Misatango
this course is now closed
Photo: © Misatango Festival / Henri Manzano
We invite you all to join our ever-growing, global online choir for a course that explores the wonders of modern classical music. We, Choir of the Earth, will perform MISATANGO by Argentinian composer Martin Palmeri.
MISATANGO was composed between September of 1995 and April of 1996. The premiere performance was given on August 17, 1996 at Teatro Broadway in Buenos Aires.
Please note: The vocal score (SATB and piano) is only available in hard copy and can be purchased separately for approximately £13 plus postage from your local music supplier.
Join us for
Misatango
Not heard of Misatango?
At the HQ of SIC, we recently received an email from a member asking if we had ever heard of MISATANGO.
We had to admit that we hadn’t. So…..
On Day 1: We listened to it
On Day 2: We fell in love with it
On Day 3: We knew we had to perform it
By Day 4, we had an agreement with the MISATANGO FESTIVAL CONDUCTOR, Saul Zaks, who comes from Argentina and lives in Denmark, to be our Course Director and the composer, Martin Palmeri, would play the piano part for us.
On Days 5 and 6 we contacted the world-renowned bandoneon player Julian Rowlands, who agreed to play his instrument and provide the orchestra backing tracks. And Argentinian soprano Carla Filipcic Holm agreed to be our soloist.
By Day 7 - it was done.
Latin words and latin music
MISATANGO is a choral mass with Tango rhythms. It is composed with the recognisable movements as a mass in classical Latin, in which the harmonics and syncopated rhythms of the latin tango are mixed.
MISATANGO is often called “Misa a Buenos Aires” and it gained much notoriety when it was performed in Rome in October 2013, in the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, during the International Festival of Music and Sacred Art in the Vatican. It was chosen that year to pay homage to the enthronement of the former Cardinal of Buenos Aires who became Pope Francis in 2013, in reference to the Argentine origins of this former Tango dancer.
New to you?
We know this piece may not (yet) be as famous as our previous courses (Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah to name but a few), but we urge you to take 40 minutes to listen to it now on Radio Choral (www.radiochoral.com) and join singers from all over the world who know this piece well.
Sing Misatango at the Konzerthaus in Vienna
There also exists an opportunity to visit Vienna for the Misatango Festival from 26th to 30th November. Members of this course will enjoy a 10% discount on the cost of this event. For more details on this please visit: http://www.misatango.com/festivals/vienna-2021
Misatango - The Composer
Below is a quote from the composer himself:
“From two important musical experiences in my personal musical history—arranging tango music and directing choirs—the idea emerged to write a work that somehow integrates these two experiences. It was always my intention to arrange tango for choral groups, attempting to maintain the “essence” of the genre. The existing choral repertory lacked neither “a cappella” nor accompanied tango arrangements, but while previous arrangements were sometimes acceptable, they have not been satisfactory. Though the technical and expressive possibilities of choral voices is great, for some reason it is difficult to achieve the precision that the tango genre requires.
Taking this into account, my objective in this composition was to maintain the harmonic language, rhythms, melodic designs, and all of the characteristics of tango within the orchestral score, thus allowing the chorus to have full liberty to just “sing the mass.” My decision to use the Latin text could be explained by the place of the Latin language among centuries of choral music and the universal connection to the language. But I have to say that my decision also carries the weight of my aesthetic requirement: Latin gives the work a reserved, esoteric quality which, from my point of view, has much to do with tango—especially progressive tango.”
-Martín Palmeri, composer of Misatango
Course Director
We are honoured to welcome Argentinian Conductor Saul Zaks (living in Denmark) to the SIC as our Course Director. Saul is an international conductor and mediator who connects people from different cultures and provides a cross-cultural communication through music and the arts.
He has been the conductor of The Musicology Students Choir at the University of Aarhus, and of The University of Southern Denmark Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra.
He is a guest professor in choral and orchestral conducting at the University of Buenos Aires, Universidad Católica de Asunción del Paraguay, Conservatorio Nacional de Bolivia, Universidad Federal de Rio de Janeiro and Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba. He studied at The Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music & Dance, Israel, with Prof. Mendi Rodán, and at The Royal Danish Academy of Music Aarhus.
Saul is specialised in the music from Latin America and has performed and recorded with, amongst others, the composer Ariel Ramirez, the singer Mercedes Sosa, the composer & pianist Pablo Ziegler and the bandoneon players Daniel Binelli, Pablo Mainetti, César Stroscio and Rodolfo Marcelo Zanetti.
As Chorus Master, Saul Zaks has gained a nomination for the Danish Grammy Award 2006 - Best Classical Album - together with the Danish National Choir & Symphony Orchestra for recordings of "Choral Symphony & Requiem" by Asger Hamerik. Additionally, he has gained a nomination for the Latin Grammy Award 2016 in the category Best Tango Album - "Sax to Tango" - together with Pablo Ziegler, Julio Botti, Franco Pinna & The University of Southern Denmark Symphony Orchestra. Together with Argentinean composer Martin Palmeri, Saul Zaks performed the Scandinavian premiere of "Misatango", and the World Premiere of the "Tango Credo" at Lincoln Center, New York in 2017. In 2019, he returned to New York to conduct the World Premiere of Martin Palmeri’s “Gran Misa” at the Carnegie Hall.
Appointments in the past included The International Music Festival in Bratislava and workshops and concerts at Hanover University of Music, Theatre and Media.
Today, Saul Zaks is the Artistic Director & Conductor of the Misatango Festival Vienna (www.misatango.com).
Backing Tracks
MISATANGO is scored for soprano, full SATB choir, a small orchestra and a bandoneon. We shall be accompanied on this course by the composer, Martin Palmeri on the piano and the orchestral tracks are provided by Ariel Pirotti & orchestra. We will provide a backing track for each SATB voice part prepared exclusively for this course. We shall also enjoy “VOICE LOUDER” backing tracks where your voice part will be louder than the others. We find this is very helpful when we are learning our own part.
Soprano - Carla Filipcic Holm
Our soprano soloist is Carla Filipcic Holm. Born in Buenos Aires, she is currently considered one of most prestigious and highly sought-after sopranos in Argentina.
Carla has performed in festivals, opera and concert houses in Latin America, Switzerland, The United States, and Germany where she sang Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), Suor Angelica, Mother (Il prigioniero) and Elisabetta de Valois, among others.
She recently sang MISATANGO at Carnegie Hall, Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Isolde (Tristan und Isolde).
How it will work
We shall provide backing tracks played by the composer. Using these backing tracks, Saul will teach us MISATANGO in LIVE sessions on our broadcasting channels - this is not Zoom. Do not worry, we shall give you details of how to join these LIVE sessions. They are available to watch at anytime, so if you have to miss a session, you can catch up later.
At the end of the course, we shall ask you, if you wish, to record your own voice and send this to us. We shall combine all voices, orchestra and bandoneon in the studio and play the result back to you in a Concert Performance. Again, you will be sent details on how to do this.
Timings (all UK time)
SIC CONCERT PERFORMANCE - 20th November, 19:00 UK Time
