February 18 2013
ITALY-NEW ENGLAND: DO YOU KNOW THAT?
Press Review for the Consulate General of Italy in Boston by Alessandra Granelli
La prima mano bionica col senso del tatto sarà trapiantata in Italia
Entrò quest'anno prenderà il via l'esperimento: il fortunato è un ragazzo di 20 anni che perse l'arto in un incidente
Verrà trapiantata entro la fine di quest'anno a Roma la prima
mano bionica capace di ridare il senso del tatto al paziente
coinvolto nel primo esperimento del genere. A comunicarlo è
stato Silvestro Micera, ricercatore italiano dell'Ecole
Polytechnique Federale di Losanna, durante il meeting della
American Association for the Advancement of Science
(Aaas) in corso a Boston. A fare da apri-pista ad un nuovo
futuro di ristabilite capacità tattili, un ragazzo di 20 anni che
perse l'originale arto in un incidente stradale.
La mano bionica sarà collegata con due elettrodi
direttamente al mediano e all'ulnare, i due nervi principali
del braccio umano, potrà essere controllata direttamente col
pensiero e tramite alcuni sensori posti sulla superficie
dovrebbe riuscire a captare quelle sensazioni tattili che prova
ognuno di noi maneggiando un qualsiasi oggetto. Ha
concluso Micera: "Non escludiamo che nel giro di pochi anni
questo tipo di innovazione possa essere una soluzione clinica
per una grande quantità di pazienti."
(Piacenzanight.com - 18/02/2013)
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February 18 2011
Love’s All Around for La Donna
Andrew Sammut - The Boston Musical Intelligencer
Period instrument ensemble La Donna Musicale and its
director Laury Gutierrez have brought many female
composers from out of the shadows and onto the stage. Their “All-Around Love” concert on Thursday night came
off like a “Greatest Hits” collection just in time for
Valentine’s Day. The ambitious program included
madrigals, cantatas, songs, arias, instrumentals and sacred
pieces from two different musical capitals and ten different
composers, spanning more than a century of different styles.
Maddalena Casulana and Vittoria Aleotti’s relatively
conservative sixteenth century madrigals were followed by
more complex, passionate seventeenth century works by
Barbara Strozzi and Camilla de Rossi. The focus shifted
from Italy to France after intermission, with Julie Pinel’s
short, charming songs juxtaposed against Elisabeth Jacquet
de la Guerre’s energetic Trio Sonata in G minor and Italian
Antonia Bembo’s powerful setting of Psalm 50. The unifying
theme was love, of every variety from romantic to jealous to
sacred, all set to some simply beautiful poetry, with texts by
Petrarch and a lyrical French paraphrase of Hebrew
scripture.
The performers obviously enjoyed these discoveries, evident
from the start with soprano Camila Parias wrapping
decorous lines around Daniela Tosic’s resonant mezzo in
Strozzi’s madrigal “Godere et Tacere (To Enjoy and Be
Silent).” Violinist Laura Gulley beamed through ritornellos
in Strozzi’s serenata Hor Che Apollo (I Know ThatApollo)
and de Rossi’s cantata Dori e Fileno, while Gutierrez
strummed her viola da gamba with the warmth of a fireside
recital on Pinel’s pastoral “Boccage Frais Aimable Solitude
(Refreshing Woods and Sweet Solitude).” Isabella
Leonarda’s Sonata Prima featured a spongy blend of violin,
gamba and Ruth McKay’s chamber organ and attractive
imitations in the Vivace. Gutierrez’s gamba and Janet Haas’
violone played the tenor and bass parts for Maria Xaviera
Peruchona’s worshipful “Cessate Tympana (Cease Drums).”
An instrument assuming vocal parts was a common and
necessary practice in the convents where Peruchona served as
a nun. It made for a warm wall of sound, well served by the
acoustics in Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church.
The highlight of the evening was the “Miserere Mei (Have
Mercy On Me)” from Bembo’s Psalms of David. Bembo
disregards harmonic and melodic conventions for the sake of
the text, creating a vivid look inside the mind and heart of
David as he begs God for forgiveness. Parias’ plaintive
sound, firm technique and evocative style exploded the depth
and power of the text, with the ensemble building from
reflective to imploring alongside her.
Parias also shined in the humorous “Mi Basta Cosi (I’ve Had
Enough)” by Bembo and Strozzi’s “La Vendetta (Revenge)”
with a flirty upper register over gritty gamba and giggling
strings. Tosic’s cool tone suited the close of the Strozzi
cantata and Pinel’s “Echos Indiscrets (Indiscreet Echoes).” A
joyous excerpt from Mlle. Laurent’s Le Concert closed the
concert, featuring the unique sound of two vocalists, two
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violins and two gambas (with Haas doubling). Love music on
Valentine’s Day is fairly intuitive. Yet the immediacy of this
performance, not to mention Gutierrez’s copious program
notes, her spirited introductions and the performers’ visible
interplay, reinforced how much of a labor of love this
repertoire is for La Donna Musicale.
(February 16, 2013)