North Macedonia – Icarus vs Muzak ensemble at the "Days of Macedonian Music Festival"
Icarus vs Muzak, the ensemble created by Icarus Ensemble to take Italian music back to Europe, was a guest of the Days of Macedonian Music Festival, the most important cultural event in North Macedonia.
The concert, that took place on September 22 in Skopje, at the Macedonian National Gallery, was organized in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Skopje and its Cultural Office, which not only contributed but also worked hard to make it possible.
The performers were Sara Nallbani, flute, Alberto Delasa, clarinet, and Diego Petrella, piano.
On the program, music by Italian authors – Alessandro Solbiati, Ivan Fedele, and Sylvano Bussotti – and Macedonian authors, in particular Darija Andovska, a friend Icarus Ensemble met in Azerbaijan at the Baku Festival and found again at the Zagreb Biennale years later. The other Macedonian authors performed are Mancev and Trandafilovsky, respectively with pieces for flute and solo clarinet.
Albatros by Alessandro Solbiati has been presented in the version for flute, clarinet and piano trio, which Icarus vs Muzak’s musicians performed world premiere in Reggio Emilia last June, in the presence of the composer. It is a homage Alessandro Solbiati pays to Bach by revisiting the famous Art of Fugue.
By Ivan Fedele, Reflets for piano, also performed in Reggio Emilia within the 'Ritratti' (portraits) season – Italian premiere. It is a homage to Debussy written in 2018 on the centenary of his death.
The performance of Five Pieces for David Tudor by Sylvano Bussotti for piano was of particular significance. Work of Bussotti's first compositional season with an important theatrical part, the piece was written for the famous pianist dedicatee of a lot of the 60’ music. A few days after the death of the famous Italian composer, the presence of Bussotti in the program thus became almost an involuntary homage to his memory.
Icarus vs Muzak’s next appointments abroad will be in 2022, while the ensemble continues performing in Italy in prestigious Festivals. An important collaboration is in the work with Roberto Olivan’s dance company at the Mercat de las Flores in Barcelona and the ensemble will return to perform at the Festival Internacional Cervantino of Guanajuato in Mexico.
Days of Macedonian Music Festival