Traditionally, the most formal concert at the Youngmasters Festival, the Gala Concert, was held on August 27th, 2021 at 8:30 pm in the St. Anastasia Church in Samobor. Participants of the Youngmasters summer school, as well as world-renowned musicians and interesting guests made festival’s tenth jubilee special.
Besides musical performances and concerts, the audience had a chance to listen to the reviews written by participants of the Music Cristicism workshop. The alternation of performers lifted the dynamics of the concert and made it very interesting, despite it being a long concert. The program included various composers with a special emphasis on contemporary composers, such as Joaquín Rodrigo and Manuel de Falla, as well as many Croatian authors, such as Dora Pejačević, Blagoje Bersa and Alfi Kabilj.
The performance of this year’s lecturer and violinist Marco Graziani should be highlighted among other performances. He played the Second Sonata for Violin Solo in A minor composed by Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe. The first and fourth movement of this beautiful composition are characterized by virtuoso passages as well as dramatic changes in tempo and dynamics. The musician showed high technical level and sensitivity with special emphasis on the quote of the medieval sequence Dies irae, dies illa which he interpreted differently each time. Spouses Tobias Stosiek (cellist) and Nataša Veljković (pianist) also had an extremely successful performance. They presented Rachmaninoff’s masterpieces, Vocalizu, Op. 34, no. 14, in the most beautiful light. The touching sounds of the cello and the rich piano unison achieved perfect harmony.
Given the length of the Gala concert, it was not appropriate for the three-movement Premier concertino for guitar and string instruments by Ivan Padovac to be performed at the very end, as there was fatigue among the audience. It would’ve been more appropriate if the concert had been closed by the singers who attended seminars of the Professor Claudia Visce, gathered in the Youngmasters Voice ensemble, with the Evening Prayer of Engelbert Humperdinck. Politicians and citizens of Samobor embellished this event with their attendance and showed how proud they are that such an extraordinary concert is being held in their city.
Author: Ivana Anastazija Barjašić
