Guadeloupe is an archipelago forming an overseas region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the Îles des Saintes, as well as many uninhabited islands and outcroppings. It lies south of Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat, and north of Dominica. Its capital is Basse-Terre on the west coast; however, the largest city is Pointe-à-Pitre.
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a champion fencer, classical composer, virtuoso violinist, and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris. Born in the French colony of Guadeloupe, he was the son of George Bologne de Saint-Georges, a wealthy married planter, and Anne dites Nanon, his wife's African slave.
The Caribbean is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America.
Promote diversity in classical music by bringing together exceptional artists from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicity.
Provide opportunities for under-represented artists (performers, composers, educators and students) to develop their talent and receive exposure on an international platform.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the classical era.
Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western culture, including both liturgical (religious) and secular music. While a more precise term is also used to refer to the period from 1750 to 1820, this article is about the broad span of time from before the 6th century AD to the present day, which includes the Classical period and various other periods. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period.
Performances and artists
American conductor and renowned Saint-Georges exponent and interpreter, Marlon Daniel has served as the festival's music director and artistic director since its prelude in 2011 and inaugural season in 2018.[3]
American conductor Marlon Daniel is one of the foremost exponents of music by composers of African and African American descent in the world. He has been described as "one of the youngest and most prominent pianist/conductors in New York today", "a natural and enormous talent" and "fabulous and exceptional". He is the winner of the 2009 John and Mary Virginia Foncannon Conducting Award, and a prizewinner at the 2018 Bucharest Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition.
A music director, musical director, or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization, for example the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the director of music of a film, the director of music at a radio station, the person in charge of musical activities or the head of the music department in a school, the coordinator of the musical ensembles in a university, college, or institution, the head bandmaster of a military band, the head organist and choirmaster of a church, or an organist and master of the choristers.
An artistic director may refer to someone who directs a musical ensemble, and in this medium, is often abbreviated as simply Director. The typical jobs of a musical artistic director are to choose repertoire for the ensemble, come up with an artistic vision for the group and also a long-term strategy for programming, and also to help choose performers if the ensemble is not pre-set. An artistic director may also be—and often is—the conductor of the ensemble and a "jack of all trades", performing multiple roles and even managing the ensemble, although that role is often left to a Managing Director if financial resources are available. A musical artistic director essentially mirrors a theatrical artistic director, albeit working in a different medium.
The approximately two-week long festival is made up of concerts, lectures, symposiums, education programs and master classes that take place in various parts of the Caribbean, France and the US. The festival features some of the finest composers, performers, and scholars from around the world.[4] Musical selections often feature a variety of classical music, from Saint-Georges' compositions alongside music by his contemporaries in the Classical period, to standard repertoire from the common era. The festival highlights composers of African-origin and diverse backgrounds, including contemporary works specially commissioned for the festival. Composers who have written pieces for the festival include Dominique Le Gendre, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Jonathan Grimbert-Barré, Jamshed Turel and Jérome Pfister.[5]
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, any of the arts, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed.
Fred Onovwerosuoke is an American composer born in Ghana of Nigerian parents. He is a multiple winner of the ASCAP Award, among other awards such as the America Music Center Award, Brannen-Cooper Fund Award, and the Minnesota Orchestra Honorable Mention. "FredO," as he is called by friends and colleagues was born in Secondi-Takoradi, near the Atlantic Coast in Ghana, West Africa. Early childhood and education through college years were spent in both Ghana and Nigeria. In 1990, he attended Principia College, Elsah, Illinois, on a full scholarship, and while there studied music theory and 20th Century composition techniques under Jim Dowcett, as well as Engineering Science and Computer programming with David Cornell and Tom Fuller. Although Onovwerosuoke has had a wide-ranging training that spans composition, electrical and electronic engineering, information technology, management and musicology, he is known to attribute his interest in music to his childhood as boy-soprano and to his high-school music teacher, Sam Anyanele, who instilled him a deep love of indigenous African music. His tutelage under Dowcett at Principia was said to unleash a creative individualism that eventually evolved into a career as a composer with works that bear influences from Africa, the Caribbean and the American Deep South.
