Some of the stars of classical music and opera coexist this year with interesting proposals in some of the most unusual venues of the Catalan summer. Emblematic places that, with the arrival of the heat, host unmissable musical moments and experiences in territories not always known. This would be a possible selection.
Musical Vespers at the Monastery of Pedralbes. This cycle directed by Dani Espasa, the founder of the Vespres d’Arnadí baroque orchestra, is said to be inspired by the cloister of the Barcelona monastery itself as a representation of paradise on earth. The audience that comes to listen to, for example, Tasto Solo drinks from that relationship between the orderly and sober architecture and an exuberant and heterogeneous vegetation. The medievalist and Renaissance ensemble led by Barcelona’s Guillermo Pérez inaugurates the cycle tomorrow with anonymous works from the Codex Las Huelgas, the Codex Montpeller or Le Manuscrit du Roy. Attention to the closure, on July 27, with the Da Vinci Trio performing the Trio that Ravel composed at the beginning of the Great War. He ended it hastily, joining the ranks…
Zukerman, in the town of Pau Casals. The festival that for more than four decades has been organized by the Foundation of the iconic Catalan master and cellist in the maritime district of Sant Salvador, right in front of the Casa Museu Pau Casals, is betting on a superstar: the legendary violinist Pinchas Zukerman, which opens this appointment on Friday in the small wooden auditorium. The Israeli and American performer – who was 13 years old when he auditioned for Casals in Israel – will come with his Trio Zukerman, and the next day he will form a combo with the violist Sara Ferrández (sister of the already famous cellist) and the violinist Yamen Saadi. Two more dates are worth marking in the calendar: the cellist Miklós Perényi performs on July 22, and the violinist Richard Goode two days earlier, on the 20th, while on the 21st Albert Guinovart will celebrate a world premiere of a work his
May the music continue in the Pirienu. The Pyrenean Early Music Festival (FeMAP) is now in its 12th edition: 54 concerts in 40 Pyrenean municipalities in Catalonia, Andorra and Rosselló. Three new additions are added this year: Farrera (Pallars Sobirà), Montferrer i Castellbò (Alt Urgell) and Sant Julià de Lòria (Andorra), which confirms it as the most extensive early music festival in Europe. It opens on Friday in La Seu d’Urgell and on Saturday in Puigcerdà with InCanto, a musical journey starring the soprano Marta Mathéu: from the cathedral of Tarragona to Naples, passing through the cathedral of Barcelona, ??Santa Maria del Mar, Canet de Mar and Toledo
A very symphonic Greek. The Barcelona festival marries classical music and opera three more times this summer. Today and tomorrow he does it with Beethoven and the dance of Sasha Waltz (see page 40); on the 12th and 13th, paired with pocket operas at the Ateneu Barcelonès, where Dietrich Grosse, director of Ópera de Pocket and Nova Creació, and theater director Marc Rosich program Quatre sols soles. Also on the 13th, the Greek marries opera: with Wagner and at the Palau de la Música Catalana, where Josep Pons and the Liceu Orchestra interpret Wagnerian fragments with the actor Pere Arquillué interspersed with the reading of extracts from the book Wagnerisme, by Alex Ross. And keep an eye on today’s proposal (8 p.m.) at the Palau: even if it is not part of any festival, the Cosmos Quartet is premiering L’arbre de la vida, a work commissioned by Bernat Vivancos that is inspired by the piece namesake of Naxo Farreras, the plastic artist invited to the Palau this season, which shines on the facade of the Petit Palau.
The Great Night of the Opera goes to the Tarraco Arena. In July 2021, an operatic project emerged in Tarragona that filled the void left by Opera in Catalonia in the summer. It was a production of Rigoletto, by Verdi, in the protected Camp de Mars. If the lyrical summer is covered by Perelada in the north, the south also needed to give air to its own proposal. And this year it occupies none other than the San Miguel Tarraco Arena, that old bullring with a capacity for 10,000 people, which will be 4,000 in the case of this intense Tosca by Puccini. It is defended by the soprano Vanesa Goikoetxea, the tenor Alejandro Roy and the baritone Àngel Òdena, with the new Choir of the Opera of Tarragona and the Orchestra of the Opera of Tarragona, with Oliver Díaz on the baton. The production has a budget of 198,000 euros: 35% are sponsors, 20% subsidies – which we hope the City Council will not neglect – and 45% must correspond to the box office.
