Projects
Class&Jazz Duo is thrilled to present a few unique concert projects designed and produced by the group. Our artistic vision is in delivering classical and jazz music to the audiences all aroung the world, and especially to places with limited access to high-quality live concerts. The projects listed below are the result of work that was done collaboratively by us and our audiences.
After years of practice, performance, and education we have learned that innovation, outreach and communication with people are the most important ways to create and deliver arts in the modern world. We play music, because we love it, and our mission is to spread the captivating beauty of musical art as far as we could reach.
A Paris Chamber Music Series
Instrumental ensemble Class&Jazz presents a Paris – a chamber music recital series. The recital program includes masterpieces of French composers of XIX-XX centuries – Cesar Franck, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. As representatives of roughly three generations of French culture, this trio of composers undertook a remarkable shift from the late romantic era to the newly emerged impressionism in music.
a Paris is designed for the churches as the main performance venue. This concert program is comprised of works written for the duo of violin and piano that have become enormously popular world-wide, loved and favored by the classical music audiences. To make the concert more appealing for the listeners, a 20 minutes preconcert introduction is given before the performance. We talk about peculiar musical interconnections and historical background that made France the dominant force on the European cultural horizon of late XIX – early XX centuries.
This concert series is presented as part of the ongoing fundraising project of Class&Jazz ensemble to collect funds for the purchase of the violin bow made by Francois Nicolas Voirin in 1875, who was a contemporary of all three composers on the program. The bow value is $12,500. Along with the French violin made by Pietro and Hyppolite Sylvestre in 1837, this very bow is used for the recital performance. The ensemble’s idea is to make the admission free and open to public with suggested donations made at the discretion of the audience members.
Please, let us know, if you are interested in hosting a Paris recital series in your church!
Live recording of A Paris Concert
A Paris Concert Poster
A Paris Concert Poster
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A Paris fundraising campaign progress
Bach in the Churches
The authorship of this project belongs to Oleg Bezuglov, the violinist and co-founder of Class&Jazz Instrumental Duo. The original idea behind it includes several main components:
1. Live performances of Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo divided in 3 concerts
2. Collaboration with churches to be used as venues for these concerts
3. Visual representation of the musical material through projected paintings of biblical scenes
4. Supportive lecture material
Music of J. S. Bach is an important asset in violin repertoire. This music went through “ups and downs” in terms of popularity, and nowadays firmly established itself in the standard concert repertoire. Six Sonatas and Partitas are often included in the concert programs, often in the form of separate pieces. The professional studio and live performances has been made by numerous outstanding artists. Project “Bach in the Churches” aspires to reach two innovative goals: bringing this music to the native church environment they were originally intended for; and providing an accompanying visual representation that should enhance listening experience, while giving an idea for the program that could have been implied by J. S. Bach.
The choice of the visual component through displaying biblical scenes is explained by Bach’s religious background, and some profound scholarship that has established links with composer’s music and the biblical scenery in Well-Tempered Clavier for piano solo.
Live recording of Partita No. 2
Goals of the project
The short-term goal of this project is to establish a dialog with the churches to secure a space for the upcoming concert series and devise a timeframe for its realization. This step is of great im-portance because churches have appropriate environment and acoustics for Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas that were specifically written for church performances: a “sonata da chiesa” is translated from Italian directly into a “church sonata”. Churches can also advertise these concert series to regular congregation.
Design of the video presentation with some decorative elements (candles, Bach’s wig, etc.) is also a part of the preparation process.
As a mid-term goal, the actual live performance should occur. The admission is intended to be free. And since the project is collaborative, it is implied to get the performance space for free as well, by contributing to the specter of extracurricular activities that would attract more people to the congregation of the chosen churches.
Suggested donations with the fundraising idea to record a subsequent DVD with the selected paintings will be applied.
In the long-term prospective, this promising project can be taken to another cities and states, and even abroad. With the DVD recording, additional possibilities arise to reach greater audience worldwide.
$3,400 out of $12,500 campaign goal has been raised after four A Paris concerts in Lansing, Midland and Battle Creek churches in the state of Michigan. We appreciate the support of our patrons very much! This money will go towards a purchase of F.N.Voirin’s bow made in 1875 in Paris.