Course and Concert Series focused on the History and Interpretation of the

The Barcelona Festival of Song is proud to have among their faculty some of the most important and internationally renowned scholars, researchers, teachers, and performers of the Latin American and Spanish Art Song genre.

Dr. Patricia Caicedo, soprano (Colombia): A recognized specialist and international performer of Latin American art song, Caicedo has sung in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Puerto Rico and Latin America to public and critical acclaim. Her well-received CDs include: A mi ciudad Nativa – To My Native City (Mundo Arts, 2005), Lied: Art songs of Latin America (Albert Moraleda, 2001) and La Felicidad, a collection of works by Colombian composer Jorge Olaya Muñoz, recorded with the Banda Sinfónica Santafé de Bogotá in 1997.

Her book The Latin American Art Song: A Critical Anthology and Interpretative Resource for Singers (Edicions Tritó, 2005) is a reference book in the field. Ms. Caicedo has earned highest honors in numerous festivals and competitions, including a prize awarded by Sony Music for best classical soloist in 1998 in Colombia and first prize in the “Concurso Nacional del Bambuco” competition, also in Colombia, in 1993.

Ms. Caicedo made her professional debut in 1993 when, as a part of the International Festival of Classical Music, she was a soloist in Gabriel Faure´s Requiem, accompanied by the Tolima Symphony Orchestra. Since then she has been a soloist in J.C. De Arriaga´s Stabat Mater, G.B. Pergolessi´s Stabat Mater and given recitals all around the world. During the last years Ms. Caicedo has debuted many works by some of the most important living composers of Latin America. She is frequently invited to contemporary music festivals where she performs new works. Many of the songs that she had debuted had been dedicated to her.

In addition to her busy performing schedule, Ms. Caicedo is an expert in the history and musical interpretation of the Latin American and Spanish art song. A popular teacher as well as performer, Ms. Caicedo regularly gives concert-lectures, master classes, and serves as Artist-in-Residence at leading universities in the United States and as a Cultural Ambassador for the Colombian Diplomatic Corps. She had been a guest teacher as such institutions as New York University, Columbia University, University of Texas at Austin, University of South Florida, New Mexico State University, University of Indianapolis, Loyola University, Wake Forest University, Conservatorio de Granada, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Texas Christian University and Bringham Young University among others. Her commitments for the season 2007 - 2008 include concerts and master classes in Spain, USA, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Cuba, and El Salvador. In 2008 Patricia will appear at the prestigious publication Who’s who in America.

Born in Ibagué, Colombia, Ms. Caicedo began studying piano, music theory, and voice as a child at the Tolima music conservatory; then continued with private instructors in Bogota. After completing medical studies in Bogotá, she resumed her voice studies and has since worked with Rocío Rios, Alfredo Krauss, Maya Maiska and Gilberto Escobar.

Dr. Stela Brandão, soprano (Brazil): Brazilian art song specialist, Dr. Brandão, graduated from the Conservatory at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She received her doctorate in Music Education from the University of Columbia Teachers College in New York. Her dissertation on the Brazilian art song focused on several songs by Heitor Villa-Lobos. An active performer, Brandão will make her Carnegie Hall debut in the fall of 2005 with a recital of Brazilian songs, many of which we will hear during the Barcelona Festival of Song.

Isabel Aragón, soprano (Spain) Born in Granada, Isabel Aragón started her training at the Conservatorio de Sevilla and finished at the Conservatorio Superior Municipal de Barcelona where she graduted with the highest honors. She continued her studies ath the Mozarteum of Salzburg with the support of an scholarship given by the Fundación March. Her teachers had been Conxita Badia, L. Egger, W. Raninger and F. Gimeno. She have obteined numerous prizes at international voice competitions like: “Francisco Viñas” (España), “Giuseppe Borgatti” (Italia) y Bienal de Rio de Janeiro (Brasil).

Ms. Aragon had collaborated with several orchestras under the batum of important conductors like S. Mas, R. Zollman, L. Balada, J. Guinjoan, J. Pàmies, J.C. Bernède y S. Johnson. She had performed at important international music festivals in Granada, Ripoll, Barcelona, Menorca, Bruselas (Europalia 85), Turín (Settembre Musica), Evreux (Música Contemporánea), Ginebra (Eté Espagnol), “XVII Congrés de Història de la Corona d’Aragó” y el “Congreso Internacional F.G.ª Lorca” organizado por la Universidad de Granada. Aragon is well know as an interpreter of the Spanish and Latin American Repertoire. She has two CDs of Spanish and Catalan music.

DMA from University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Peralta wrote his dissertation about Catalan Art Song. Peralta studied under the direction of Gerard Souzay, and had the opportunity of being his teaching assistant. Besides being a singer, Dr. Peralta is a fine singer, a mathematician and a Sanskrit expert. We lives and works in Barcelona and collaborates with the BFOS since its beginnings. Hi is a teacher of the Victoria dels Angels Conservatory of Music at Sant Cugat (Barcelona). Dr.

