Berio | Ravel: anniversaries

Luciano Berio
Folksongs
O King

Renato Dionisi
Jeux de cordes
Elegia
Intermezzo

Maurice Ravel
Chansons Madécasses
Alborada del Gracioso

Ljuba Bergamelli, soprano

Icarus Ensemble

On the occasion of the centenary of Luciano Berio’s birth and the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel, Icarus Ensemble pays tribute to these two great composers with works dedicated to the voice.
From Berio, the celebrated Folksongs, a reimagining of traditional melodies from various parts of the world and different Italian regions (some of them in fact invented by the composer), and O King, another vocal piece written in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King:

“The text consists simply of the utterance of the name of the Black martyr. The words and their components undergo a musical analysis that is an integral part of the overall structure. The voice enunciates the various phonetic elements of the name, which is gradually reconstructed: ‘O Martin Luther King.’”

From Ravel, the Chansons Madécasses, sensual and evocative songs set to poems by Évariste Désiré de Parny, an 18th-century poet who imagined himself translating African lyrics from the colonial period into French. Songs of love, war, and languor—works that Ravel considered among his finest achievements.

The program is completed by a tribute to Renato Dionisi, marking 25 years since his death.