NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Doreen D'Agostino Media) - Maya Le Roux, a
Swiss guitarist and composer, has just released a new album which is her debut U.S. release 'Symphonic and Guitar". When speaking about her musical philosophy and about the collection, Maya passionately comments that she believes memory is an indispensable element of creativity. 'A piece of music is created through the same process as a good recipe: by missing textures of sound that one has tasted previously'. She attempts to combine and weave them into a fabric of chords on which, like a 'magic carpet, floats the guitar's melody'.
That is why, above all, Maya strives to be melodic. 'The beauty of a theme transcends the confines of time and should not be excluded from the musical creations of the 21st century', she explains 'the purpose of language is to communicate. I am loath to inventing a new musical idiom because I am afraid it may not be understood. The recurring theme of my compositions is to transmit pleasure and emotion.'
'To my mind, any piece of artistic work should be communicative and understandable at several levels but in any case at both the emotional as well as the analytical level. Emotion is not a by-product of intelligence or sensitivity; on the contrary, beauty just is, simply because all matter and emotion is concentrated and articulated within it.'
'Concerto Latino' was derived from the lively effervescence of the tango as interpreted by Astor Piazzola. Despite the multiple compositions in his work, not one concerto for guitar can be found. In the end, one is best served by one's own effort! I composed this concerto along classical lines in three movements for a powerful guitar with many chords. I added a percussion accompaniment so as to reinforce the rhythmical elements and give it some original colour.
'Ballad of the Magic Valley' is my first concerto, even if as second on this list it is called Concerto No 2. In it I wanted to highlight the romantic qualities of the guitar through the three movements that culminate in a dance. The inspiration for this last movement is partly Serbian folklore and partly my imagination of a male and female voice choir, where each group responds to one another and finally fuse their music as one.
'Ghostly Eyes' is an aria for soprano, written by Gerard Le Roux. It is the chant of a young woman, to a father whom she has never known yet to whom she feels so close. This inspiration came to me while I was searching for something totally different. My co-author (and husband) liked it so much that he wrote the words and included it in our musical comedy 'COCA'. The song has now found a third 'musical life' in the current symphonic version translated and sang in Serb. It is a great source of satisfaction for a composer to have one of her works experience different interpretations as expressions of various talented artists and/or musical cultural idioms.
'Short Suite for a Prince' is a composition for guitar inspired by the text of Antoine Saint- Exupery's 'The Little Prince ». In its seven movements I have tried to interpret through music, the humour and tenderness that characterises this tale. This piece will be soon used in a theatrical production of the book and will take a very simple form: just a narrator and a guitar on stage: 'The desire to accompany this masterpiece with music is a challenge that I wanted to take because of the intimacy that this text has with guitar's universe. My composition was inspired by certain parts of the text of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and not the complete text. I wanted to choose the most significant moments or perhaps those that offer the greatest contrasts in order to avoid being trapped by excessive romanticism.'
My 'Little Suite for a Prince' is a walk through very different musical universes:
'Le Prélude' is in the tone of the story; it is the candour and gravity of The Little Prince.
'Le Roi'. Amongst all the planets in the story, I only chose three. The one in which the planet is ruled by a King; it resembles a medieval age dance, joyful and assured such as a King, good and strong, never doubting his universality should be.
'Plus, plus, plus… d'étoiles' is a description of the mathematician's planet. He wishes to possess evermore stars because when one discovers something that belongs to no one, one takes it for one's own.
This movement is a frenetic acceleration because it pertains to the frenzy of wanting not stars but simply 'always more'. The inspiration is with Balkan undertones, without restraint, a sort of bubbling emanating from its roots.
'La planète de l'ivrogne': light jazz which runs in circles just like someone who drinks to forget that he is a drunk. In the end, he trips on strung cords. Funny like human absurdity.
'La fleur impérieuse et vaniteuse' is the precise image of the one who made him leave. As a capricious Diva, she shows her arpeggios and scales in octave, while still remaining a bit 'flower'.
'Tendre renard': the music in this passage, which is a literary monument on friendship, offers fragility and candour, but yet retranslates its delicacy and profound qualities.
'Adieu Petit Prince' is a gift to all those we love and who have left us. Deep tunings like moistened eyes a music that lightens, looking in the sky for a trace of eternity.
Maya Le Roux, of Serbian origin has lived in Geneva since the age of 5. A graduate of the Conservatoire supérieur de Genève, she continued her studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris under Albert Ponce and obtained a higher diploma in performance. Her studies in musical interpretation were perfected under Dagoberto Linhares, Professor at the Conservatoire de Lausanne.
Her education was rounded off by a science diploma as well as by courses in Philosophy and Musicology at the University of Geneva. As soon as her studies ended, she began work at Radio Suisse Romande. She went on to direct the station's classical music program 'Matin Pluriel' (Espace 2) which provided her with the ideal base from which to explore the contemporary music scene.
Apart from her solo recordings, Maya has a guitar trio featuring Dagoberto Linhares and Raymond Migy. In 2008 they performed in Egypt, Portugal, Morocco, and France. A CD entitled Fandangos y Zarzuelas for guitar trio and percussions was released in 2007 was very well received.
She also performed as a guitar duo with Chistophe Leu, with whom she has recorded 4 CDs.
She has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as:
*The London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Vivaldi's concerto for mandolin)
*The Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra conducted by Marc Piollet (Concierto Andaluz) for 4 guitars and orchestra by Joaquin Rodrigo with Dagoberto Linhares Raymond Migy and Christophe Leu)
*The Belgrade Symphonietta Orchestra (3 Vivaldi's concertos, 2 Maya Le Roux' concertos and 1 Aleksandar Vujic's concerto).
*The Youth Orchestra of Galicia (Concierto Andaluz by Joaquin Rodrigo)
*The Euro Méditerranée Orchestra at Paris' Opéra Comique (Maya Le Roux' Ballade de la Vallée Magique).
Maya Le Roux has performed in several operas at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and at the Bastille Opera in Paris and was the soloist for the Los Angeles I Max produced film 'Ocean Oasis' with music by Alan Reeves.
For further information: Doreen D'Agostino [email protected] 646.829.0652
https://www.mayaleroux.com/web/?page=youtube
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