Villecroze, France – Music Development Retreat
August 15-21, 2007

Fourteen Silk Road Ensemble artists met at the Academie Musicale de Villecroze for musical development on several fronts. In a picturesque setting in the countryside of Provence, the Ensemble enjoyed a reunion in a private workshop atmosphere.

During the Villecroze retreat, the Ensemble focused on

• developing a new chamber arrangement of the classic Arabian epic, Layla and Majnun 
• rehearsing repertoire for the upcoming Lucerne concerts
• working on the new multimedia piece Blue and White
• presenting a concert at the village chapel on the last evening

The first full run-through of the chamber arrangement of Layla and Majnun took place in the “pressoir”—a converted olive oil pressing facility at the Academie Musicale de Villecroze. With mugham vocalist Fargana Qasimova performing the role of Layla and her father, Alim Qasimov, in the role of Majnun, this classic Arabian epic, which is often compared to Romeo and Juliet, tells a tragic story of love, madness and death. Alim brought the piece to the Silk Road Project in 2006 and worked with Johnny Gandelsman to adapt the three-hour opera score by Azeri composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov for the Silk Road Ensemble. Johnny has created a 35-45-minute chamber arrangement, which the Ensemble is trying out during the Villecroze retreat.

Alim spoke of the challenge of transforming the piece from its opera origins. “Layla and Majnun is such a magnificent work – it’s very difficult to choose just a few scenes to tell the story. The audience must listen with an open heart.”

A first audience had a chance to do that on Monday, August 20, when the Ensemble performs excerpts at a concert for the Villecroze community in the village’s 12th century Chapelle Saint-Victor.

The Ensemble also met with Lebanese composer and master oud player, Rabih Abou-Khalil, who visited the Academie Musicale de Villecroze during the retreat. Abou-Khalil is the composer of Arabian Waltz, featured on the Silk Road Ensemble's latest album, New Impossibilities. In Villecroze, the composer heard the Ensemble’s interpretation of his piece for the first time.