måndag, juni 18, 2012

Raoul Wallenberg

Year 2012 would mark the centenary anniversary of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg (b. 1912). This is the memorial to him and other "Righteous Among the Nations" http://bit.ly/nBBfIK in the rear courtyard of Budapest Great Synagogue for their efforts to rescue Hungarian Jews during World War II. Dohány utcai zsinagóga, part of the Jewish Ghetto in 1944, is said to be "the largest synagogue in Europe and the fifth largest in the world" now.

söndag, juni 17, 2012

Richard Taruskin, English-speaking world's leading scholarly authority on Stravinsky and indeed Russian music at large, author of The Oxford History of Western Music, delivered a fascinating 3 1/2 hour-long lecture on Thursday evening at Confidencen. Answer to the question he posed: "Words or Music: Who's Really on Top?" perhaps lies just in the very theme of O/Modernt 2012: "Monteverdi / Music is the servant of the words". Got to give props to the festival's organizers for bringing forth this terrific idea and thanks a million for the choice of featured music. How inspiring!