For the first time in almost a thousand years of history, the Escolania de Montserrat will incorporate female voices. The initiative has been approved by the Benedictine community of the Catalan monastery and will take shape with the creation of a second mixed choir, made up of boys and girls between the ages of 17 and 24.
With documentary references dated shortly after the foundation of the monastery, in the 12th century, the Escolania is considered the oldest active music school in Europe. Always limited to male children’s voices, starting next year it will experience a revolution with the creation of the Choir de Cambra de l’Escolania de Montserrat.
It will be a non-professional mixed choir. Its members will be in the training stage, so they can be considered ‘escolanes’ and ‘escolanas’, they will wear cassocks and roquettes and will be registered in the official dress book, like the singers of the traditional Escolania, currently more than half hundred children from 9 to 14 years old from Catalonia and other Catalan-speaking areas.
Under the direction of Pau Jorquera, current deputy musical director of the Escolania, the new Cor de Cambra will sing one weekend a month to replace the Escolania, whose members will rest and “will be able to spend more time with their families”, indicate monastic sources.
In other words, on their weekend, the new formation will participate in the liturgical acts of the sanctuary interpreting the Salve Regina and the Virolai in the service of vespers on Saturday and in the convent mass on Sunday. In addition to singing in the liturgy of Montserrat, the boys and girls of the choir will have the opportunity to “train in various aspects related to vocal technique, spiritual experience, the natural environment or culture, through activities organized by people linked to the Escolania and the Benedictine community”, as proposed by the monastery.
The idea is that the chamber choir will debut next year, in September, so a selection of singers will be made through auditions. The first will take place on Saturdays May 27 and June 3, and will be demanding.
Applicants must have experience in choral singing, it will be valued positively that they are studying singing and they must have a good level of musical reading. In addition, sensitivity is required for the Christian religious fact.
“This project is aimed at young students of music, singing, conducting and related disciplines”, specifies the religious community, which offers information to interested young people through the email address escolania@escolania.cat.
In the same way that the ‘escolans’ receive training during their stay in Montserrat, the institution intends that in the future the members of the new choir can also obtain some type of academic recognition. “At the moment, the paths have to be explored through the Department of Education of the Generalitat and the conservatories of Catalonia, both professional and higher grade.”
La Escolania describes the creation of the chamber choir as a “historic initiative”. An initiative that, as he affirms, responds to his sensitivity for “the incorporation of girls” and for “the family and social realities of the families that are part of the traditional choir”.
The next Escolania concerts outside Montserrat will take place in Vilassar de Dalt (March 24), the Palau de la Música in Barcelona (May 7), Granollers (May 12) and Guardiola de Berguedà (June 16).
