Music unites north and south

Harpist Arianna Savall performs her melodized poems for the second time in Athens this evening

NELLY ABRAVANEL

This season’s series of concerts at the B&M Theocharakis Foundation has been inaugurated by a new artist who experiments with old music as well as contemporary material.

Harpist Arianna Savall’s first concert, with songs inspired by the sea that bring together the musical traditions of the Mediterranean and Scandinavia, took place yesterday. The daughter of composer and musician Jordi Savall and soprano Montserrat Figueras, both of whom are internationally acclaimed representatives of old music, is also scheduled to perform tonight. Delicately combining her voice with her harp, she interprets 12 poems that she has set to music over the past few years.

“The sea is a strong bond between the north and the south. Sailors’ and travelers’ songs are inspired by it. Love, journeys, meetings, separations, discoveries, the loss of a loved one and hope are all things expressed through old and contemporary melodies.” That was how Savall tried to describe the ideas behind her album “Bella Terra,” which further features tenor Petter Johansen, percussionist David Mayoral and santouri player Dimitris Psonis.

“The combination of traditional music and choruses with the harp, percussion and strings, creates a dialogue between north and south where my voice and that of Petter Johansen get caught up in the harp simultaneously.”

Apart from her parents, Savall’s brother and husband are also seriously involved in music. “Music leads us to a very intense way of life, where some boundaries are not very clear and it is at that point that respect becomes very important.”

B&M Theocharakis Foundation, 9 Vas. Sofias & Merlin, tel 210.361.1206.