On Saturday, the Capella Reial Youth Choir of Catalonia marked the start ‎of the Festival Emergents Barcelona, one of the key events in L’Auditori’s ‎season. This festival supports young local and international talent and ‎places the various halls of L’Auditori at the disposal of new generations of musicians, with ‎performances ranging from early music to highly electronic jazz. ‎

There are still eighteen concerts to come, where around 200 ‎musicians will thrill us with their art. Tomorrow will be the turn of the pianists ‎‎Carles Marigó, Cantoría and Magalí Sare & Sebastià Gris. ‎

‎Marigó and Cantoría are offerings presented by the Young ‎Musicians of Catalonia and L’Auditori, that will devote tomorrow ‎to young Catalan musicians ‎and‏ ‏young musicians trained in Catalonia. The ‎vocal quartet Cantoría have their origins in the Early ‎Music Department of ‎the Catalonia College of Music‏ ‏‎(ESMUC). Under the baton of Jorge‏ ‏‎Losana, the quartet, ‎specialising in the Iberian Golden Age, has been selected for various European ‎training ‎programmes. In their concert at L’Auditori they will present a repertoire that centres on‏ ‏‎the great names of the Renaissance. The versatile pianist Carles Marigó also trained at ‎ESMUC and the Moscow Conservatory. In his concert in the Festival Emergents Barcelona he ‎will perform ‎Ibèrics<‎‏/‏em‏>, ‏a journey through Spanish music from the ‎‏16‏th to the ‎‏21‏st ‎century, which includes original works by Mudarra, Cabezón, Bruna and Soler, ‎plus his own ‎compositions based on the works of Albéniz and Falla and improvisations. ‎

Tomorrow, audiences will also be able to enjoy the sensational Magalí Sare & ‎Sebastià Gris, presenting their new album entitled A boy and a ‎girl with producer David Soler and Santi Careta. After her first solo album ‎‎Cançons d’amor i dimonis (Songs of ‎Love and Demons)‎‏, <‏strong‏>‏Magalí Sare ‎has begun a new chapter‏, ‏experimenting and forging a link ‎between classical and ‎modern music, genres that have always been present throughout her ‎career. ‎This offering is the result of this, consisting of a series of songs of broadly contrasting origins ‎such as Majorcan ‎folklore and classical chamber music, all embraced by the different ‎landscapes ‎created by electronics. ‎‏ ‏


‎ECHO Rising Stars and Marc Soto at Emergents ‎
‎L’Auditori is a member of the European Concert Hall Organisation. Each ‎year, ECHO selects its Rising Stars, a group of brilliant young artists who are offered a ‎platform from ‎which to launch their international careers. ‎
The Festival Emergents Barcelona gives us the opportunity to discover three of these rising ‎stars. Child prodigy, violinist Noa Wildschut, who at the age of only 18 is ‎already embarking on her career ‎as a concert pianist with the full endorsement of Anne-‎Sophie Mutter, will perform a programme by Russian‏ ‏‎composers and the ‎première of ‎‏<‏em>‎Sarasvati‎‎, a work written by Dutch composer Joey Roukens as ‎commissioned by ECHO. Trumpet player Simon Höfele, a BBC ‎Radio 3 New Generation ‎Artist and a regular with several leading European orchestras, ‎‎will present a‏ ‏‎repertoire of music from the 20th and 21st centuries and the work ‎that ECHO commissioned Czech composer Miroslav Srnka to write. And accordion player João ‎Barradas, winner of prestigious ‎international awards such as the World ‎Accordion Trophy, who performs as adeptly in the‏ ‏‎classical genre as in the jazz genre, will ‎offer a programme featuring arrangements for ‎accordion of‏ ‏‎works by Johann ‎Sebastian Bach and the work written by French‏ ‏‎composer Yann Robin, another ‎commission by ECHO.‎

Also on Wednesday 11, you have the chance to enjoy drummer and producer Marc ‎Soto, who will present ‎‏<‏em‏>‏‎Bring that Noise, where the mix of styles, the use of ‎samples and a real-time performance presented like a DJ session with live music ‎birth this project, named in honour of the Public Enemy song ‎‏<‏em‏>‏‎Bring the Noise. ‎Here, Soto creates new ways of experimenting and a relationship between black music and ‎electronic music using samples of pre-existing music, applying a process that is fundamental ‎and inherent in hip-hop culture. The performance mixes funk, soul, Afrobeat and jazz with ‎electronics, hip-hop, trap and dub. ‎


‎An evening of string quartets and jazz ‎
The Festival Emergents Barcelona dedicates a day to the string quartet, ‎the iconic chamber music ensemble. On Thursday 12, the Aris Quartett will visit ‎L’Auditori’s Sala 2 Oriol Martorell, an ensemble formed in 2009 ‎in Frankfurt and‏ ‏the winner of major international competitions such as the Joseph Joachim ‎Chamber Music ‎Competition and the ARD International Music Competition. Also featuring will be the ‎‎Dudok Quartet Amsterdam, following an intense concert schedule ‎performing on stages across Europe and the United States alongside artists such as Philippe ‎Jaroussky and Kaija ‎Saariaho. And finally, the Esmé Quartet, that was ‎formed in 2016 by four young Korean ‎musicians‏ ‏and which continuously receives awards in ‎the most prestigious European competitions.‎

In addition, in Sala 3 Tete Montoliu, Klaus Stroink will present his first ‎concert as leader with ‎‏<‏em‏>‏The Space between the Notes‎‏<‏‎/em>, an essay on groove. ‎Stroink theoretically dissects‏ ‏the thorny concept of groove, that musical parameter that ‎creates the sensation of movement, and applies it to the composition of a conceptual work ‎that shows, from different perspectives, convergence and divergence, repetition, ideas of ‎fullness and emptiness, of being inside and outside, and the inseparable viscerality of all the ‎work of youth.‎

