A humoristic musical portrait

Music contribution a.o. by Dimitri Arnauts

 

About the Infinity project

 

Circular breathing is a technique used by woodwind players which allows them to play for a long time without a break. It involves simultaneously exhalation of the air collected in the mouth and taking a breath through the nose. Taking into account technical aspects and construction of the instrument, using this technique while playing the flute is especially difficult.

 

During her studies, flute virtuoso Natalia Jarząbek has learned on her own how to take a circular breath. Thanks to the supervision of her teacher, prof. Barbara Świątek-Żelazna, she perfected her skills, taking circular breaths without harming the sound neither intonation and doing it inaudibly and invisibly.

 

This unique achievement of a team student - teacher was appreciated very fast - in 2017 Natalia and prof. Świątek-Żelazna received a prestigeous award Ars Quaerendi of the Lesser Poland Gouverment to partially finance writing a book about circular breathing and recording a unique CD with pieces which couldn’t be recorded on the flute without using this technique. Inspired by the infinite possibilities of keeping the sound and capabilities of the flute as the musical instrument, the project received a name “Infinity”.

 

The news of the project was enthusiastically received by the music community.

 

Now Natalia and prof. Światek-Zelazna are intensively teaching a group of flutists all over the world- including principal flutists of many great orchestras and professors of music universities and students. They are also keeping in touch with a medicine specialists who will explain them how is the mechanism of this technique works in a professional way.

 

Based of this experience they are writing a methodology how to learn circular breathing and preparing exercises and etudes how to work on it.

 

The repertoire for the CD is various - including transcriptions of pieces for violin or piano (Paganini’s Moto Perpetuo, Chopin’s Etudes, Vitali’s Chaconne), modern pieces for flute which already exist (I. Clarke’a The Great Train Race) and pieces composed and dedicated for this project. Among composers who agreed to support the project are: prof. Marcel Chyrzynski, prof. Zoran Novacic, Szymon Brzóska and Belgian composer Dimitri Arnauts...

 

The piano part of those pieces will be performed by Emmy Wils- a young talented pianist from Belgium, student of the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, winner of plenty prestigious piano competitions.

 

Since November2017 Natalia and Emmy started a duo “Infinity”, playing together not only pieces inspired by circular breathing but also chamber works for flute and piano of various epochs.

 

The CD has been recorded during the Summer of 2018 in Krzysztof Penderecki’s European Music Centre in Lusławice and will be released by the prestigious DUX label.

 

Dimitri Arnauts' participation as composer to this CD will be a short new musical portrait for piano and flute:  'Weird Bird'.

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