A Recital Straight to the Heart

Thursday, March 14th:  on this chilly spring evening, the Hangart showroom in Marseilles was staging a short concert performed by students from the Marseilles National Music Academy*. This recital dedicated to opera singing and operatic music was held in the direct aftermath of the cultural exhibition devoted to women around the world, inaugurated on March 8th. Entitled “Women on Stage”, the performance offered to these young artists the opportunity of showing us the true extent of their talent. As the artistic current stayed focused on women, most of the evening’s protagonists were female. The sole exception being a young Chinese tenor named Tian Shu Zhang: her presence demonstrated the universal pull music can produce on the international community.

Starting at 7:00, the concert took place in a highly charged atmosphere. No public disruptions were reported of course, but the icy wind blowing outside was a sufficient excuse to overheat the room. During an hour, the great works in the classic repertory of the Music Academy charmed us into a world rich in musical discoveries and adventures. Structured in three main chapters, the story first unfolded with a random choice of great opera songs, followed by three piano melodies written by Rachmaninov, before concluding with a musical trio playing a short rondo from Boccherini.

Under the authority of their professor Tibère Raffalli, the young singers first granted us with some of the greatest opera hymns: starting with Haendel’s Cleopatra’s Air and Hayden’s Eurilla’s Air before shifting toward The Season of Love by Strauss. This first chapter surprisingly ended with a traditional Chinese melody beautifully sung by Yiping Ho: Far From the Native Country. The presence of these students among the Marseilles National Music Academy reflects the great interest with which the Chinese cultural sphere regards operatic music and the imprint China wants to leave on the musical world of opera singing. For the next episode, two students from the class of Jean-Claude Bouveresse magically charmed us with three piano melodies played for four hands, leaving the small room ringing with the frosty notes of the steppes. To conclude this all too short recital, three young musicians from the class of Jean-Claude Latil, treated us with a sweet melody that left us the impression of bathing in the warm grass of a sunlit prairie, the air softly cadenced by the tune of the cello, alto and flute.

The last few notes were drowned under a thunder of applause, reflecting the public’s approval and admiration. More than the music itself, it was the level of performance delivered by these young artists which astonished us. The recital was witnessed by Jeannine Imbert, local councilor to the city of Marseilles, who took the time to announce upcoming mandolin lullabies played within the city streets, keeping them in tune with neighboring Italy. Those projects share a common will of promoting classical music toward a larger public. After all, if one can assert that music knows no borders, one may say that it doesn’t feel the years too, the lines vanishing quickly after the first few notes.

Q.R.

* Le Conservatoire National à Rayonnement Régional