Love is in the Air - A Romantic Music Concert

“Love is in the Air” is a romantic concert performed by Camenae de Cymru, an international classical music ensemble based in Cardiff. The concert showcases selected pieces from renowned love music composers, such as Georges Bizet, Carlos Gardel, Jacob Gade, Pablo de Sarasate, Rodolfo Falvo, Fritz Kreisler and Manuel de Falla. The enchanting pieces included in the concert are Tango Por una cabeza, Tango Jalousie, Habanera, Séguedille, and many more.

The Camenae were deities in Roman mythology associated with music, poetry, and healing. They were named after the Latin word ‘carmen’, which means ‘song, poem, or magical formula’.

Camenae de Cymru was established in 2020 by Kristina Bitina, a rich contralto originally from Latvia, and Nichola Bojczuk, a poet and compère born in Ukraine but raised in Wales since early childhood. Kristina moved to Scotland in 2005 and then to Wales in 2010. She is also known as ‘the velvet contralto’ and has extensively performed in Latvia, across Europe, Scotland, England, and Wales. Camenae de Cymru has hosted over 30 concerts across South Wales and England in the last few years.

Yuri Savkin is a renowned violinist from Riga, Latvia. He currently holds the position of concertmaster for the first violins in the Latvian National Opera and Ballet Orchestra. He has performed extensively across various European countries and has also played with Camenae de Cymru in England and Wales.

Giordano Ferla is an accomplished pianist specialising in classical and modern music. He was born in Italy and received his education from the Alfredo Casella Conservatory in L’Aquila as well as the Royal College of Music in London. He now resides in Wales, where he is a professor of piano at the Royal Welsh College of Music Junior Conservatoire. Additionally, he serves as the director of the Serenata Singers Choir in Cardiff.

Programme

• Tango “Por una cabeza” (“By a Head”) (1935), transcr. for violin and piano, by Carlos Gardel (1890–1935), lyrics Alfredo Le Pera (1900–1935)
• Tango “Jalousie” (Jealousy “Gypsy Tango”) (1925), from the movie “Don Q, Son of Zorro,” transcr. for violin and piano, by Jacob Gade (1879–1963)
• Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen (Old Viennese Dances) (1905) by Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962)
  o Liebesfreud (“Love’s Joy”)
  o Liebesleid (“Love’s Sorrow”)
  o Schön Rosmarin (“Lovely Rosemary”)

• Habanera: “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (“Love is a rebellious bird”), an aria from the opera Carmen (1875) by Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
• Séguedille: “Près des remparts de Séville” (“Near the walls of Seville”), an aria from the opera Carmen (1875) by Georges Bizet (1838–1875)

Interval

• Dicitencello vuje (“Just Say I Love Her”) (1930), a Neapolitan song by Rodolfo Falvo (1873–1937), lyrics Enzo Fusco (1899–1951)
• Romanza andalusa, a piece from The Spanish Dances (1877), op. 21, by Pablo de Sarasate (1844–1908)
• Caprice Basque (1880), violin and piano, op. 24, by Pablo de Sarasate (1844–1908)
• El Paño Moruno (“The Moorish Cloth”) (1914), a song from Siete Canciones populares españolas (Seven popular Spanish songs) by Manuel de Falla (1844–1908)
• Nana (1914), a lullaby from Siete Canciones populares españolas (Seven popular Spanish songs) by Manuel de Falla (1844–1908)
• Jota (1914), an Aragonese song from Siete Canciones populares españolas (Seven popular Spanish songs) by Manuel de Falla (1844–1908)