Vangelis LATEST NEWS

[moviemaker]

Two brand-new Vangelis compositions to premiere on Moscow cello festival
Some great news here today. Reliable sources confirm that two brand-new Vangelis compositions are soon to see their world premiere performances at Moscow's prestigious Vivacello festival.
The festival's opening concert will start with a piece called "Elegy", written by Vangelis for cello and orchestra. It will be performed on September 27 by Boris Andrianov on cello. The Concert is performed in memory of legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
The festival's closing concert will open with a piece called "Dialogue", written by Vangelis for cello, violin and orchestra. The name seems to refer to the conversation between the two lead instruments. It will be performed on October 3 by Boris Andrianov on cello and Julian Rachlin on violin, accompanied by an orchestra.
To avoid any confusion: Vangelis will not be performing himself; these are classical artists interpreting his compositions.


Here are some useful links, related to this topic. Some of these pages are written in Russian. (Consider translating using translate.google.com or Google's "Chrome" browser...)
The official web site for the Vivacello festival: www.vivacello.org/en/
The festival program on the Vivacello site: vivacello.org/en/program
Official site for the concert hall (order tickets here): meloman.ru
The concert hall's page for the opening concert: meloman.ru/?id=4979&full=Y
The concert hall's page for the closing concert: meloman.ru/?id=4983&full=Y

Since by Vangelis' own admission he doesn't read/write music, I wonder how the "composing" was actually accomplished.

It actually states in one of the articles I read that he played the music himself and a woman transcribed the notes for the orchestra to play it since indeed he does not read or write music.

[moviemaker]

This update: September 28, 2011
"Elegy"
Reports from Moscow confirm that Vangelis' new composition was performed as planned on the opening concert of the Viva Cello festival.
Audience members describe "Elegy" as an elegant, slow, classical composition, quite traditional in style. The performance lasted just over 10 minutes. Use of the orchestra was quite restrained, with some passages played solo on the cello, while in other parts there was harmonic backing from strings and some occasional brasses.
The performance was very warmly received by the audience.

[moviemaker]

This update: October 2, 2011
More classical compositions

In media interviews around the Viva Cello festival, festival director Boris Adrianov spoke about Vangelis writing a violin concerto for Julian Rachlin. Sources close to Vangelis confirm that this is something Vangelis has worked on. A final part however has yet to be composed.
Apparently, Vangelis has also written compositions for piano and violin, one of which was reportedly already performed in public, by Julian Rachlin and a pianist at an concert in Athens, earlier this year.

[moviemaker]

"Elegy" media coverage

Some of the Russian media coverage of the Viva Cello festival is available online.
The following TV news reports (in Russian) refer to Vangelis' contribution. A few sparse notes from Vangelis' "Elegy" can be heard in the first link, from 0:52 to 1:16, approximately.
www.newstube.ru/media/violonchel-nyj-fe ... -vangelisa
www.tvkultura.ru/news.html?id=801928&cid=178
www.vesti.ru/only_video.html?vid=366029
The following news articles refer to Vangelis' contribution to the festival:
www.svobodanews.ru/content/article/24341192.html
www.muzcentrum.ru/news/2011/09/item5392.html
www.radioalla.md/news/104.html
www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=582330&cid=460
The articles provide some more insight in the nature of this event. For one, cellist and festival director Boris Adrianov explains that Vangelis wrote the Elegy composition specifically for this festival. The composition was finished only two weeks ahead of its performance. Adrianov speaks highly of the composition and calls it unpretentious and beautiful. Vangelis was apparently closely involved, in what is a new genre for him, and would watch a live webcast of the performance. A private one, we can assume, as there were no public broadcasts of this festival.

The music that Vangelis composed (by performing it) was transcribed by Irina Valentinova-Karpukhina and Alexey Kurbatov helped with the orchestrations.
Adrianov also recounts that the sad cancellation of the closing concert happened because of financial and organizational issues, and that no doubt the "Dialogue for cello and violin" composition will still be performed at another occasion.

[moviemaker]

Vangelis to appear in Lucas Sideras documentary
Greek director Dimitris Theodoropoulos is currently editing a soon-to-be-released documentary about Aphrodite's Child drummer Lucas Sideras. The documentary will include new interview footage of Vangelis, talking about his friend and former colleague Sideras.



