This year, L’Auditori de Barcelona will once again present the ‎‎Festival Emergents Barcelona, one of its main events, in which ‎the most outstanding young artists on the national and international scenes are invited to ‎perform. This project, which is part of L’Auditori de Barcelona’s DNA, ‎highlights the institution’s constant commitment to the presentation of new talented ‎musicians to the public. ‎

This year’s edition of the Festival Emergents, which will be held from 25 to 28 ‎March, has been given a new format, going from a whole week to a ‎‎condensed four-day programme with the aim of providing more intensive ‎programming and heightening the festival experience. ‎

The programme features thirteen concerts exploring everything from ‎‎jazz to chamber music and from early to symphonic music. Specifically, ‎there will be four symphonic concerts, four chamber concerts, four jazz concerts ‎and two choral concerts. These shows have been organised together with ‎Catalonia’s major music institutions, with the support of the Caixa d’Enginyers ‎foundation and in collaboration with Estrella Damm.‎

‎The Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Kazushi Ono will present two ‎Russian soloists who are making a name for themselves with the leading international ‎ensembles. They are cellist Anastasia Kobekina and pianist Alexandra ‎Dovgan. Kobekina will perform Robert Schumann’s Cello ‎Concerto with the OBC on 26 March. Kobekina, winner of the Bronze medal ‎at the Tchaikovsky Competition, a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and winner of the ‎TONALi Competition in Hamburg, plays a Guadagnini cello.‎

As for Alexandra Dovgan, this child prodigy of just 13 years of ‎age is already a global phenomenon. Dovgan, a protegée of ‎Sokolov, will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. ‎‎1 on 27 and 28 March. Both Kobekina’s and Dovgan’s programmes will ‎conclude with Schubert’s Sixth Symphony. All this under the ‎baton of Kazushi Ono. ‎

The Barcelona Symphony Band will hold a single concert on Sunday 28 ‎with the Kebyart Ensemble saxophone quartet, which will perform the ‎national premiere of David Maslanka’s Concerto for saxophone quartet and ‎wind ensemble, a work of great spiritual and emotional intensity. The ‎Kebyart Ensemble, who have been chosen as next season’s ECHO Rising Stars, never cease ‎to astound with their musical excellence and magnetic performances. The ‎programme will be conducted by José R. Pascual-Vilaplana and will ‎conclude with more music by Maslanka: Mother Earth and Give ‎Us This Day. ‎

At the same time, the young Venezuelan conductor Glass Marcano, who ‎has been identified as an emerging talent by the La Maestra International Competition in ‎Paris as well as by ECHO, will be helping Kazushi Ono and José R. Pascual-‎Vilaplana lead the OBC and the Symphony Band as part of her training as conductor. ‎

The Festival Emergents’ chamber music offering stands out for the first-‎class artists featured in it, such as violinist Diana Tishchenko, an ECHO artist who has already ‎made a place for herself on the international music scene and whose talent has been ‎recognised by awards including the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition and ‎the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Music Competition, among others. Tishchenko, ‎who will be accompanied on the piano by Georgy Tchaidze, will play ‎‎César Franck’s intense Sonata in A major, ‎‎Stravinsky’s arrangement for violin and piano of his own ballet ‎‎The Fairy’s Kiss, and Sofia Gubaidulina’s ‎‎Dancer on a Tightrope, a work that juxtaposes the ideas of ‎risk and freedom.‎

The Da Vinci Trio, comprising Maria Florea on the violin, Marion ‎Platero on the cello and Àlex Ramírez on the piano, winner of the 2nd prize at the ‎Montserrat Alavedra competition, will present a programme featuring Maurice ‎Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor and cellist and composer Gaspar Cassadó’s ‎‎Piano Trio in C major, a Hispanic-sounding work that forms part of ‎‎Catalonia’s musical heritage.‎

As part of its collaboration with Young Musicians of Catalonia, the ‎Emergents Festival Barcelona presents two young performers who shone in the Singing and ‎Early Music categories of the Concurso Juventudes Musicales competition. They are ‎‎harpsichordist Inés Moreno, winner of the first edition of the Early Music ‎Competition in 2018, and Portuguese mezzo-soprano Helena Ressurreiçao, ‎who completed her musical training at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and won ‎the first prize in the singing category in 2017.‎

Moreno’s recital will focus on the European dream represented by the Enlightenment, ‎exploring the relationships established by composers from different countries with ‎‎music by Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, Antoine ‎Forqueray, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jacques Duphly, Antonio Soler and Domenico ‎Scarlatti. Ressurreiçao’s concert, on the other hand, will highlight the many possible ‎approaches to composition for voice and piano that were taken during the 19th century with ‎works by Grieg, Mahler, Debussy, Duparc and Tchaikovsky.‎

In the field of choral music, we will once again enjoy a performance by the Jove ‎Capella Reial de Catalunya, a project driven by L’Auditori de Barcelona and created by Jordi ‎Savall and Lluís Vilamajó. The Jove Capella Reial de Catalunya, performing in a ‎reduced group of only five singers and three instrument players, will perform music by ‎‎Claudio Monteverdi, a composer who is key to understanding the musical ‎transition between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods. By way of narrative and ‎emotional accompaniment to Monteverdi’s work, you can also listen to compositions by his ‎contemporaries Girolamo Frescobaldi, Giaches de Wert, Carlo Gesualdo, Luca ‎Marenzio, Andrea Falconieri and Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, all of whom will ‎lead you to the depths of love through the language of emotion.‎

Lluís Vilamajó will also conduct the National Youth Choir of Catalonia in its ‎performances of works by great figures of the Germanic vocal tradition including ‎‎Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Johannes ‎Brahms. The National Youth Choir of Catalonia provides an unequalled opportunity ‎to enjoy new versions of great classics of choral music.‎

Catalonia’s three major jazz schools, ESMUC, Taller de Músics and the Liceu ‎Conservatory, will be represented by the Mar Serra Grup, Clara Fiol, the ‎Pere Navarro Quintet and the Liceu Jazz Group. ‎

‎Mar Serra, in collaboration with ESMUC, presents her second album, ‎‎I sempre demà, a collection of sound images that evoke memories, feelings and ‎desires through her unique and personal music.‎

The Pere Navarro Quintet, led by trumpet player Pere Navarro, features ‎some of the most outstanding emerging talents on the Spanish jazz scene. With his quintet, ‎Navarro is able to create a multitude of moods and textures through a fusion of the language ‎of jazz and the sounds of funk. Navarro, who trained at Taller de Músics, will perform this ‎concert in collaboration with the Young Musicians of Catalonia. ‎

Another Taller de Músics alumna, Clara Fiol, revisits old tunes through the ‎sounds of wood, strings and electronic effects, taking them to new spheres such as fandango ‎or chacarera music. ‎

The Festival Emergents will conclude with the Liceu Jazz Grup, an ‎ensemble born from the Liceu Conservatory. The sextet is based on the ‎basic structure of jazz bands and was formed with the idea of bringing together the ‎conservatory’s best students and giving them the chance to showcase their talent to an ‎audience. ‎

‎L’Auditori de Barcelona has created a €25 pass to the Festival for under-35s. Single ‎tickets start at €5. ‎

‎View the programme here.‎

‎Download photos of the artists .‎