By Amanda Barnes
Ladies in pearls, harp notes in the air and flowing wine… it must be Mendoza’s classical music season.
This year Mendoza celebrated its tenth Música Clásica por los Caminos del Vino with over 50 concerts being held across the region in concert halls, art spaces and bodegas. Tickets were free in exchange for milk to go towards a charity project organized by the Rotary Club. The only difficulty was deciding which events to attend.
The Symphonic Orchestra
I started with the Orquestra Sinfónica de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo on Wednesday night held at Teatro Independencia. In typical Argentine time the concert started 40 minutes after scheduled, but it was worth the wait. The first set was performed with by sized down orchestra featuring Guillermo Lavado on flute. The two pieces aptly demonstrated the great range of sound and emotion conjured up by the instrumental combination starting with Gabriel Faure’s relaxing Morceau de Concours followed by a much livelier, energetic piece (also by Faure).
The following set featured Polly Ferman on the piano and Daniel Binelli on the accordion. The highlight was their performance of Daniel’s own composition ‘A homage to tango’. As the title suggests this piece had a strong tango theme and transported you from the theatre to the back streets of Buenos Aires. It was a beautifully chaotic and unpredictable piece.Following the interval, the full orchestra took us through some acts of Tchaikovsky’s heartbreaking Swan Lake. It was beautifully performed and certainly a real crowd pleaser to finish off a great night.
Contemporary dance and new classics
Next on the list for me was Friday night’s Otro Ojo dance performance at Espacio Contemporaneo de Arte. To warm up the crowd we were treated to a fantastic set of contemporary and creative classical music by Martin Conti on the vibraphone and Valeria Larroqur on the flute. They created a strange but nevertheless entrancing soundscape which was heightened in its obscurity with the modern art as a backdrop and the constantly flushing loo in the background. The performance created an unusual atmosphere however was completely absorbing and proved that the classical concert series had some real diversity.
After the music we settled down to Otro Ojo. I am a huge contemporary dance and physical theater fan. However I found this performance a little disappointing. It didn’t show any great technical brilliance or innovation however it had some strong symbolism and was well worked for a performance in the round, creating an interesting stage structure.
Bodega Lopez, champagne and madrigal singing
I took Saturday’s performance by the Madrigal Chorus from the University of Munich at Bodega Lopez as a good opportunity to visit the winery beforehand. Bodega Lopez is a large winery in Maipú and is constantly buzzing with workers and tourists (in fact, around 700 tourists a day!). It is easy to see why this bodega is popular though. It still uses the traditional large wine vats and they make quite an impression with the largest holding 35,000 liters of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is also quite spectacular to know that the oldest cask in the winery is 116 years old and still in use.
Although Lopez is a large, industrialized bodega it proudly displays its interesting history of over 100 years and their museum of old machinery will get any classic car lover’s heart pumping. The tour gives you a look into how the bodega has advanced technologically but still favors some traditional methods.
As interesting as the tour was, my favorite part is always the tasting. Deep down in the wine cellars visitors get to taste some of Lopez’s different lines. We started with the lovely Montchenot Extra Brut Champagne and then moved on to try their Casona Lopez line of Malbec and then the Cabernet Sauvignon. Both were light wines and showed a good demonstration of each varietal.
Later in the evening we returned to Lopez but this time to the Champanera for the Madrigal Chorus performance. The hall was full and provided great acoustics for the over 40 strong German choir. The group worked through a broad repertoire of material from Irish folklore to Brahms and even a bizarre northern European tribal number. They demonstrated an amazing control of pitch and volume and more than once caused my neck hairs to stand to attention at the high notes.
After a standing ovation and an encore the performers left the stage and everyone joined them for a fantastic spread of champagne and empanadas put on by Lopez. The champagne was certainly flowing and it didn’t take long for some of the performers to start singing again! It was a great night with plenty of song and wine.
And finally the fat lady sings…
To finish off, I went to the grand finale on Sunday night at Teatro Independencia. As expected we saw a great ensemble of international performers that played for over two and a half hours. Highlights included the Ensamble Buenos Aires Clásico whose energetic performances left quite an impression. However the best was saved for last as a mixed group of all the performers came on for a grand finale and blew the audience away with a fast moving tango-inspired piece followed by an entertaining, quirky tune using the instruments in more unusual ways.
Over 15,000 Mendocinos are thought to have attended this year’s Música Clásica por los Caminos del Vino and I am sure most would concord that it was a great festival. I don’t think anyone could disagree that there is nothing better than fine wine and music – what a classic combination.
Amanda Barnes is a freelance writer currently living in Mendoza. For more information, visit www.amandabarnes.co.uk or click here to see her profile. Photos by Eryn Snyder
