Gruppo Corale Maranina – Sogno d’Estate / Mario Lovato direttore

Description

Gruppo Corale Maranina

Sogno d’Estate

Mario Lovato direttore

http://www.gruppocoralemaranina.com/

The Gruppo Corale Maranina’s story began in April 1992 in Valdagno (province of Vicenza), when Mario Lovato, who had already been a choirmaster for more than ten years, decided to found a new mixed choir with some friends. They initially meant to start a small choir, perhaps an octet, and nobody of them imagined that more than twenty people would already turn up at the first rehearsal.

The choir’s first performance in public took place in July the same year, when it sang at a Mass in Castelvecchio: since then this small suburb hamlet of Valdagno has become, so to say, the group’s adoptive parish, where some of the main events organised by the choir throughout the year are held. The first concert took place on 4th September 1992 in Cerealto, beginning an activity which would increase more and more in time.

A main episode in the choir’s story dates back to 1995: that year the group got in touch with the University of Latvia “Juventus” Choir and in July the same year it was invited to pay a visit to the Latvian choir. This way it went on a trip to Riga, where it held some concerts and it had the opportunity to see the Nordic-Baltic Choir Festival: thus the choir could discover the choral dimension of a part of Europe unknown to most of people at the time, but gifted with a music tradition of the highest level. In spite of the undeniable difficulties that such a trip could face, in particular at a time when the Baltic Republics had just gained their independence, it was an extraordinary experience which aroused in the singers the passion for the exchanges with foreign choirs and for the “choral trip”. Since then, organising events of international character has become a peculiar feature of the Gruppo Corale Maranina: year by year it has increasingly established relationships with choirs all over Europe, who come to Valdagno, perform in this area and at the same time visit the natural and artistic beauties of Veneto. Obviously, the Gruppo Corale Maranina visits the partner choirs in their country afterwards. This way of travelling really allows you to widen your horizons and to see the world through different eyes, as you get in contact with different traditions, above all music traditions, and you strike up with the other choirs a particular and intense friendship, which lasts over the years. Needless to say, however, that the Maranina does not neglect the national context and it establishes relations with choirs from other regions of Italy, with which it organises similar events.

All this influences the choir’s repertoire. It is made up partly by songs of contemporary authors inspired by the Italian tradition and in particular of Veneto, but also by actual folk songs and it is continually enriched by international folk songs and compositions of the most various genres: negro spiritual, pop, sacred and secular polyphony. The choir studies every composition with an approach based on a continuous study of the singing technique but also on a search for expressiveness in communication.

Another important element in the Gruppo Corale Maranina’s activity is represented by the Piccolo Coro Maranina, a children choir founded in 1995 with the purpose of putting children in contact with choral music from an early age, according to our belief that it has a high formative value and that it is essential to spread the choral culture, in particular in a territory like the Province of Vicenza where it has always had a great importance. The children choir is conducted by Francesca Sandri and is composed by approximately 20 children aged from 4 to 13 years and its repertoire is made up mainly by children songs.

The Gruppo Corale Maranina has carried out four recordings: the first one, a music cassette, in 1995, the second one, entitled “Cantiamo in coro”, in 1997 (CD and cassette), the third one on the occasion of the choir’s 10th anniversary in 2002 (CD and cassette), entitled “Campanò”, and finally the CD “Colori d’autunno”, released for the 15th anniversary in 2007.

The choir is conducted by Mario Lovato. He has been a choirmaster for more than 20 years and he composes himself songs inspired by the traditions of the Agno Valley and the beauty of the Alps’ environment, which are performed by the Maranina. Besides his work as a choirmaster, Mr Lovato has also a strong passion for sacred and organ music, which has led him to study organ and to become the organist of the Castelvecchio church in Valdagno.