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A Bohemian rhapsody in Jakarta
Lovers of classical music in Jakarta got a hefty dose of a rhapsodic evening of music from Bohemia through the works of Leos Janacek, Bohuslav Martinu, Gustav Mahler and Antonin Dvorak.
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A poster for the “Bohemian Rhapsody” classical concert. (Instagram/ymamadeusina)
A
ccording to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English, a rhapsody is an effusively enthusiastic or ecstatic expression of feeling, extravagant high-flown composition, or emotional piece of music.
Well, on Wednesday and Thursday, lovers of classical music in Jakarta got a hefty dose of all those descriptions, in a rhapsodic evening of music from Bohemia through the works of Leos Janacek, Bohuslav Martinu, Gustav Mahler and Antonin Dvorak.
The Amadeus Symphony Orchestra of Indonesia was making good a promise it had proffered in February as the orchestra entered its 30th anniversary of music-making.
This week’s commemoration was worded more specifically: Celebrating 30 years of Capella Amadeus.
As conductor and orchestral advisor of Amadeus Symphony Orchestra Henrik Hochschild reminded us, as he kicked off both evenings’ revelries with Idylls by Janecek, the piece for string orchestra was to pay tribute to the Capella Amadeus, founded by Grace Soedargo in 1993.
“Without this ensemble,” said Hochschild, “there would be no Amadeus Symphony Orchestra today, and I like to believe that the Capella is still the beating heart of the latter.”
Grace fell in love with the violin at an early age in Indonesia and decided to pursue it as a lifelong passion. She once told this very newspaper many years ago, that all she wanted at the time was to find a teacher who could prove to her that the instrument did not simply produce a squealing sound.
