to a theatrical genre that is generally lighter than opera, often amusing in spirit, with subject matter portraying “lovers’ spats, mistaken identities, sudden reversals of fortune, and glittering parties”. Included in this recital, will be well-known and much-loved vocal selections from Die Fledermaus (Johann Straus II), Paganini and Die lustige Witwe (Franz Lehár), as well as Der Vogelhändler (Carl Zeller), and Gräfin Mariza (Emmerich Kálmán).

Few musical pieces have remained so well-known and iconic to contemporary audiences as Antonio Vivaldi’s set of four violin concerti, The Four Seasons (1725). The joyful opening movement of Spring is unique in that it contains musical representations of bird, insects, storms, as well as frozen landscapes, thereby creating one of the earliest musical examples of program music.

After the premiere of Swan Lake in 1876, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was criticised for the complexity of the score. Several prima ballerinas had insisted on the addition of new dances, initially with music by other composers added to his score to be choreographed. Eventually, Tchaikovsky had no alternative than to write new music himself, of which the beautifully melancholy Russian Dance is a prime example.

In the summer of 1888, Edward Elgar composed and dedicated Salut d’amour, Op. 12 to Caroline Alice Roberts, who was soon to become his wife. Her love for the German language prompted him to entitle the work Liebesgruss, although his publishers would later add the French title, thus ensuring the work’s popularity throughout Europe.  

The Spanish violinist and composer Pablo de Sarasate’s virtuoso showpiece Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 (Gypsy Airs) uses Hungarian folk music which the composer misidentified as “gypsy” music of the Romani people. A dramatic introduction is followed by an extended, slower section, seemingly improvisational in nature, with the violin playing a beautifully melancholic melody. All of a sudden, the finale’s fireworks make their appearance, taking the work to its breathtaking close.

Join us at Shed & Silo Country Restaurant at Norton’s Home Estate, Benoni on Sunday, November 3rd, at 3 PM for an afternoon in the company of the world’s most beautiful chamber music.

Tickets, as always, are available at Quicket.