What a memorable celebration the distinguished pianist Marylene Mouquet had organised in memory of her daughter,Patricia,who died tragically in December 2004.
Marylene has long been a central figure in Frascati where her Association dedicated to her teacher Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli has long given a platform to talented young musicians with her concert series in the historic Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati .Once a year she also invites young piano stars from the prestigious Keyboard Trust to perform in her series.
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/05/23/shunta-morimoto-a-colossus-bestrides-villa-aldobrandini-as-it-had-when-liszt-was-in-residence/. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2020/02/01/yuanfan-yang-in-italy-part-2-viterbofrascati-and-rome/
Every year a Christmas concert is dedicated to her daughter’s memory and this year she had invited musicians from the Centro Diffusione Musica at Tivoli directed by Federico Biscione.With his passionate commitment and the superb preparation of the string orchestra by Giovanna Lattanzi and the chorus by Antonella Zampaglioni they gave remarkable performances of works from Bach,Vivaldi and Corelli to Tchaikowsky and even Holst.
Remarkable,considering that these young students are delving into music with evident seriousness but also with real joy and passion.It was refreshing to see some of the orchestral musicians,girls but also numerous boys,joining the choir for a splendidly rhythmically engaging Vivaldi Credo,transmitting too the sublime simplicity of Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.We hear so often in the mass media of the problems of students struggling to survive in an ever more populated world.What we never hear about is the joy and passion that youthful commitment to making music together can give them them as they share their passion with others.The Gift of Music is a wondrous thing and it is thanks to Marylene that she has given us this gift from ‘Patricia’ to add moments of joy and peace,escaping for a moment the turmoil that we are told by the media is ever more engulfing us
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 