Polifonie in “viva voce” 15

16 November 18.30 pm
free entrance

The annual Polifonie “ in viva voce” event was set up 1997 in collaboration with the Department of the History of the Arts and Conservation of the Artistic Heritage, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice. Since then the Giorgio Cini Foundation has hosted singers from many regions of Europe. The seminars and concerts have enabled the scholars,
researchers and music lovers who have come to San Giorgio to explore and admire some important examples of European polyphonic singing. The 15th edition will be dedicated to Vocal and Instrumental Diaphonies from the Island of Krk (Croatia).
The largest island in the Adriatic, Krk is the cultural and environmental setting for special forms of diaphonic singing: this involves a polyphonic procedure consisting of the combination of only two parts, performed by two cantors or two groups of singers.
Equally unusual is the instrumental diaphony played by a pair of sopile (wind instruments with double reeds similar to the oboe): the two instruments (the mala sopila, which has high register and the lower register vela sopila) intertwine their sounds in a continuous counterpoint development with non-tempered intervals.
The diaphonies of the island of Krk are a unique musical phenomenon on the European scene and a powerful means for the local community to preserve its identity. In the summer period when the island welcomes large numbers of tourists from neighbouring European countries, the island diaphonies and associated dances provide a very effective means for the local communities of representing themselves to the many seasonal visitors
and guests.
The seminar will be attended by Maurizio Agamennone, Naila Ceribaši and Giuseppe Massimo Rizzo as well as by guest cantors and musicians, while the concert will feature the vocal and instrumental group “Šoto” from the villages of Jurandvor and Baška in the southern part of the island of Krk.