Opening Concert of the Year of the Rat

Thursday, 7 February 7 P.M.
Tartu University Teacher Training College hall (Salme 1a, Tartu)

Friday 8 February 7 P.M.
Tallinn University ceremonal hall (Narva mnt 25, Tallinn)

Opening Concert of the Year of the Rat

Music from the Time of Marco Polo
Chinese and Italian Music from the XIII-XV Centuries

John Thompson (USA) - guqin

FA Schola ensemble (Estonia):
Raho Langsepp - medieval flutes
Lilian Langsepp - gothic harp
Helena Uleksin - medieval flute, bells

Tickets (Tartu 80 EEK/ 60 EEK, Tallinn 100 EEK/ 75 EEK) can be purchased from ?Piletilevi' ticket offices and Statoil gas stations all over Estonia, from the website www.piletilevi.ee as well as at concert hall entrances starting an hour before the scheduled beginning time.

Music from the time of Marco Polo

The Travels of Marco Polo are said to have been narrated by Polo (ca. 1254 - 1324) to Messor Rustichello in 1298, while they were in prison in Genoa. Originally called Description of the World, the book describes trips by Polo across Asia to China and back. He claims to have been an official in the government of Kublai Khan, and in this capacity to have traveled extensively in China, including Hangzhou, the Song dynasty capital until the Mongol conquest in 1280. The account has many inaccuracies and omissions. Thus it makes no mention of the literati who formed the ruling mandarin class in China, nor does it mention music at all, much less the qin silk-string zither. As a result, many historians have suggested Polo never went to China. This music program thus cannot claim he heard any of the music on tonight's program, only that if he did go to China and did then return to Italy, he could have heard it.

More information in English: http://www.silkqin.com/01mywk/themes/programs/mp2008.htm