OPERA HISTORY – ‘The masters who founded NTOB’ is one of the most successful columns of our theater, which began three years ago. The creativity of Albanian masters is endless and we have had the chance to revive the golden fund of Albanian works. This has been and is the strategy of NTOB: to offer the creativity of our masters to the Albanian public by presenting it not only to their music fans but also to the younger generation.
This season all the attention of the OPERA HISTORY column is dedicated to one of the leading figures of Albanian creativity, Feim Ibrahimi. “Rrjedh në Këngë e Ligjërime” was the title of this concert, as the creativity of the master Ibrahim has flowed in time and voice, to all generations since its creation until today.
Regarded as the composer who shook the taboo of socialist realism, he is one of the first Albanian composers to receive his entire education in the country. Feim Ibrahimi’s work encompasses all genres, from instrumental miniatures, film scores, chamber music, symphonic music, solo and orchestra concerts to stage and electro-acoustic works. In honor of one of the greatest masters of Albanian music of all genres, NTOB organized the concert Feim Ibrahimi – “Rrjedh në këngë e ligjërime”. The 21st November concert at the Orthodox Cathedral in Tirana included only a small part of the master’s work.
With the participation of:
NTOB CHOIR, SOLOISTS, AND ORCHESTRA
CONDUCTOR: ERMIR KRANTJA
From the film “Ngadhënjim mbi vdekjen” (1967)
Overture
Finale – Poem F. Arapi
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra and Choir
***
From the film “Shembja e idhujve” (1979)
Largimi i mësuesit – Orchestration: Nestor Kraja
Shkëndij’e diellit ndaj Manushaqes – Poem N. Frashëri
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra
Soloist: Kejsi Tola
***
“Tan’ Shqipnia asht betue, pa gjak malet mos me i lshue” (1978) – Vocal-symphonic poem for choir, tenor, baritone, recitative and orchestra Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the League of Prizren
Folk lyrics
Performed by: NTOB Choir and Orchestra
Soloists: Armaldo Kllogjeri, Armando Likaj, Bruno Shllaku.
***
From the film “Pylli i lirisë” (1976)
Vlashi me kalin
Kapja e kalit në pyll
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra
Soloist in piano: Etrita Ibrahimi
***
From the film “Ballë për ballë” (1979)
Intro
Irisi – Beni
Finale
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra
Soloist: Enalda Gjoni
***
From the film “Të paftuarit” (1985)
“Besiani në udhëtim me karrocë”
“Martini me të shoqen”
“Gjorgu me fyell”
“Gjorgu merr gjakun”
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra
Soloists: Ilir Gjoka, Enalda Gjoni, Erik Tauzi.
***
“Peizazh i pyllit të rralluar” Romance (1986 – 87) – Poem D. Agolli – Orchestration: Ermir Krantja
Performs: NTOB Orchestra
Soloist: Nina Muho
***
From the film “Balada e Kurbinit” (1990)
“Kthimi i Gurgemit”
“Ndeshja”
“Varrimi i Kaçorrit”
“Rrëmbimi i Gurgemit”
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra
Soloists: Elton Katroshi, Sidrit Çarçiu.
***
Досвиданя (Do svidaniya) Romance (1996) – Poem S. Esenin
Soloist in piano: Etrita Ibrahimi
Soloist: Nina Muho
***
From the ballet “Plaga e dhjetë e Gjergj Elez Alisë” (1986)
Kërcimi i robinave
Finale
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra
***
Xhaketa e kuqe (1970) – Lyrics V. Musta
Performed by: NTOB Orchestra
Soloist: Vikena Kamenica
***
Një zambak i bardhë në gur (1980) – Lyrics Gj. Beci
Performed by: NTOB Choir and Orchestra
Soloist: Kejsi Tola
***
Unë, biri yt Kosovё (1982) – Poem A. Podrimja
Performed by: NTOB Choir and Orchestra
Soloist: Armaldo Kllogjeri
***
Rrjedh në këngë e ligjërime (1980) – Lyrics Gj. Beci
Performed by: NTOB Choir and Orchestra
Soloist: Armaldo Kllogjeri
Feim Ibrahimi (Gjirokastër 1935 – Torino 1997)
Regarded as the composer who shook the taboos of socialist realism, he is one of the first Albanian composers to study exclusively in the country, joining the Tirana State Conservatory in 1962, from which he graduated in 1966 under the leadership of Prof. Tish Daija.
Immediately after finishing his studies he taught composition, counterpoint and harmony at the conservatory (1966–1973), and from 1973–1977 he served as vice-director of the Superior Institute of Arts. For the most significant part of his life he served as the music secretary of the Union of Albanian Writers and Artists from 1977 to 1991 and he later was appointed as director of the Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1991–1992). From 1992 until his death, he taught composition at the Academy of Arts.
During Albania’s period of cultural isolation, Ibrahimi showed himself a capable administrator, exerting a positive influence on Albania’s musical life. Though finding himself in unfavorable conditions as he was obliged by his office to defend socialist realism, during his official travels abroad Feim Ibrahimi tried to keep up with international musical developments, experimenting in secret with atonality (e.g. in the Quasi Sonata per violoncello e piano, 1975, rev. 1990), expressing interest in Xenakis as early as 1981, and inviting to Albania such avant-garde figures as G. Stabler.
Since 1978 he firmly sought Albania’s membership in UNESCO and after a period of 13 years of innumerable vicissitudes, in 1991 he became the first founder and president of the National Music Committee, which eventually became a member of the UNESCO International Music Council.