Pau Casan, piano (Spain): Native resident of Barcelona and accompanist of supreme sensitivity, Pau Casan, studied with Carme Agustí, with María Drets of the Marshall Academy, and with Miquel Farré en the Canservatori Superior Municipal de Música, where he graduated with honors. Casan did his graduate studies in piano with Gordon Fergus-Thompson and in accompanying techniques with Roger Vignoles in the Royal College of Music in London. Acompañante de gran sensibilidad, Casan obtuvo el postgrado avanzado de piano con Gordon Fergus-Thompson, thanks to a grant from the Pedro Pons foundation. Casan has performed as an accompanist in Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, and Colombia, and as a piano soloist in Spain, England, and Colombia. Since 2000, he has worked with Patricia Caicedo and recorded a CD dedicated to the Latin American lied.

Douglas Bringas, piano (México): Mexican pianist Douglas Bringas graduated with honors from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He took graduate courses at the Universidad Ramón Llull and Escola Luthier in Barcelona. Among his teachers are Nestor Castañeda, István Nádas and Ludovica Mosca. He has performed in Europe and Latin America as a soloist and accompanist with several singers and chamber ensembles. Bringas is a professor of piano at the UNAM and at the University of Chiapas. Currently, he is finishing his doctorate in Musicology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Max Lifchitz, piano (México-USA): Max Lifchitz was awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music held in Holland . Robert Commanday, writing for The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a young composer of brilliant imagination and a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist." The New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn praised Mr. Lifchitz for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances” while Anthony Tommasini remarked that he “conducted a strong performance.” Payton MacDonald writing for the American Record Guide remarked, “Mr. Lifchitz is as good on the podium as he is behind the piano.”

Donal Henahan, also writing for the New York Times, stated "Mr. Lifchitz, who is the enterprising director of North/South Consonance, is also an ambidextrous conductor of complex music. His own piece required him to beat intricate polyrhythms -- not only fairly simple patterns like 4 with one hand against 3 with the other, but also such metrical puzzles as 3 against 11 or 5 against 13."

A graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, Mr. Lifchitz has appeared in concert and recital throughout the US, Latin America and Europe. His CD album devoted to the piano music of Mexico elicited the following comment from Fanfare Magazine: "After several listenings, North/South Recordings No. 1010 is recommended to more than just a specialist audience because of the wide variety of attractive and challenging music that it contains. Lifchitz is a poetic pianist with requisite power to make the many granitic climaxes register. Easily, the most interesting new piano disc so far in 1996."

The American Record Guide commented as follows on Mr. Lifchitz’s album The American Collection (N/SR 1014): “suffice it to say that it would be hard to find a better snapshot of what American composers have been writing for the piano in the past decade than this collection. Lifchitz plays everything with sensitivity and force, where appropriate; and recorded sound is vivid and natural.” His CD album Diversions (North/South Recordings No. 1026) elicited the following comments from the London-based Gramophone Magazine: "Lifchitz has devised a charming programme of previously unrecorded pieces… His affectionate playing provides surprising emotional weight… Beautifully recorded album… Recommended.” Writer Jack Sullivan, reviewing his most recent solo releases for the American Record Guide stated: “Max Lifchitz, for whom much of the music featured in Final Bell (N/S R 1044) was written, plays with his usual brave authority, and North/South’s sound has a large, much-needed dynamic range.” And concerning American Women Composers (N/S R 1043) Mr. Sullivan wrote: “better to celebrate this engaging collection of new music played with color and commitment by one of America ’s finest exponents of contemporary piano music.”

Victoria Elí Rodríguez, musicóloga (Cuba): Victoria Elí Rodríguez recieved her doctorate in musicology from the Univesrity of Humboldt and began her teaching career in 1961. Between 1978 and 1997 she directed the Departamento de Investigaciones Fundamentales en el Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Música Cubana (CIDMUC) where she directed the group that finished the publication Instrumentos de la música folclórico-popular de Cuba. From 1982 to 1997, Elí Rodríguez served as professor of musicology in the Facultad de Música del Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA), de Cuba. Beginning in 1997, she worked as an auther and editor for several publications, the monumental Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana, edited by the Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales (ICCMU) and the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE). Currently, she teaches at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Carlos Manso, musicólogo (Argentina): Student of Conxita Badía, musicologist, pianist, artist, and writer, Carlos Manso works in the Nacional Radio of Argentina and actively promotes the song repertoire of Latin America.

Jorge Sánchez: Born in Badalona (Barcelona). Graduated in Romances Languages and Literature in the University of Barcelona. Teacher of Spanish as foreign language and co-founder of the Spanish School DIME. Thanks to his teaching experience in differents countries he has developed a great knowledge of all aspects of Spanish and many other languages such as Catalan, Italian, Portuguese and Greek. In his school pronunciation and intonation courses are given as a complement of Spanish language learning.

journals as well as book chapters devoted to the rehabilitation of the hearing impaired.