Marina Rossell and the Franz Schubert Philharmonic. At Camp de Mart and within the Tarragona Summer Festival, the orchestra founded by Tomàs Grau will celebrate an evening under the stars with Marina Rossell. The singer-songwriter for the first time in symphonic format, reviewing her emblematic songs after five decades adapting Catalan poets and other traditional, Catalan and French music. On July 22.
And live the opera… in the heart of Gràcia. And from the great Arena to something ultra local such as the Ópera amb Gràcia festival, in the Barcelona neighborhood, which offers Carmen and La serva padrona from July 8 to 23. Oh, and three chamber concerts from her new OFF: the renowned Ukrainian violinist Ala Voronkova performs on the 16th with her husband, the pianist and composer Guerassim Voronkov, at the Oratorio Sant Felip Neri de Gràcia. Gershwin, Sarasate and Voronkov play.
Tribute to Anselm Clavé in Manresa. at La Fira Mediterrània yesterday presented the program for the 26th edition. And beyond the search for musical roots (in this case, Galician and Portuguese), this year will also pay attention to the bicentenary of Anselm Clavé, founder of Catalan choral movement, with the Sant Jordi Choir.
Bachcelona, ??stomping hard. A decade ago it appeared like a flower on the torrid Barcelona asphalt to update Bach’s music. But the festival directed by Daniel Tarrida is already facing other proposals and is looking to extend the life of its productions by partnering with FeMàs in Seville or Setmana de Música Religiosa de Conca. It opens on the 12th at L’Auditori de Barcelona, ??with the Japanese Masaaki Suzuki, an eminence in Bach, who will conduct the singers who participated in the festival’s Akademie, prepared by countertenor Carlos Mena.
Voices: Ainhoa ??Arteta or Juan Diego Flórez. Clipper’s brings the Basque soprano in concert at Les Nits de Barcelona, ??at the Palau de Pedralbes (July 22). And the Peruvian tenor will also perform in Cap Roig, on August 18.
The chamber in Porta Ferrada. The festival of Sant Feliu de Guíxols always includes classical music, and the public is taken to the church-monastery. In the beautiful interior, Kebyart will perform (August 7) ??or pianist Carles Marigó, with the immersive Breaking Bach (August 8), where he interacts with an AI. The soprano Tina Gorina will sing Puccini there (August 16). In addition, they are careful to support emerging musicians, such as this Vivancos Quartet that will perform works by Haydn, Shostakovich, Webern and Vivancos himself.
The select Perelada. While busy building an auditorium at the height of its category, the Perelada Festival is concentrated this year from July 28 to August 5 and basically with recitals in the Carmen church – Freddie de Tomaso, Diana Damrau, Núria Rial, Xabier Anduaga, Serena Sáenz–, as well as a chamber opera: The telephone, or l’amour a trois, by Gian Carlo Menotti. Oh, and Jordi Savall acts. (See La Vanguardia of May 6). By the way, due to an injury, the solo of dancer Israel Galván will be replaced by that of Ana Morales (August 1).
Jordi Savall! The festival organized by the teacher in Montblanc, Poblet and Santes Creus involves a visit to the unmissable places of the Catalan summer. And this year – from July 28 to August 15 – with some surprises, such as the first women’s baroque orchestra. (See La Vanguardia of March 28)
Torroella de Montgrí, wind astern. They were already announced at the time: Daniel Harding, Erika Grimaldi or Jeanine de Bique are making their debut at the festival. And look, Maria del Mar joins Christina Pluhar’s L’Arpeggiata. It runs from July 29 to August 18, although Marco Mezquida does a concert with the Vallès Symphony in front of the Medes Islands on July 14. (See La Vanguardia of May 19).
The Schubertíada of Vilabertran. The second half of August reigns in the musical firmament the Schubertíada: it starts on the 11th and 12th, at the magical Espai Misteri in Vilajuïga, with a tribute to Joan Margarit with commissions from Salvador Brotons, Jordi Domènech and Albert Guinovart. It lasts until the 27th (See La Vanguardia of March 15).
