Lebrecht Music & Arts attended the Pharos 13th International Chamber Music Concert in Cyprus. This festival took place despite sponsors suffering hugely from the economic crisis and EU cutting of bank funds in the island. Not everyone could manage to fulfill their pledges to support the festival because their funds simply disappeared overnight. The musicians responded by waiving their performance fees and so the Festival managed to play on to packed houses.
The festival has three different venues in the Greek controlled part of Cyprus. The Shoe Factory is a restored abandoned building in no man’s land in Nicosia. It comfortably seats an audience of 120 but demand was so high that the doors onto the terrace overlooking a pool were opened up so that 130 people could cram in and listen to Elisha Abas play on the piano. This pianist is himself quite an extraordinary phenomenon. He was a child prodigy in Israel and then at the age of 15 gave it all up to become a premier league football player. At the age of 30 through serendipity he felt drawn back to the world of music, contacted his old piano teacher Pnina Salzman and was performing again within a couple of years. His performance in the first week of the Festival was intensely focused and kept the audience sitting on the edge of their seats.
Elisha Abas playing in Israel premier football league.
The restored Shoe Factory concert hall.
A second venue is the Royal Manor House, a 13th century building set within a walled courtyard in Kouklia where Richard the Lionheart once stayed on his way to the Holy Land. The building is redolent of antiquity with the occasional bat flapping around during performances. The heat of the day is replaced by cool breezes wafting through the ancient stone building.
Serge Nakariakov (fulgelhorn, trumpet) and Maria Meerovitch (piano) perfomed unusual transcriptions of duets with their two instruments. The results of their combination is completely engaging and creates a deeply mellifluous sound.
Maria Meerovitch
The Third venue is The Olive Grove set further inland in Delikipos and it is here that the final night’s concert takes place. Outdoor concerts take place in this beauitful countryidie setting, a potential mini-Glyndebourne. The entire festival is the brainchild of Garo Keheyan of Cyprus and it is through his determined efforts that it has managed to survive these difficult times. We wish them much success for next year and all the years afterwards.
Garo Keheyan
