Ambassadors Concert Series 2015/2016
13th season
Dina Bensaïd: Klavírní recitál Piano recital
La folia – European musical inspiration as performed by the Moroccan pianist
- who also appears in Ostrava (Janacek Conservatory, 11.4) and Brno (Moravian Gallery, 15.4.)
19. 4. 2016 Tuesday 19.30
Czech Museum of Music of the National Museum in Prague
Under the Auspices of H.E. Mrs Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Šest skladeb pro klavír Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 (1893)
Sergei Rachmaninov (1878-1943)
Variace na Corelliho téma Variations on a Theme of Corelli Op.42 (1931)
Ferenc Liszt (1811-1886)
Španělská rapsodie Rhapsodie espagnole S.254 (1863)
Born in Rabat in 1989, Dina Bensaïd began to play the piano at the age of 4 in Casablanca. Spotted by Jacques Rouvier, she moved to Paris where she studied at Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot, then at Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional, Paris, in Olivier Gardon’s piano class and with the Ysaÿe Quartet. In 2007 she entered Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse of Paris, Georges Pludermarcher and Claire Désert’s piano class, before joining that of Franck Braley and Haruko Ueda. She benefited from master classes given by Jacques Rouvier, Pascal Devoyon, Dominique Merlet, Dimitri Bashkirov.
Dina has been crowned with First Prize awards in competitions: SAR Lalla Meryem, Steinway in Paris, National Contest of music in Morocco, and Flame Contest in Paris. Her soloist career started with the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003 (Ravel’s Concerto in G Major, Beethoven’s 3rd Concerto and Choral Fantasy for piano, Liszt’s 1st Concerto).In 2015 she interpreted Rachmaninov’s 2nd Concerto at the inaugural concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Maghreb with FayCal Karaoui as conductor. Her London debuts in 2015 were in collaboration with the English Chamber Orchestra.
Dina gave recitals in Salle Cortot, Paris, Bulgaria Hall of Sofia, as well as in Italy, Spain and Canada and benefited from collaboration with artists like David Guerrier, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Frank Braley, FayCal Karaoui, Emmanuelle Bertrand, Abdellah Lasri and Yovan Markovitch. With pianist Eloïse Bella Kohn she has created the Yadaïn Piano Duo with the aim of promotingdialogue and respect between Jewish and Muslim cultures.
Concerned with breaking down conventional “barriers” like the one between the stage and audience, Dina likes to present her own recitals, turning them into friendly moments of sharing and exchange.
Conducting is another field of her studies. Preferring greater closeness between the soloist and orchestra, she conducted Mozart’s keyboard Concertos from her piano at the Festival of Saint-Céré in 2014. She acts as Artistic Director of the festival Printemps Musical des Alizés, held in Essaouira every April, which too breaks with conventional festival frameworks, aiming to make classical music accessible to everyone.
Between her concerts in the CR this year, Dina also offers master classes for the students of the Janacek Conservatory in Ostrava.
J. Brahms composed the Six Piano Pieces in the concluding part of his life as if he was waiting for more inner peace to allow his exquisite but simple style, based on song and melody, to express the full depth of his love for Clara Schumann, to whom he dedicated this lyrical introspective music. When his beloved friend died three years later, being 14 years his senior, the composer lived only one year longer.
Having emigrated from Russia in 1917, it was at his new home in Switzerland that S. Rachmaninov composed the Variations for solo piano. Feeling more at home than in the US, but forever homesick, he picked out a theme that Italian Baroque composer Archangelo Corelli used in his Sonatas for violin and harpsichord in 1700. With its characteristic harmony, rhythm and melody, this theme appears in music of many European composers since the Renaissance until the 20th century. Called La Folia, it has quite a lot in common with the Portuguese dance of the same name that was popular on the Iberian Peninsula and in Italy around the 15th century.
F. Liszt used the same theme to create variations in his Spanish Rhapsody, along with the jota aragonesa, a traditional Spanish dance. Drawing on inspiration from his tour of Spain and Portugal, Liszt wrote a virtuosic composition full of technical challenges.