Colégio Moderno Music School
The pleasure of making and discovering music together is at the heart of this programme, entitled ‘The violin as an itinerary through different musical eras and traditions.’
Students of various ages come together around the magical instrument that is the violin, performing works by varied composers, ranging from the Baroque period, with works by Vivaldi - including a movement from the Four Seasons - through late 19th-century Russia, with an ‘exasperating’ Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov, to American cinema’s great hits, though not without first taking in the unique ambience of Astor Piazzola's Argentina. This concert also features works by composer-violinists, such as Monti's Czardas and Kreisler's Praeludium and Allegro.
Program
Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)
- Sabre Dance
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
- Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 315, ‘L'estate’ (‘Summer,’ from ‘The Four Seasons’) - 1st movement
Vittorio Monti (1868-1922)
- Czardas, IVM 1
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962)
- Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani, IFK 25
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
- Flight of the Bumblebee, from ‘The Tale of Tsar Saltan,’ INR 79, Act III
Edmund Severn (1862-1942)
- Polish Dance in D Major
Joseph-Hector Fiocco (1703-1741)
- Allegro, Op. 1, no. 10
Astor Piazzola (1921-1992)
- Oblivion
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
- Violin Concerto in A minor, RV 356, 1st movement
Ferdinand Küchler (1867-1937)
- Concertino in D Major, Op. 15, 1st movement
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960)
- The Sound of Music
Harold Arlen (1905-1986)
- Over the Rainbow
About the Colégio Moderno Music School
Founded in October 2012 and located next to the University of Lisbon's Alameda campus, the Colégio Moderno Music School was a realisation of one the Colégio Moderno board's long-held dreams. It is directed by Prof. Inês Saraiva and boasts an array of excellent teachers. The instruments taught are violin, viola d'arco, cello, clarinet, transverse flute and piano, the latter being coordinated by teacher and pianist Jill Lawson.
Since its inception, the Colégio Moderno Music School has become an important reference point, having brought internationally renowned soloists to Portugal, such as pianists Iddo Bar-Shai, Lev Vinocur, Tomohiro Hatta and Mariana Gurkova, viola player Natalia Tchitch, violinists Ilya Grubert, Daniel Garlitsky, Mariana Todorova, Gwendolyn Masin, Eliot Lawson and Alissa Margulis, and cellists Catherine Strynckx and Pavel Gomziakov, among others, for concerts with its students, in addition to workshops and masterclasses.
Throughout the year, the Music School organises and participates in a series of cultural activities, both in Portugal and abroad, as well as at the School's premises, including the annual Charity Concert at the São Carlos National Theatre. It also participates in the Music Days and Mini-Days concerts at the Belém Cultural Centre and gives performances at the Ajuda National Palace, Lisbon Cathedral, the Estrela Basilica, the National Pantheon, the Church of São Roque, the Church of Santa Maria de Belém – Jerónimos Monastery, São Luiz Municipal Theatre, the Assembly of the Republic and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The students have also toured in Italy, France and the United States, where they had the opportunity to play in Chicago, at Orchestra Hall – the most prestigious concert hall in the city – and at the Northwestern University campus, with concerts at Alice Milar Chapel and Nichol's Hall.
The school currently has around 300 students. Although the majority also attend Colégio Moderno, the Music School is an autonomous institution, open to the outside world, and the number of students from other schools is constantly growing. It is open to children from the age of three, with no upper age limit. The curriculum structure corresponds to the students’ ages at the various levels of official education. Although there is no expectation that all the students will later become professional instrumentalists, the Colégio Moderno Music School's mission and duty is to prepare them for that eventuality.
About the Moderno Violins
This is an ensemble of around 70 young violin students, aged between 3 and 20, who attend the Colégio Moderno Music School. In addition to their regular individual instrument lessons, these students prepare a vast and varied repertoire together – covering works from the Baroque period to the present day – which they perform throughout the year at various concerts.
They have had the opportunity to attend and participate in various masterclasses organised by the Colégio Moderno Music School, with prestigious violinists such as Eliot Lawson, Ilya Grubert, Gwndolyn Masin and Alissa Margulis.
The group can sometimes split into smaller formations, depending on the requirements of the concerts or programmes on offer. Over the years, the students involved in this project have performed at the most iconic venues in Portugal, such as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the São Carlos National Theatre, the Casa da Música, the Belém Cultural Centre, the National Pantheon, the Estrela Basilica and the Assembly of the Republic, as well as on various tours abroad. In 2014, they took part in the Orchestre Giovanilli Festival in Italy and, in July 2015, the Provençal Festival of Youth Orchestras in the south of France. In 2018, the Moderno Violins toured Chicago, where they played at Orchestra Hall – the city's most prestigious concert hall – and at the Northwestern University campus, with concerts at Alice Milar Chapel and Nichol's Hall. They also took part in a violin masterclass with Professor Gerardo Ribeiro. These young violinists have also been a constant presence at Portugal's most important music festival, ‘Music Days’, at the Belém Cultural Centre. In July 2023, they toured Italy, where they performed three concerts in the cities of Riva Garda, Bardolino and Cremona.
The students trained at this school currently attend the best European music schools.
Violinist Inês Saraiva is the artistic director of this ensemble and of the Colégio Moderno Music School as a whole.
