Frances Ruffelle will sing tonight at the Impart Art Center. This amazing musical theatre actress and the winner of Tony award will present her immense acting and vocal skills in the songs of stage songs canonical artists: Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill, Nick Cave, Tom Waits.
The concert takes place tonight, at 7 p.m. at Impart Art Center, the tickets cost 40/50 zloty.
The concert is organized within the Review of Stage Songs (http://ppa.art.pl/)
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Zvezdana Novaković, a first foreign winner of the Review of Stage Songs competition, will perform her project entitled Diagnoza.
On and off stage, Novaković transgresses in the performance the barriers between the performers and the viewers, the stage and the auditorium, the music and the words. In her project, the artist will be accompanied by the vocalists Gergana Dimitrova, Sambor Dudziński and Michał Litwiniec, the drummer Howard Curtis and the members of the first female percussion group in Poland – Mamatucada.
The event starts on the 21st of March at 5 p.m. at Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny.
http://www.ppa.art.pl/
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The organizers of 32nd edition of PPA announced a review writing contest. To take part in it, you need to write a 32 words long review of this year’s PPA event (or events). The winner will receive a two people travel voucher of 6000 zloty sponsored by the travel agency Exim Tours and valid until the end of August 2011. You may submit the review until the of 4th of April until noon.
For the competition details go to http://www.ppa.art.pl/.
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This year’s edition of the Review of Stage Songs comprises of 50 various events within 10 days (18th – 27th of March). Out of 14,000 tickets, 11,000 has been already sold out – among the performance the tickets to which you might still be able to buy are the concerts of a multifarious band Paris Tetris, an intruiging cellist and singer Jorane, a multi-media performance artist Cibelle and a musical theatre actress Frances Rufelle.
The major star of the festival is Meredith Monk, a composer, performer and a choreographer but, above all, an innovative vocalist.
Songs of Ascension, which Meredith Monk will perform with her Vocal Ensemble for the Wroclaw audience, were inspired in part by the biblical songs of ascent, sung by the people while going up the mountain, translated by Norman Fischer, and by an eight-story high Tower designed by the artist Ann Hamilton (for the Oliver Ranch in Northern California). The piece features also a chorus and a string quartet. Bowing, according to Meredith Monk, is like breathing so the breath is the unifying musical factor between string players and the vocalists in the piece.
I’m much more interested in experience that immerses the audience, says Meredith Monk, and so in order to bring the theatre to the audience, she decided to keep the visual aspect of Songs of Ascension simple. She chose to implement video images rotating all around the stage and the audience which become almost like weather and create an environement for the music and the movement. The piece gives you an abstract and a more feelingful kind of experience, there is no narrative – my music has always been about the feelings between the words, feelings or energies that you can’t put words to, concludes the artist.
Meredith Monk, Songs of Ascension, 18th and 19th of March, Jerzy Grzegorzewski Stage of the Polish Theatre
http://ppa.art.pl/
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Brendan Perry – the co-founder and co-leader of the legendary Dead Can Dance was the guest of this year’s Review of Stage Song in Wrocław. The following interview was made a couple of hours before the Friday show and includes the artist’s commentary on the latest album – “Ark” – as well as a few most interesting views on his compositional method. Listen and enjoy! By Mateusz Ławniczak
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Not really, no plans to change the name of the festival as yet. We all hope it’s just this year’s, ehm… coincidence. Because you see, the shortlisted lineup of finalists of the Song Interpretation Contest consists of seven promising artists – and all of them are women. Where have all the men gone? At the 31st Review of Stage Songs in Wrocław, it’s time to sum up what’s happened over the few days, but also to look forward to the remaining festival gigs. Joanna Kiszkis, spokesperson for the PPA, recommends the forthcoming performances, including Brendan Perry’s concert, the much-anticipated Tribute to Nico, the Final and Gala Concerts – all in her conversation with Jurek Chyb.
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Sydney-born singer-songwriter Inga Liljestrom top of the bill for the third day of Stage Song Review. Shortly after her concert in the Impart Arts Centre, where she played with her French band, she was interviewed by our reporter Jan Błaszczak. During this, Inga told us about her background and her experiences in the field of cinema, as well as sharing her feelings about performing whilst four months pregnant.