A trailer for the movie has already appeared on Youtube, showing a glimpse of Vangelis, and with a recent cover of 666's "Break" performed by the "Lucas Sideras Trio". See it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0QMdbCa5kA

[moviemaker]

Hugh Hudson documentary "Rupture" with new Vangelis music

British film director Hugh Hudson, well known from Chariots of Fire, has directed a new documentary feature, called "Rupture: A Matter of Life OR Death". The score for this production was composed by Vangelis.
Rupture was inspired by Hudson's wife, former Bond girl Maryam d'Abo, who suffered and recovered from a dangerous and painful subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2007. The film is said to be a celebration of man's life force and leads the viewer on a personal journey of recovery. It deals with the fragility of the extraordinary brain of which we know surprisingly little.
The film's production has been completed and has entered the festival circuit, having been screened some days ago already at the "Dinard Festival of British Cinema" on October 7.
Rupture's duration is 70 minutes. The film reportedly contains a lot of new music by Vangelis, as well as one or two new versions of well known Vangelis compositions, but that has yet to be confirmed. In addition to the Vangelis music, music by Bach and Mark Knopfler are featured.
Hugh Hudson is currently in Mumbai (India) for the Mumbai Film Festival. He explains a few things about "Rupture" in this interview: www.bollywoodhungama.com/features/2011/10/13/8014/
No information about further screenings is as yet available. More info in later news updates.


Major event in preparation

Details are sketchy at the moment, but it seems that Vangelis has been receiving a lot of international offers lately. Now, after the recent classical premiere in Moscow, one of those opportunities seems to have led to plans for a major event that is currently being prepared. The mysterious happening of international proportions is expected to take place at an exotic location, most likely in the last month of this year.
According to reports, Vangelis is currently completely engulfed in designing and composing for this occasion.
That's all we know for the moment, but be prepared that things are about to happen.

[shadow]

All I read was: "New Music", my day has been made

[melo]

Major upcoming event: A Vangelis concert in Qatar




A small number of international gossip and entertainment media today mentioned the notion of Vangelis preparing a live performance in Qatar. Reliable sources confirm to elsew.com that a major event of this nature is indeed being prepared.

The concert
The concert will form the inauguration of the amphitheater in the Katara Cultural village. See below for more information. Vangelis will be supported by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, a large Russian choir, an additional childrens choir and other musicians. According to our sources, there will be contributions by a number of famous artists.

The event is scheduled for December 11, 2011. A problem for Vangelis' international fans however is that at this point in time, no information about possible ticket sales is available. As soon as any information is available, we'll publish it here on this site, but at this moment, it's not really so certain if the event can easily be attended.

The venue
The concert will take place at the recently constructed amphitheater of the Katara Cultural Village in Doha, Qatar's capital city. The cultural village, or "Valley of Cultures" is a project by the Katara Foundation, which "aims to contribute to raise the cultural movement in Qatar and to promote and highlight the creative energies through the management of its different buildings and facilities." The premisis houses several theaters, conference halls, exhibition halls, a number of institutes (for film, music, photography, engeneering, etc.), restaurants, cafes and a beach. The amphitheater forms the center of the Cultural Village and was build close to the sea. The design of the building is a combination of Roman / Greek and modern arabic architecture. It fits an audience of 5000 spectators and is considered the largest in the Arabic world.

Qatar

Qatar is an Arabic state, located on a peninsula in the Arabian Gulf (often refered to as The Persian Gulf). The emirat is one of the more progressive states in the middle east, with free education and health care for everyone, while its income per person is among the heighest in the world. Tourism has increased drastically in the last few decennia and is still a growing business.

Furthermore
Please check back here soon, for more info. We'll add new updates to elsew.com as soon as anything comes available.



Font: Elsew.com

[moviemaker]

A Vangelis concert in Qatar


A small number of international gossip and entertainment media today mentioned the notion of Vangelis preparing a live performance in Qatar. Reliable sources confirm to elsew.com that a major event of this nature is indeed being prepared.



The concert
The concert will form the inauguration of the amphitheater in the Katara Cultural village. See below for more information. Vangelis will be supported by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, a large Russian choir, an additional childrens choir and other musicians. According to our sources, there will be contributions by a number of famous artists.
The event is scheduled for December 11, 2011. A problem for Vangelis' international fans however is that at this point in time, no information about possible ticket sales is available. As soon as any information is available, we'll publish it here on this site, but at this moment, it's not really so certain if the event can easily be attended.



