The last concert of the 2023 Chopin Festival brings together four great performers in the Cartuja in Valldemossa: the pianist Albert Díaz, the soprano Irene Mas, the mezzo-soprano Marina Pardo and the tenor Antoni Aragón.
This year's edition of the Festival Chopin de Valldemossa is subsidized by the Department of Culture of the Consell de Mallorca, the Institut d'Estudis Balearics of the Government of the Balearic Islands and the European Union with Next Generation funds.
The concerts that Albert Díaz has offered throughout Europe, the United States, Canada and South America, in addition to his artistic career, have earned him the Gold Star award for Professional Excellence. He has performed in venues such as the Place des Artes in Montreal, the Elebash Recital Hall in New York, the GAM in Santiago de Chile, the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, the Palau Real in Warsaw, the Foz Palace in Lisbon or the Alfred Cortot Hall in Paris. He has also participated in prestigious festivals, such as the Paderewsky in Warsaw, the 35th Festiwal Chopin w barwach jesienide Antonin (Poland) or the International F. Chopin Festivals in Valldemossa and Caserta.
Of the various recording works of him, we must highlight a comprehensive CD of the work of Chopin for piano four hands, and a triple CD with the complete work for piano by the composer Romano Alís. Albert Díaz has been director of the Superior Conservatory of Music of the Balearic Islands, where he is currently a tenured professor.
The soprano Irene Mas began her musical and stage training by participating in fifteen opera productions at the Teatre Principal in Palma, her hometown. She graduated superior in violin at the Superior Conservatory of Music of the Balearic Islands and in singing at the Superior Conservatory of Music of the Liceo de Barcelona, she expanded her studies with teachers such as Wolfgam Rieger, Malcolm Martineau or Nelly Miricioiu.
She has been awarded in numerous International Singing Competitions, such as the First Prize in the International Competition of Las Cortes, Second Prize Ex-Aequo and Juventudes Musicales de España Prize or the Extraordinary Prize Fundación Ferrer-Salat of the Tenor Viñas Competition.
She has developed her career in Finland, Mexico, Bulgaria, England, Andorra, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, India, Korea, etc. She collaborates with La Capilla Real (J. Savall), La Grande Chapelle (A.Recasens) or Los Músicos de la Alteza (L.A.González). This season she will be Resident Artist of the LIFE Victoria Lied Festival, and she will debut at the Oxford Lieder Festival and in the opera season of the Gran Teatre del Liceo.
For her part, the mezzo-soprano Marina Pardo, graduated from the Oviedo Conservatory, was invited by Alfredo Kraus to further her studies at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. She has performed with prestigious internationally recognized directors such as Helmut Rilling, Jesse Levine or Pinchas Steinberg. She has performed with most Spanish orchestras and with the New York Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic and the Dresdner Philharmonic.
Marina Pardo has also dedicated part of her repertoire to baroque and ancient music. She was part of the group Al Ayre Español with whom she performed at prestigious European festivals of the genre, interpreting the baroque zarzuelas Acis and Galatea and Júpiter and Semele de Literes, recording both for Armonía Mundi and obtaining the Spanish National Music Award in 2005.
Very interested in contemporary music, she has premiered numerous works by Spanish composers and in 2012 she premiered Ainadamar by Golijov in Spain, an opera that she later repeated with great success at the Philadelphia Opera and at the Cesios Festival in Latvia (where the work was recognized with the Latvian Great Music Award as the best production of 2017).
Finally, the tenor Antoni Aragón studied singing in Palma and received classes from Lambert Climent, W. Hollweg, Juan Oncina, H. Crook, William Mateuzzi, Carmen Bustamante and Alejandro Zabala. She collaborates with different early music groups (Capilla de Ministriles, Capilla Real de Cataluña, Estilo Concertante, Camerata Iberia and Ensemble Elyma) and with the Seville Baroque Orchestra, the Salamanca Baroque Orchestra and the Studium Aureum group.
He has participated in the opera seasons of the Teatre Principal de Palma in productions such as Bastien und Bastienne, Die Zauberflöte, La italiana in Algeri, La Fanciula del West, Marina, La sonnambula, Paquacci, Salome, La Madrileña, Cosa Rara, Il mondo della Luna, Otello, etc.
In the orchestral repertoire he has performed works such as the Magnificado, Christmas Oratorio and several Cantatas and Passions by Bach, Misa de Santa Cecília by Gounod, Stabat Mater by Rossini... Antoni Aragón has been a professor of Singing at the Mallorca Conservatory of Music and Dance since 1999.
The instrumental group is made up of:
Vicent Balaguer (violin - conductor)
Smerald Spahiu (violin - conductor)
Clara Mascaró (viola)
Marc Alomar (cello)
Xisco Aguiló (double bass)
Joan Rodriguez (oboe)
Ferran Pisa (guitar)
Ferran Martinez (percussion)
Pedro Aguiló (harpsichord)
Program:
Concerto for piano and orchestra no.1 in E minor op.11, by Fréderic Chopin
Allegro maestoso
Romance-Larghetto
Rondo. vivace
- II -
(350th anniversary of the birth of the composer Antoni Lliteres)
El estrago en la fineza o Júpiter y Semele (selección) by Antoni Lliteres
Adiós, dueño hermoso
¡Lleve el Demonio la artesa!
Llora, Jupiter, llora
¡Moradores de estas selvas!
Los elementos. Ópera armónica al estilo italiano (selección) by Antoni Lliteres
Frondosa apacible estancia
Fuego encendido sea el diamante
Ay, amor
Sedientos influjos
Iras fatales fulminan los contrarios elementos
Rompa la tierra la cárcel de esmeralda
Esfera copiosa de luz peregrina
Since the creation of the Pro Chopin Committee in 1930 by the composer Joan Maria Thomàs, in addition to paying permanent tribute to Chopin's work, one of the objectives has been the recovery and dissemination of the island's musical heritage and the best contemporary music made in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.
Following this line of recovery and dissemination, this year's Chopin Festival wanted to keep in mind three very significant island musicians: Antoni Lliteres i Carrió (Artà, 1673 – Madrid, 1747), Miquel Capllonch (Pollença, 1861 – 1935) and Carme Fernández Vidal (Palma, 1970).
The four concerts of the Chopin Festival 2023 are held in the Cloister of the Cartuja de Valldemossa from August 6 to 27. In the Chapter House you can see the Ñaco Fabré exhibition Dar a ver.
