Neapolitan and Gospel Music Concert
Performed by the Orchestra Stabile della Canzone Napoletana of the Nicola Sala Conservatory of Music in Benevento directed by maestro Luigi Ottaiano and the Eyael Choir directed by maestro Enrica Di Martino
Followed by a guided tour of the tiled cloister of St. Clare
Free admission
On Friday, August 4, at 8:30 p.m. in the Basilica of St. Clare in Naples, Musical Enchantments - The Light of Rebirth will be held, a concert in which Neapolitan music merges with Gospel.
The concert is organized by the Neapolitan Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Order of Friars Minor of Naples and the Santa Chiara Museum Complex in collaboration with theOrchestra Stabile della Canzone Napoletana of the Nicola Sala Conservatory of Music of Benevento conducted by maestro Luigi Ottaiano and the Eyael Choir directed by maestro Enrica Di Martino.
The occasion of this evening is the 80th anniversary of the bombing on the church and the subsequent fire that destroyed the 18th-century apparatus that had covered the 14th-century and Gothic layout of the church and the 70th anniversary of its reconstruction thanks to the direct intervention of the friars who oversaw the placement of each stone.
Music is the best vehicle to unite people in a message of universal peace and remembrance of the city's cultural and monumental tradition, particularly of a church and its cloister that are symbols of a living history, of a Naples that interacts with the world.
Musical elaborations of the pieces are made, trying to create a classical sound, with contrapuntal dialogues between the various instruments, with a solid base of the rhythmic quartet. To which some elements of rhythmic and harmonic modernity have been added from time to time.
The masterpiece church of Gothic art opens to the city to welcome the concert with free admission. An evening tour of the cloisters is planned after the concert, also with free admission.
Musical Enchantments - The Light of Rebirth. - declares Father Massimiliano Scarlato - is a message of hope. From darkness, from despair, from the atrocities of war, which led to the bombing that destroyed our St. Clare on August 4, 1943, to joy in music on August 4, 2023. Music has incredible power, and with this concert we send a strong message of peace and brotherhood 'using' the beauty of Neapolitan classical music combined with Gospel.
The concert will feature the Orchestra Stabile della Canzone Napoletana of the Nicola Sala Conservatory of Music in Benevento conducted by maestro Luigi Ottaiano and the Eyael Choir directed by maestro Enrica Di Martino.
This evening's project - declares teacher Di Martino - was born from the passion for music that later led me to Gospel. After about 25 years of activity, the choir lands in the cloister of Santa Chiara thanks to the proposal of Maestro Aurelio Pitino; here the desire to unite our roots, our musical culture, our language in song was born spontaneously, and here the Neapolitan song finds its rightful place, acting as a glue between Gospel singing and love poetry. Singing Munasterio 'e santa Chi ara arranged for four-voice choir at Santa Chiara is a unique experience, I' te vurria vasà then expresses, with its wonderful lyrics and in the intensity of its harmony, all the sweetness for this city, the infinite gratitude for that providence that brought us to the most beautiful cloister of our city.
Performing at Santa Chiara ," says Maestro Ottaiano, " on a highly symbolic date for the Church, in a place of suggestion and beauty, is a source of great pride. For the occasion we have devised a musical journey, interpreted by 6 singers and 8 musicians, divided into paintings, which takes the audience to the golden age of Neapolitan song.
Images of Santa Chiara are courtesy of the Ministry of Culture Soprintendenza ABAP for the City of Naples.
Construction of the church began in 1310 at the behest of King Robert of Anjou and his second wife Sancia of Majorca under the direction of first Gagliardo Primario and then Lionardo di Vito. In 1340 the church was opened for worship.
The church stands today in its original Provençal Gothic forms, with a wide cusped façade, in which the ancient openwork rose window is set, and a pronaos with pointed arches. The interior has a single nave with ten chapels on each side. Characterizing the chancel are funerary monuments of the Angevin royal family. The tomb of Robert of Anjou made by the Bertini brothers stands out in the center, while the two tombs on the right side, intended to hold the remains of Charles of Calabria and Mary of Valois, are due to the great master Tino di Camaino. The tomb on the left side, on the other hand, is of Mary of Durazzo, made by an anonymous sculptor, called precisely Maestro Durazzesco. In addition to the Angevin funerary monuments in St. Clare, the remains of the Bourbon family are also housed in the last chapel on the right.
In 1742 the church underwent alterations by architect Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. Fastidious facings gave the complex a Baroque appearance.
On August 4, 1943, the church was almost completely destroyed by aerial bombardment. It was rebuilt and restored under the direction of Mario Zampino in the original Gothic style. Ten years later, on August 4, 1953, the church was reopened for worship.
THE PROTAGONISTS.
Orchestra Stabile della Canzone Napoletana del Conservatorio di Musica Nicola Sala di Benevento: founded in 2018, formed by scholars of the branch, who have a real knowledge and passion for the art of Neapolitan song, with rigor and respect for performance practice. It has to its credit tours and concerts in Jordan (Jerash), Canada (Montreal), Scotland (Edinburgh), and Vatican City.
CHORUS EYAEL:
CITTA' DI POZZUOLI CHOIR founded in 2014 and composed of fifty elements the city of Pozzuoli choir was born almost from a bet by teacher Di Martino; in the path of spreading the gospel in schools, which is always the result of interactions between teachers, pupils and parents, the enthusiasm of the teachers was always enormous. From this momentum was born the choir, which boasts within it several professionals in different disciplines who interact masterfully, enriching the choir's story with their life experience. Among the goals of the choir is to publish a book "singing is a right" where it is emphasized that choral singing is an activity that should not be reserved exclusively for the elect therefore those with musical potential but is for everyone and that the important thing is to identify one's place to reap its benefits.
CORO CITTA' DI GAETA born in 2021 to be able to bring the experience of the Pozzuoli City Choir to another city. The enthusiasm immediately encountered in the Lazio city was such that it overcame even the problems related to the pandemic. After only a few meetings, the choir members were able to perform gospel songs that were certainly not easy. Music, once again, overcomes all difficulties and unites with its power of aggregation
Enrica Di Martino: graduated in Lyric Singing at the Conservatorio S. Pietro a Majella in Naples, graduated in Choral Conducting and Composition at the Conservatorio D. Cimarosa in Avellino, continued her specialization in teaching singing becoming in 2016 EMT Master Teacher Voice of Estill Voice International, teacher at the Liceo Musicale Statale Grandi in Sorrento and Liceo Musicale Statale Buchner in Ischia, Teacher of singing and vocal setting for actors at the Teatro Totò in Naples. Debuts in the role of Verdi's Paggio Rigoletto in Asti, Vevey Switzerland and Ancy France. Choir director has directed the Eyael Gospel Choir of Naples now Pozzuoli and Gaeta for 12 years. From 1998 to 2003 she has a busy concert activity abroad and in Italy, Luxemburg Theater, Ascoli Piceno Ventidio Basso Theater, Politeama Theater in Lecce, with the orchestra of Piacenza and the Verdi Orchestra of Milan.