He founded the festival “Evenings of New Albanian Music” in 1992, thus giving life to a new era for our music.
In 1994 he founded the artistic society “Pentaton” (now Cultural Foundation “Feim Ibrahimi”), aiming to organize several cultural events and to establish a private conservatory for young differently abled musicians.
Some of his works are published in England by the Emerson Edition.
After receiving the title “Merited Artist” for his artistic merits, the Albanian State conferred him the title “People’s Artist” in 1989.
Whereas in the year 2000, the city hall of Tirana conferred him the title “The gratitude of Tirana” for his contribution to the development of Albanian culture.
In 2001 and 2008, the city hall of Durrës and that of Gjirokastra respectively, conferred him the Honorary Citizenship.
Ibrahimi has won many prizes in national competitions and in “May Concerts” (the main national festival organized annually since 1967). He has won two Republic prizes – the most important award in the field of creative activity in Albania.
In 1990, the “Feim Ibrahimi – artist portrait” day was organized at the Aalto Theaterfoyer, in Essen (Germany).
In 1994, at the invitation of Brahms-Gesellschaft’s president, he was composer-in-residence at the Brahmshaus in Baden-Baden (Germany), and immediately afterwards he studied electro-acoustic music at Mozarteum in Salzburg (Austria). In 1995, his work De Profundis –composed during his residency in Salzburg– was selected for the Synthèse International Electronic Music Festival in Bourges, France.
Feim Ibrahimi’s work includes nearly all genres: from instrumental miniatures, soundtracks, chamber music, concertos for solo instruments and orchestra, symphonies, to scenic works and electro-acoustic works. They are successfully executed in Albania, Kosovo, Italy, France, England, Germany, Switzerland, America, etc.
Dialogo for cello and piano, and the romance “E la tua veste è Bianca” (based on the poem of Salvatore Quasimodo) for soprano, cello and piano (both composed in June 1997), are the last works of the composer, who suddenly died on August 2nd, 1997 in Turin, Italy.
Ermir Krantja- Conductor
Ermir Krantja was born in Tirana on March 6th, 1947 in a family of strong musical traditions. His father, Mustafa Krantja, is the first professional Albanian conductor and founder of all post-war orchestral institutions in Albania. He greatly influenced on Ermir for him to be exposed at a young age to Western culture in general and to Czech and Slovak culture in particular, in addition to the culture of Albanian music. Ermir Krantja is a graduate of the “Jordan Misja” Artistic Lyceum in violin with Prof. Genc Bogdo (1965) while simultaneously completing his studies in harmony with Prof. Simon Gjoni. He continued his studies at the Academy of Arts in orchestral conducting under his father’s direction, choral conducting in the class of Prof. Kostandin Trako and musicology in the class of Prof. Çesk Zadeja. He completed his studies in 1970, earning maximum points from the State Commission and was immediately appointed conductor of the RTSH (Albanian Public Broadcaster) Orchestra with which he began a continuous concert program for the public.
From 1975 to 1979 he held the position of conductor of the Shkodra Symphony Orchestra, with which he evidently developed the rich tradition of Shkodra music’s culture starting from the children, folk or pop music festivals to regular symphony concerts that culminate in the production of various operas. This intensive and qualitative activity at the same time led to the establishment of the Shkodra Philharmonic in 1977.
In 1979 he returns to Tirana as a conductor at T.O.B (Theatre of Opera and Ballet) and at the same time he was appointed lecturer of orchestral conducting and of chamber music class for strings at the Academy of Arts. From 1974 until the late 1980s, Krantja won several first awards at the “May Decades” concerts, and in 1985 he received the title of “Merited Artist”.
In 1989 he was selected to have an apprenticeship at the prestigious RAI Orchestra (Turin), where he also met and exchanged ideas with world-renowned artists such as Carlo Maria Giuglini (Italy), Rafael Fruehbeck de Burgos (Spain) and Ferdinant Leitner (Switzerland). A year later, Krantja is placed in France at the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, as an assistant to the great French master Pièrre Derveaux, participating in a master class composed of young conductors from Central and Eastern Europe as well as participants from the USA and Canada.
Ermir Krantja is the first Albanian artist to touch America at an institutional level and on this occasion had the opportunity to become familiar with and study a rich organizational and artistic experience in institutions such as “San Francisco Opera”, “Metropolitan Opera” (New York), “Chicago Symphony Orchestra”, through a highly detailed and constructive program by The United States Information Agency, an experience that brought its fruits to TKOB (National Theater of Opera and Ballet) at a very difficult time for the theater from 1992 to 1996.
Krantja has conducted in: United States of America, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Turkey, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Greece. He is a founding member of the European Academy of Music Theatre (Germany). In 2006, in collaboration with RAI and Mediaset (Italy), he recorded in Prague with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the soundtracks of the Italian TV series “Questa è la mia terra” for Canale 5 and “Giorni da Leone” for RAI 2, composed by Savio Riccardi.
He has been awarded the:
– “Naim Frashëri” Medal (30/09/1982)
– “Merited Artist” Title (30/07/1985)
– “Naim Frashëri” Order, second class (07/09/1989)
– “Naim Frashëri” Order, golden (11/05/2007)
– Grand’accademico “Honoris causa” dell’Accademia Imperiali internazionale (Itali) (15/12/2012)
– in the quality of Grand’accademico imperiali, “Honoris Causa” is griven the award “STELLA D’ORO” (24/04/2013).