The Barcelona Festival of Song has every year a composer in residence and
from 2008 on offers The Barcelona Composition Workshop.
To support development of the genre, each year the Festival commissions a
new cycle of songs to be composed by a renowned composer
from one of the countries of Ibero-America.
The composer in Residence for the BFOS 2008 is Peruvian composer Edgar Valcarcel.
Edgar
Valcárcel
(El Puno, Perú, 1932)
Descended
from a family of musicians, Edgar Valcárcel began his music studies at
the national conservatory in Lima where he was a student of Andrés Sas.
He later earned his masters in composition at
On
scholarship again, he completed a post-graduate degree at the the Insituto
Torcuato di Tella in
His
development as a composer has passed through various periouds which include
explorations of the dodecaphonic system and electronic music. His
development as a composer of universal and eclectic style is representative
of the Latin American composer of the era.
PAST COMPOSERS
BFOS 2007
Cuban
composer Walfrido Domínguez wrote for the
Barcelona
Festival of Song 2007
a
cycle of three songs for voice and guitar: 1.
Nana de Iguará 2. Danzón de Agosto 3. Si te vas.
Domínguez sat to music poetry by Susana Arias.
The
cycle was debuted by soprano Patricia Caicedo and guitarist Jonas Skielboe
at the opening concert presented at the Sala Mompou in Barcelona on July the
4th.
_______________________
Walfrido
Domínguez (1954, La Habana, Cuba):
Cuban composer Walfrido Dominguez received his training as a classical
guitarist at the Instituto Superior de Arte at The Habana, where he
graduated as a guitarist in 1992 under the guidance of Isaac Nicola.
From
the beginning of his career as an interpreter, soloist, arranger and
composer his works have been centered in the popular rhythms of Cuban music,
which he knows very well. His
compositions and arrangements take inspiration from the traditional and
popular Cuban music. He applies the techniques of classical music,
jazz and contemporary music to his work.
He
recreates the sounds of the popular cuban instruments (tambores batá,
congas, tres, trompets) with his guitar, preserving the freshness and
richness of both the popular and the folk music. He has written
guarachas, danzones and afrocuban songs.
Domínguez
have received numerous compositional awards for pieces for solo guitar,
voice and guitar and instrumental ensembles. He has also composed music for
theatre having collaborating in 2006 and 2007 with theatre director
Alina Narciso in plays like Nápoles Volver and Cuento de aguas. In
2007 his work for guitar and orchestra Moforibale a Ochún was premiered at
the Auditori de Barcelona.
Dominguez
is an active interpreter of Chamber music. Since 1987 he has been part
of the Cuarteto GUITARRA 4, an ensemble that was awarded the first price at
the Concurso Nacional de Música de Cámara de Cuba. Between 1990 and 2001
Dominguez formed the Duo Confluencia with Cuban guitarist and composer
Eduardo Martín. Duo Confluencia performed in Europe and Latin America where
they where very well received.
BFOS 2006
Bolivian
composer Agustin Fernández
wrote for the
Barcelona
Festival of Song 2006
a cycle title
Alquimia.
Alquimia
is formed by three songs:
1. Desiderata 2. Dame 3. Más desiderata.
The poetry is by the same composer.sobre
poemas del mismo compositor.
The
cycle was debuted by soprano Patricia Caicedo and pianist Pau Casan at the
opening concert celebrated Orfeó
Granciec, Barcelona. on June the 20th, 2006.
In the picture, composer Fernández with soprano Patricia Caicedo and pianist Pau Casan the night of the debut.
Agustín Fernández (b. March 10, 1958, Cochabamba) - Song Cicle "Alquimia" for voice and piano premiere June 20, 2006 by soprano Patricia Caicedo and pianist Pau Casan.
Dr Agustín Fernández obtained his PhD at City University, specialising in Composition. Before that, he completed an MMus at The University of Liverpool and a Licentiate’s degree at the Bolivian Catholic University. In between, he spent three years in Japan, studying composition with Takashi Iida and with Akira Ifukube, and also training as a violinist with Takeshi Kobayashi. His research interest is composition.
A recent compositional success was the concert presented by Northern Sinfonia on 26 May 2004, featuring the first performance of A Hidden Music for string orchestra and piano and a revised version Botanic Spider. Prior to that, Approaching Melmoth, a work for baritone, choir and orchestra, was performed in March 2000 by Sir Thomas Allen with the Northern Sinfonia Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Cleobury. (‘Some of the most startlingly effective and original choral writing you’re likely to encounter’ – The Journal.) The good reception afforded to Approaching Melmoth has given a fresh impetus to a more ambitious project on the same topic, the opera Melmoth the Wanderer, to which Dr Fernández expects to devote his efforts for the next few years.
His catalogue includes opera, orchestral, chamber and electroacoustic music. Most of his works have received high-profile performances in Europe and the Americas. Danza de la loma has been recorded and broadcast by the BBC Symphony and also performed and broadcast by the Ulster Orchestra. Fuego has received its American première by The Juilliard Symphony at Lincoln Center, a venue which also saw the first performance of Peregrine by the New Juilliard Ensemble in 1997.
The opera The Wheel, commissioned by the Royal Opera House’s Garden Venture, was performed five times at Riverside Studios by the Garden Venture with Endymion Ensemble in 1993. The London International Opera Festival featured the electroacoustic opera Teoponte in 1988.
Other electroacoustic works include Wounded Angel for charango and electronic sounds, which is available from NMC records, and Silent Towers, which has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and on European radio stations, and is also available from Lontano Records. Both works have received performances at London’s South Bank.