It is not news that the city of Buenos Aires offers an incredible cultural offering. Theatre, music, dance, exhibitions, talks and public readings return to this city a true “city of the arts.”
What is surprising is that in these difficult times a new independent publishing house emerges to fill a void such as writing about classical music, opera and dance. Ediciones Ciudad de las Artes was born under the protection of the Cantabile Foundation for the Artsas a project also open to the plastic arts, theater, cinema, literature and other artistic manifestations and their training spaces.
Under the editorial direction of Patricia Casañas and Daniel Varacalli Costasin November and December of this year the first two books of the publisher’s “Essays” collection were launched: “Between the notes”, by Fernando Albinarrate, and “Scenarios in history”, by Claudio Ratier. By 2025 the appearance of “Comments on Mahler” by the remembered musicologist Julio Palacio, in a posthumous edition, along with other titles.
But there is more good news for art lovers: a second collection, “Trayectorias”, in a larger format, will recount the vital journey of musical, theatrical and cultural institutions in general in our environment or internationally, with a profusion of illustrations. The project includes “Bach Academy: 40 years”; “Symphonic Band of the City of Buenos Aires: 110 years”; “Buenos Aires Tango Orchestra, 45 years”; “Teatro Colón: 100 years of stable bodies”, “Puccini in Argentina: 120 years of a glorious visit”, among others.
What is music? What happens to us when we listen to music? What does music want to tell us? What do composers want to convey to us, if anything? And in the latter case, what does the receiver perceive? These are just some of the questions that the pianist and composer Fernando Albinarrate invites you to reflect on in “Among the Notes.” With depth but also with humor, the first part of the book brings together a series of articles where Albinarrate analyzes musical discourse and its evolution through history, stylistics and semantics, relating it to elements of literature and philosophy. In the second, he joins his voice to those of six references from different artistic disciplines, who in pleasant dialogues with the author confess to us their experiences from their careers. They are Ricky Pashkus as a reference in musical theater, the composer Santiago Santero, the actress Laura Oliva, the singer Marta Blanco, Pablo Mainetti as a tango performer and Javier Daulte in his capacity as theater director.
The theme of “Scenarios in history” is very different.. The journalist Claudio Ratier rescues the history of the five most important Buenos Aires theaters dedicated to the genre, following a chronological order: the Argentine Coliseum, the Teatro de la Victoria, the first Teatro Colón, the Teatro de la Opera and the Politeama Argentino. This evolution of lyrical art in 19th century Buenos Aires is essential reading, on the eve of the bicentennial of the first performance of a complete opera in Argentina: “The Barber of Seville, September 27, 1825.” The book is also the description of a birth, a development and a decline, until reaching the moment when the current Teatro Colón engulfs the lyrical activity of the city of Buenos Aires, leaving the reader with a series of reflections that span the 20th century. and illuminate the present.
The publication of both books is part of an agreement made between Ediciones Ciudad de las Artes and the Department of Musical Arts of the National University of the Arts, and is supported by Fundación Santander Argentina through the Cultural Promotion Regime (Patronage). of the Ministry of Culture of the City of Buenos Aires.
by RN
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