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An A to Z song game, a solo drum act and a cheeky sense of humor is what the audiences could see on Sunday night at the Capitol Music Theater during the concert of the British close harmony group – the Magnets. It seems they spend hours on rehearsing to get everything perfectly in tune, but they don’t. They don’t even live in one city, but they are talented enough to write the music, send it to all the members of the group and then rehearse it just before the gig. Aleksandra Szczepaniak was lucky enough to have a chat with the six members of the British a capella band. Listen to the one and only interview in town.
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“Show me the way to the next pretty boy…” or “”If you kiss a thief, count your teeth” were some of the lyrics you could hear last Sunday during the last Stage Song Review concert of the American, Portland-based Vagabond Opera group. The audiences could listen to a smooth and swift mix of Balkan, Arabic, Klezmer and Eastern European music. All this filled with witty lyrics and put into a theatrical frame of the cabaret. All six members of the group appeared on stage in colorful costumes and make-up: Robin Jackson – tenor saxophone and singer, Skip von Kuske – cellist, Jason Flores – standup bassist, Mark Burdon – drummer, Eric Stern – operatic tenor and accordionist and Ashia Grzesik – cellist and singer. Listen to Eric, the leader of the group, and Ashia talk about the neocabaret performances.
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Brendan Perry – the co-founder and co-leader of the legendary Dead Can Dance was the guest of this year’s Review of Stage Song in Wrocław. The following interview was made a couple of hours before the Friday show and includes the artist’s commentary on the latest album – “Ark” – as well as a few most interesting views on his compositional method. Listen and enjoy! By Mateusz Ławniczak
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It was a mixture of ska, Balkan music, pop, traditional chansons and it was an explosive mixture indeed. Babylon Circus gripped the audience and made them dance, jump, whistle and sing along. Spontaneity and craziness as taken from Kusturica’s movies. The one to blame (or actually to praise) is David Baruchel – the band’s leader who was interviewed just after spectacular gig at WZ by our reporter Janek Błaszczak.
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Not really, no plans to change the name of the festival as yet. We all hope it’s just this year’s, ehm… coincidence. Because you see, the shortlisted lineup of finalists of the Song Interpretation Contest consists of seven promising artists – and all of them are women. Where have all the men gone? At the 31st Review of Stage Songs in Wrocław, it’s time to sum up what’s happened over the few days, but also to look forward to the remaining festival gigs. Joanna Kiszkis, spokesperson for the PPA, recommends the forthcoming performances, including Brendan Perry’s concert, the much-anticipated Tribute to Nico, the Final and Gala Concerts – all in her conversation with Jurek Chyb.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Sydney-born singer-songwriter Inga Liljestrom top of the bill for the third day of Stage Song Review. Shortly after her concert in the Impart Arts Centre, where she played with her French band, she was interviewed by our reporter Jan Błaszczak. During this, Inga told us about her background and her experiences in the field of cinema, as well as sharing her feelings about performing whilst four months pregnant.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
An A to Z song game, a solo drum act and a cheeky sense of humor is what the audiences could see on Sunday night at the Capitol Music Theater during the concert of the British close harmony group – the Magnets. It seems they spend hours on rehearsing to get everything perfectly in tune, but they don’t. They don’t even live in one city, but they are talented enough to write the music, send it to all the members of the group and then rehearse it just before the gig. Aleksandra Szczepaniak was lucky enough to have a chat with the six members of the British a capella band. Listen to the one and only interview in town.
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Just before her show in Capitol, there was a short meeting with Amanda Palmer held with journalists and fans. She was asked about her latest solo album, German inspirations, and upcoming record. Janek Błaszczak was there and asked insightful questions.
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A few minutes by tram from the city center there is Kino Lwów (“Lwów” cinema) where one of the “Off” stream performances of The Review of Stage Song is going to take place. This one is directed by the actor from the Współczesny Theater – Piotr Łukaszczyk – and it features musicians connected with the Wrocław scene. The idea for the play called “In Search for the Missing Element” originates from the most kitchy Turkish movie ever. Listen to more in the conversation by Przemek Pozowski
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The performance tribute to Andy Warhol’s muse – Nico, including Velvet Underground co-founder, John Cale, and the charismatic Bauhaus frontman – Peter Murphy, as well as Gala devoted to the different aspects of the revolution, directed by Agata Duda-Gracz are among the highlights of this year’s programme of The Stage Song Review. For more listen to Michał Juzoń, the producer in conversation by Przemek Pozowski
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