"PriVocal Fest" opens with lyrical pearls as an eternal echo

With her enchanting voice, soprano Adelina Paloja brought the world and local lyrical repertoire to the recital concert in Pristina. Different cultures of countries that have historically cultivated classical music are in the "Eternal echoes" concert program together with the pianist Lirika Pula-Kasapolli and the string quartet "Amati". With this concert, the seventh edition of the international vocal festival in Prishtina - "PriVocal Fest" was opened. 

Another festival in the local classical music scene has started its next chapter. The space is the same. The amphitheater of the University Library has been the address for these cultural events for several years now. 
On this stage, the soprano Adelina Paloja accompanied by the piano from Lirika Pula-Kasapolli started the concert with the pieces "Polyubila ya na pechal svoyu" and "Zdes khorosho" by the Russian composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff. They were melancholic and delicate, and so are the melodies brought by Pula-Kasapolli. 
"Mesicku na nebi hluboken", aria from the opera "Rusalka" by the Czech Antonin Dvorak, has started lightly, but in the ongoing development it has gone towards high notes to which the piano seems to respond with a fragment of dynamic notes. The performance of the soprano on stage brings operatic colors with acting on stage. 

She also performed "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from the opera "La Rondine" by Giacomo Puccini. Then the attention is completely directed towards playing the piano. Lirika Pula-Kasapolli performed the work "16 waltzes op.39, no.3,4" by Johannes Brahms. The work has been dynamic with many changes within the work. 

Next was the aria "Ecco: respiro appena...io son l'lumile ancella" from the opera "Adriana Lecouvreur" by Francesco Cilea. "Les filles de cadix" by the French Léo Delibes had humorous and harmonious parts, while the Spanish "Granada" by Agustin Lara sounded more romantic. A song about love. 

The soprano Paloja has considered this program quite challenging, with which she expressed her honor to return to the public in Pristina. 

"I am honored, extremely happy and with emotions that I am returning to my beloved audience and this with a recital concert. I have had different works and I can say that some of them have been with the most demanding requirements and without modesty I will say that it has been a pretty demanding program. There were Rachmaninoff, Dvorak, Puccini and other pieces," said the soprano Paloja. 

The work "SVP Tango" by Argentinian Astor Piazzolla performed by the string quartet "Amati" was just as romantic in sound. While the two violins and viola develop a sensitive theme, the cello remains indifferent to these developments. He also plays solo points, while the four instrumentalists draw the bows with their fingers, making the work attractive. 

In the last part of the concert, Adelina Paloja sang works from the Albanian repertoire. Accompanied by the cello and the violin, he sang "Mall arjarie" by Nikolla Zoraqi. The quartet of archers came together in the interpretation of the song "Bash Zemani" by Hali Kasapolli, arranged by the composer and conductor Hajrullah Syla. 

The entire line-up is complete in the interpretation of the songs "Alhqipëri o vendi im" by Avni Mula and "Rrjedh ne kanje e lježrime" by Feim Ibrahimi, both arranged by Genc Tukiqi.

The soprano Paloja said that the Albanian works were presented as other versions, arranged in a different form. He said that with them he wanted to refresh the repertoire and expand the horizons of this creativity. According to her, usually a small number of Albanian works are sung in recital concerts. 
"I always try to give the works of Albanian creativity their rightful place, but this time I wanted them to be new to the public and they were. Four of the ones we performed in the end were two arrangements that have never been performed in Kosovo, a premiere work for soprano 'Bash Zemani' by Hajrullah Syla that has never been performed in this formation and a completely unheard work by Nikolla Zoraq. Paloja said. 

He said that each work was challenging and that he plans to present it in other countries with the same program. 

"With this concert, I wanted to challenge myself as well. I am always demanding of myself and there were works in Russian, Czech, there were Puccini and Adriana... from the Italian repertoire, for which I did a one-year specialization in Italy. Then there are works in Spanish, in French and at the very end the Albanian repertoire. Apart from the musical aspect, which has great stylistic and technical contrasts, because in every work you have to treat it correctly in the technical aspect, and then also in the emotional aspect", said Paloja further. 

Pianist Lirika Pula-Kasapolli said that the program was devised by soloist Paloja. 

"The program was varied, I have accompanied other sopranos for a good part of the arias before, but it is always a great pleasure to perform with Adelina, because she is very serious, very prepared and with very clear ideas for the music. It is the second time we have a recital concert together", she said.

He considered the program with many musical colors. 

"The first block belongs to all the lyrical works, including those in the Slavic language such as Rachmaninoff and Dvorak, which all consist of an accompaniment with very beautiful harmonies from the piano to the coloratura that Adelina has perfectly, as well as very high notes. high notes which are usually very difficult for a soprano to achieve, but they come quite naturally to Adelina. As for the work I played, there are miniature pieces that are mostly played together, while I preferred to take two", said the pianist Pula-Kasapolli.

On the opening night, the voices together with the music contributed to the increase of breast cancer awareness. The festival has joined this call as it also holds the edition in the month dedicated to breast cancer awareness. 

This year, the international vocal festival holds its seventh edition from October 14 to 20. The first concert "Eternal Echoes" with the soprano Adelina Paloja accompanied by the pianist Lirika Pula-Kasapolli and the string quartet "Amati" cut the ribbon to the edition with five concerts in total. 

The second night of the festival is "Opera Night" on October 16, where the opera "King Lear" will be performed in two acts for soloists, virtual orchestra composed and conducted on stage by Zoe Hippius. "Young Generation" is the third concert of this edition with young artists, participants selected from the masterclass led by Argentinian maestro Raúl Giménez. This concert will take place on October 18. This year, for the first time, the festival has organized a singing masterclass with vocal master Giménez.

The director of the festival "PriVocal Fest", Hajrullah Syla, announced that the masterclass has already started. He emphasized that this is the innovation of the festival. 

"This is the first time that the festival organizes a masterclass, usually we had the competition for composers and this year we decided to have a masterclass. What is very important in this edition is that we will also have an opera that will be presented in a different form than what we are used to seeing. This will be a novelty for this edition and all the concerts planned for this edition are special in their own way", said Syla. 

While talking about the "Eternal Echoes" concert, he considered it a successful launch of the seventh edition in a row. 

"It was also Adelina's idea to have Albanian authors in the second part of the program, where there are some of the works that have been sung for years and are well received by the public. The program was quite well performed, the audience with their applause showed that they were very satisfied with the performance. This was the first night, but I hope that the continuation will be as we have prepared", he said further. 

As part of the festival, the fourth concert will be held on October 19. Under the title "There is Someone on Earth" comes the special voice of the French mexo-soprano Albane Carrère accompanied by the pianist Andi Duraku and Donjeta Cërmjani on the cello. 

The seventh edition closes on October 20 with the "12 Months" concert, where the "Pro Ars" choir will perform, led by the Macedonian conductor Sasho Tatarchevski.

Pri Vocal Fest has been operating as a platform for vocal music artists for seven years in a row. In the framework of this event, in addition to the international artists who perform on the festival stage, new artists are also promoted and different musical cultures are brought. Another very important aspect is the promotion of young artists, encouraging them in their artistic development and growth.