The festival's artists do various outreach programs around the world as part of the festival's mission to spread the music of Saint-Georges.[6] Recent guest artists include Koh Gabriel Kameda, Magali Léger, J'Nai Bridges, Janinah Burnett, Solomon Howard, Darnell Ishmel, Romuald Grimbert-Barré, Chauncey Packer, Léïla Brédent and Eric Silberger.[7]
Koh Gabriel Kameda is a German and Japanese concert violinist and violin teacher.
Magali Léger is a contemporary French light soprano.
History
Born in Baillif, Guadeloupe, Saint-Georges is one of the first known composers of African origin, a civil rights activist and legendary hero of the French Revolution. Saint-Georges' extraordinary life has long been a model for creativity, excellence and strength. Several attempts to hold a festival celebrating the life and work of Saint-Georges were made throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, unsuccessfully.
From 2002 to 2010, conductor Marlon Daniel increasingly performed works by Saint-Georges with Ensemble du Monde, his New York City-based chamber orchestra.[8] Interested in seeing greater acknowledgement for Saint-Georges' works, and becoming renowned as a specialist of Saint-Georges, Daniel partnered with French educator Catherine Pizon, and Guadeloupean historian Jean-Claude Halley in April 2011 to offer a celebration of Saint-Georges' music in Guadeloupe. Partnering with local musicians and bringing in international artists from 15 countries, the celebration included concerts, lectures and education programs about Saint-Georges' life.[9]
After the success of the 2011 celebration, Daniel founded the Association Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges to govern and organize the festival's activities. The association was incorporated as a non-profit organization in France in 2016, and a directing board of governors formed.[10] Since 2018 the association received support from the Regional Council of Guadeloupe and Comité du Tourisme des îles de Guadeloupe, as well as other government and private groups, to put on regular festivals in Guadeloupe and around the world. The inaugural season of the Saint-Georges International Music Festival was launched in February 2018, with Marlon Daniel appointed as the festival's ongoing music director and artistic director.[11] Since that time, the festival has brought artists from over 30 countries, and is recognized as an official national festival of Guadeloupe alongside the Guadeloupe International Zouk Festival, International Ilo Jazz Festival, and Route du Rhum festival.[12][13]
Académie
In 2019 the festival introduced the Académie de Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges. The Academy provides lessons to the Guadeloupe community using the guest artists of the festival.[14] Currently lessons are free and subsidized through various grants, though there is an application and audition process for the academy.
The music of France reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of classical music, France has produced several prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson and cabaret style. The earliest known sound recording device in the world, the phonautograph, was patented in France by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, and its music industry has produced many internationally renowned artists, especially in the nouvelle chanson and electronic music.
The term French West Indies or French Antilles refers to the eight territories currently under French sovereignty in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
Baillif is a commune of Guadeloupe, an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles. Baillif is a suburb of Basse-Terre, the prefecture and second largest urban area of Guadeloupe located on Basse-Terre Island.
Jacques Hétu was a Canadian composer and music educator.
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (1813).
Claude Ribbe is a French writer, activist and filmmaker.
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City and Chicago. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works.
Yves Prin is a French composer and conductor of classical music.
Nathalie Stutzmann is a French operatic contralto and conductor. As a singer, she specialises in Lieder, mélodies and baroque music. As a conductor, she directed Orfeo 55, the chamber orchestra she founded. She has been the principal guest conductor of RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra since September 2017 and chief conductor of Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra since September 2018.
Jean-Pierre Wallez is a French violinist and conductor.
Morne-à-l'Eau is a commune located in the department of Guadeloupe.
Raghunath Manet is an Indian classical musician/music composer and dancer/choreographer born in the Union Territory of Puducherry. He is trained in Bharathanatyam and plays the Veena, a Carnatic instrument. He has collaborated with American Jazz musician Archie Shepp, American dancer Carolyn Carlson, French performers such as Richard Galliano, Didier Lockwood and Michel Portal.
Kun-woo Paik is a South Korean pianist. He has performed with multiple orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic.
Articles related to the French overseas department of Guadeloupe include:
Frédéric Lodéon is a contemporary French cellist, conductor and radio personality.
Jacques Grimbert is a French conductor and choral conductor.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