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Catalonia’s great ensembles ‎
‎The National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia and the National Youth Choir of Catalonia ‎visit the Festival Emergents to showcase the extremely high standard of young Catalan ‎ensembles. This will take place on Friday, 13 March, a day when ‎the Liceu Jazz Group will also perform.‎

As part of the Festival Emergents, the National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia (JONC) ‎and L’Auditori present the young soloists Evgeny Konnov, pianist and winner of the Maria ‎Canals International Music Competition, and horn player Carles Chordà.‎

The National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia is not only a training orchestra ‎for young musicians but is also a top-tier artistic project. Under the baton of Manel ‎Valdivieso, the JONC will once again be one of the mainstays of the Festival ‎Emergents Barcelona. For its concert, the JONC has invited two young musicians to make ‎their début as soloists at L’Auditori. The first is Russian pianist Evgeny Konnov, ‎recent winner of the Maria Canals International Music Competition, who will ‎perform Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 by Tchaikovsky.‎

The second soloist to accompany the JONC was chosen by current members and former ‎musicians that have previously played with the Orchestra. On this occasion, it will be ‎‎horn player Carles Chordà who, at the age of only twenty-five, is already a ‎member of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Orchestra. Chordà will perform the Horn Concerto in B-‎flat major, Op. 91 by Russian composer Reinhold Glière. The work is modelled on Pyotr Ilyich ‎Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and, using this as a base, Glière unlocked the technical and ‎expressive potential of the horn to create a piece that is full of the epic and grandiose ‎character of Russian symphonic music.‎

The National Youth Choir of Catalonia (CJNC) makes its début at L’Auditori ‎as part of the Festival Emergents Barcelona with a programme devoted to Catalan and ‎international ‎choral music of the‏ ‏‎20th and‏ ‏‎21st centuries. The CJNC is an offshoot of its ‎big sister, the‏ ‏‎National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia, and is made up of approximately thirty ‎of the best young singers born or studying in Catalonia. The work developed by the young ‎choir during the ‎various events combines educational elements, with sessions with first-‎rate teachers, and ‎artistic components.‎

In their concert at L’Auditori, the National Youth Choir of Catalonia will sing ‎under ‎the direction of the‏ ‏‎Catalan Mireia Barrera, one of the most prestigious conductors, ‎who was head of the Cor Madrigal until 2019 and is an expert in the concert repertoire.‎

The Liceu Jazz Group brings together the best students of the Conservatori Superior ‎del Liceu and gives them the opportunity to enjoy an artistic experience in an ‎authentically professional environment. This year, it will form part of L’Auditori de ‎Barcelona’s consolidated programme, the Festival Emergents Barcelona, under the guidance ‎of saxophonist Perico Sambeat, one of Spain’s most prestigious and internationally acclaimed ‎musicians. The Liceu Jazz Group’s project follows the basic structure of jazz bands and is an ‎example of the support, in terms of entrepreneurship, offered by the institution to students ‎throughout their training The talent and energy of the young people combined with the ‎knowledge of musicians of renowned prestige creates a space where emerging trends and ‎experience are harnessed and multiply. ‎


‎Female talent working with the OBC and the Band ‎
‎Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska, principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony ‎Orchestra, is charged with ushering in young talents who will be the stars of the ‎‎“Emergents” concerts on 14 and 15 March. The headline piece is Brahms’ Double Concerto ‎for Violin and Cello, a unique work in its genre that requires the closest rapport between the ‎two performers which, in spite of it being premiered by the widely-celebrated Joseph ‎Joachim, did not enjoy immediate public success. Over the years, however, it has earned the ‎recognition it rightly deserves and is now considered one of the masterpieces of the sinfonia ‎concertante repertoire.‎

‎Sisters Kristine and Margarita Balanas (violin and cello) will debut with the OBC, as ‎will the Catalan pianist Albert Cano, winner of the Young Concert Artists International ‎Auditions 2019.‎

With regard to the Barcelona Symphony Band, the talent of youth ‎combines with the two most famous works by Gershwin and with the music of one of our ‎most popular composers: Albert Guinovart. We rediscover the fabulous Rhapsody in ‎Blue in an incredible version by the Austrian trumpet soloist Selina Ott and ‎also premier a concerto for marimba – inspired by works of Renaissance art, ‎Romanticism and naïve art – in the hands of Conrado Moya from Alicante.‎

The concert is rounded off with a suite from the Gaudí musical that ‎Guinovart premiered in Barcelona in 2002 and with the unforgettable melodies ‎of ‎‏<‏em‏>‏‎An American in Paris, the work of Gershwin that was also turned into a ‎musical in the capable hands, feet and the other bodily parts of the dancer Gene Kelly. It ‎received an Oscar for Best Film in 1951 and no-one was in any doubt that half of the award ‎was indebted to the soundtrack. ‎


‎Alexandra Dovgan, the child prodigy endorsed by Sokolov ‎
If a musician is endorsed by a figure of such prestige as pianist Grigory ‎Sokolov then they probably merit our attention. Moreover, if this musician is only ‎eleven years of age, we may well believe that we have before us a talent that will ‎significantly influence future generations of performers. The young person in question is ‎‎pianist Alexandra Dovgan. Winner of several competitions for young ‎musicians, Dovgan has already performed under the baton of conductors as illustrious as ‎Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Spivakov and has performed a duet with pianist Denis Matsuev.‎

Her concert, on Tuesday 17 March, will be the closing event of this year’s edition of the ‎Festival Emergents Barcelona. ‎

‎* Images of the Festival Emergents artists are available here.‎