The venue
The concert will take place at the recently constructed amphitheater of the Katara Cultural Village in Doha, Qatar's capital city. The cultural village, or "Valley of Cultures" is a project by the Katara Foundation, which "aims to contribute to raise the cultural movement in Qatar and to promote and highlight the creative energies through the management of its different buildings and facilities." The premisis houses several theaters, conference halls, exhibition halls, a number of institutes (for film, music, photography, engeneering, etc.), restaurants, cafes and a beach. The amphitheater forms the center of the Cultural Village and was build close to the sea. The design of the building is a combination of Roman / Greek and modern arabic architecture. It fits an audience of 5000 spectators and is considered the largest in the Arabic world.

See the modern amphitheater where the concert will take place on Google maps.
Qatar: http://maps.google.nl/maps?ll=25.360104 ... urce=embed




Qatar is an Arabic state, located on a peninsula in the Arabian Gulf (often refered to as The Persian Gulf). The emirat is one of the more progressive states in the middle east, with free education and health care for everyone, while its income per person is among the heighest in the world. Tourism has increased drastically in the last few decennia and is still a growing business.


Thanks to elsew.com for this great news!


Talk about this news here

[Jon]

Holy crap, he looks terrible. Time hasn't been good to him. And yes, give the man a brush.

[melo]

Pre-order the "Vangelis and the Journey To Ithaka" DVD

Here's some good news for today: The Gonzo Media Group has announced that the feature length Vangelis documentary "Vangelis and the Journey To Ithaka" will finally be available on DVD. The movie, directed by Tony Palmer, which was mentioned in rumors from time to time and saw its release delayed for several years, is now available for pre-order from the company that sells most of Tony Palmer's documentaries.
Pre-orders are taken exclusively on:

http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/product_details/15580/HST166DVD-Journey_to_Ithaka.html


The release date is planned for September 23. A more general release will follow later in the year.
The two hour documentary includes interviews with Vangelis and many of his friends and colleagues, including Sean Connery, Hugh Hudson, Jessye Norman, Oliver Stone, Akiko Ebi, Julian Rachlin and many others. It also includes a lot of historical footage, most of which was never seen before. Vangelis can also be seen improvising new music.
Label: Gonzo
Catalog: HST166DVD
Type: NTSC
Region: 0 (free)
Duration: 1:59:40

Check back here for more news on this, when it comes in. Let's hope all will proceed as planned. This is one not to miss out on!

Font: http://www.elsew.com/data/latest.htm

[melo]

Ithaka Vangelis documentary

Vangelis and the Journey to Ithaka DVD
We have received some questions about availability of the "Vangelis and the Journey To Ithaka" DVD. To clarify: Initially, this DVD will be exclusively available on Gonzo's site. During a period of at least several months it will not be sold by any other retailers, including internet mail order sites like Amazon.com as well as the local DVD store in your town. This situation extends beyond the pre-ordering period at the Gonzo site. The date of September 23 is when Gonzo starts shipping their copies.

www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/product_details/15580/HST166DVD-Journey_to_Ithaka.html

If all goes well, a wider release to other retailers will happen later this year, and will be announced on this site as well.

font: http://www.elsew.com/data/latest.htm

[Finaero]

Just noticed that there's a new (red) vinyl release of the (first disc of the) OST. Pretty good, at least now I don't have to keep on hunting down those 1994 Brazilian vinyl versions that go for 5,000 EUR or so on eBay every 3 years or so. D:

(Of course, it'd still be nice to at least get a full high quality version of the full End Titles track. The latest (and final, as far I've understood) version of the Esper Edition is almost perfect but eh, still no cigar!)

[melo]

Details on "Sound of Cinema"
We can share some more details about the new BBC documentary series "Sound Of Cinema: The Music That Made The Movies", starting this Thursday on BBC4.
BBC
As announced earlier, Vangelis was interviewed for this program and he reportedly also performed some music for the cameras. Sources close the BBC disclose that Vangelis will mainly feature in the third (and last) episode. However, be sure not to miss either of the first two episodes as well, as he will be appearing in all three.
The footage was shot October last year, when Vangelis was at work in a recording studio in London.
Schedule:
Episode 1 BBC4 Thursday September 12 2013, 9pm to 10pm (confirmed)
Episode 2 BBC4 Thursday September 19 2013, 9pm to 10pm (confirmed)
Episode 3 BBC4 Thursday September 26 2013, 9pm to 10pm (presumed!)

A trailer for the series, including an excerpt from Chariots of Fire can be seen here:
youtu.be/nJzIva_Pwm0
The BBC has started to post clips on their site, including material that didn't make it to the show. No sign of Vangelis yet, but it can happen.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03b51db/clips

Font: Elsew.com

[melo]

Six remastered Vangelis albums released




source: http://www.elsew.com/data/latest.htm