Early Music America Summer 2014 - (Page 45)

Ars Longa and the Festival Esteban Salas An early music festival in Cuba is organized by the island nation's leading ensemble in historical performance toward the railway station and away from the bustle of Old Havana on the Alameda de Paula, you will pass the Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula, dedicated in 1730 as the chapel of a hospital for mariners and the women who "serviced" them. Today it is the performing home of the excellent Cuban early music group, Conjunto de Música Antigua Ars Longa. Across the road, on a building at the corner of Leonora Perez, you can see a modern, tiled mural depicting musicians and their instruments-hurdy-gurdy, viol, lute-honoring the presence of Ars Longa and their efforts to rescue and bring to life Cuban music of the 17th to 19th centuries. Ars Longa was begun in 1994 by Teresa Paz, a soprano and choral conductor, and her husband Aland Lopez, a guitarist and lutenist. They gathered up likeminded recent graduates and made their debut as a group at the 1995 International Choir Festival, one of the most important musical events in Cuba. In 1997, Paz and Lopez met the musicologist Miram Escudero, an authority on the works of Esteban Salas de Castro (17251803), Cuba's most important early composer. Escudero had just completed a catalog of the archives of the Iglesia de Merced in Old Havana, and a concert had been created around those works. Historically informed performance on instruments based on original instruments was completely new to Cuba, and the idea of concentrating on the music of early Cuban composers was novel and brilliant. It captured the imagination of Eusebio Leal Spengler, the historian of the City of Havana. He brought Ars Longa under the wing of the Office of the Historian, giving the group a source of financial support separate from all other A S YOU WALK musical groups in Cuba. The Office of the Historian has provided salaries for the musicians, funds to purchase instruments, and resources to make it possible for the group to travel abroad to participate in festivals and workshops-even a van to deal with Havana's unreliable transport system. In 2000, the restoration of the Iglesia de Paula was finished, and Leal made it available to Ars Longa as a home base. The space is acoustically perfect for music. It seats just 150 people and has wide steps up to the altar broad enough to accommodate many musicians. Coincidentally, during the restoration process, workers had discovered the remains of Claudio Brindis de Salas (1852-1911), a black violinist of world renown, buried in front of the altar. Festival beginning Financial resources are limited in Cuba, and until recently, the possibilities for travel away from the island were so restricted that it is amazing that the group has managed to develop such a high level of quality. Since there was no way to go abroad to study, Paz and Lopez came upon the idea of inviting early music specialists from abroad to come to Havana. In 2000, Ars Longa initiated the Festival Esteban Salas and invited performers from Europe. Judith Pacquier came from France to teach cornetto and recorders; Shalev Ad-El (Israel) came with a lovely instrument by Martin Schwabe to teach and play harpsichord. And Andrea da Carlo, from Italy, taught and played viol. A positive organ, just one 4' stop, arrived from the workshop of Joaquin Lois in Spain, the gift of the University of Valladolid. Strong bonds were formed that By Kathleen McIntosh year between the University of Valladolid and the Chemin du Baroques of France, and the group was soon being invited to bring early Cuban music to festivals in Spain and France. Over the following years, many fine European groups and players came to perform and teach, among them Walter Reiter, Poeme Harmonique, and Claudia Gerauer with Rayuela. This year's festival was the 10th edition and spanned more than a month, from mid-February until nearly the end of March. Musicians came from all over Cuba and from Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Mexico, Uruguay, Early Music America Summer 2014 45

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Summer 2014

Editor's Note
Reader Forum
Sound Bytes
Musings: The Force of Opinion
Recording Reviews
Baroque Opera and Historical Performance: A Reconsideration
Underestimating Turk
Our Disappearing LP Legacy
Living and Breathing Early Music, the Ukrainian Way
Ars Longa and the Festival Esteban Salas
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: The Flauto Dolce Heralds a Welcome Entrance into Heaven

Early Music America Summer 2014