The University for Seniors

cordially invites you to the

Launching of the Spring Term 2014 with

Matteo El Khodr

Countertenor

in Venetian Concerto

with Ensemble Barocca Orchestra

Sunday, February 9, 2014

8:00pm

Assembly Hall

Free admission- Tickets required

You can collect your tickets from:

-AUB's Visitor's Bureau (Monday-Friday,9:00am-4:00pm)

-ihjoz website: www.ihjoz.com

-AUB Assembly Hall entrance on the day of the concert, starting 6:30pm

The University for Seniors (UfS) is a pioneering program at the American University of Beirut (AUB) that provides older adults with educational and cultural opportunities in a sociable environment. Encouraging “learning for the pleasure of learning” is its main objective, but the program also provides seniors with opportunities to be socially useful and socially connected. The program aims to create a new and positive image of aging in Beirut, Lebanon and the Middle East: one that offers visible proof that engaged aging is possible in the Arab world, and that it contributes to healthy aging. For more information about the University for Seniors please visit our website www.aub.edu.lb/seniors and our Facebook page www.facebook.com/aub.universityforseniors

This concert is sponsored by Charles Chikhani Foundation: http://www.charleschikhanifoundation.org/about/index.htm

Matteo's Biography:

Since he was a little boy, Matteo has always been attracted by things that weren't interesting for other boys of his age: theatre, drama, old black and white movies, books of his grandparent's library, old discs of Egyptian singers and divas, and classical music and opera. Seeing this attraction to the arts, his parents always backed him up. He was taught to play piano, and started imitating voices he was hearing: Carmen from Bizet, Violetta from La Traviata (Verdi), Leonora from La Forza del destino (Verdi), Il Barbier di Siviglia (Rossini). He would sleep listening to Magnificat (Bach) and wake up with the Requiem (Mozart) and the Gloria (Vivaldi).

When he turned 17, he was still singing with his child voice, He didn't know it but he became a countertenor, a rare male voice, a heritage from the castrati voices from the 17th century in Italy! Due to luck, coincidences, and fate, Matteo found himself at age 18 signing a huge contract with Universal Music France and moved there to learn music, to become an opera singer, to travel and sing on the biggest stages of Europe. He released his first album "Matteo Haute-Contre", a "Thank You" album to all the inspirations who led him to fulfill his destiny: Bach, Bellini, Vivaldi, Purcell, Verdi... After a big tour in Europe, singing for the Communauté Européene de Bruxelles, to the Queen of Belgium, to Vienna, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Paris, London, Verona...and Lebanon (Festival de Beiteddine), and several masterclasses with Andreas Scholl, Robert Expert, Fabrice di Falco, Matteo entered the Ecole Normale Superieure de Musique. He studies with Agnes Mellon, soprano of Les Arts Florissants (William Christie) and wife of Dominique Visse, famous French countertenor, in the department of the vocal perfection: baroque era and composers. In September 2011, Matteo joined the Choeur de l'Orchestre de Paris (Solo Alto-countertenor) and committed to perform in Salle Pleyel all year long: Gloria (Poulenc), Daphnis et Chloé (Ravel), Peer Gynt (Grieg) and solo masterpieces of oratorios: Semele (Haendel), Juditha Triumphans (Vivaldi) under the direction of the composers: Daniel Baremboim, Paavo Jarvi, James Colon, Ricardo Chailly. He sang the final concerts in two sacred festivals, the Festival of Saint-Chapelle in Paris and the Beirut Chants Festival of Sacred music. In 2012 invited to sing in Munich's GAsteig Carl-Orff hall, and won the public price in the famous Concours International de Chant Baroque de Froville, then is Mandane in the production of Artaserse by Leonardo Vinci, with Philippe Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Cencic, Franco Fagioli under the direction of M.Diego Fasolis and Concerto Koln in l'Opera National de Lorraine (Nancy, France). In 2014 and 2015, Matteo will be performing the role of Hyacinthus in Mozart's first opera (age 11): Apollo Und Hyacinthus in La Cité de la Musique. This opera will be played the first time since 1789!

Concert Program:
Title: OPERA SERIA!

For today's audiences, Vivaldi's name exemplifies Venetian opera in the early 18th century, but he was not the only composer to shape the distinctive musical aesthetic of the great trading city known as La Serenissima. In this concert of arias by Vivaldi and his contemporaries, countertenor Matteo EL KHODR further explores Venice’s contribution to the world’s richest store of Baroque opera, especially tragedies. Matteo will recreate the Venetian ambiance with the support of his ensemble Orchestra Barocca under the direction of the violonist Mario Rahi.

Matteo EL KHODR has assembled a richly varied program of arias.Vivaldi is represented by several pieces, while other composers include Haendel, Caldara and Scarlatti and a composer born elsewhere in Italy, but who became closely associated with Venice: Giacomelli. His style was very close to Vivaldi's; his touching aria Sposa, non mi conosci was borrowed and transformed by Vivaldi into the celebrated Sposa, son disprezzata from Bajazet.