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The Schubertíada of Vilabertran dedicates its 34th edition to Jordi Roch
The festival pays tribute to its founder with a program that brings together great figures of lied and chamber music, new international talents and a tour of Schubert, Brahms and other great composers.
The Schubertíada de Vilabertran reaches its 34th edition this summer, once again becoming one of the essential events on the musical calendar. The festival, which will be held between August 13 and 30, will be marked by an emotional tribute to Jordi Roch, founder and promoter of the Schubertíada, who passed away last December. His figure will be present throughout the entire program, with the participation of the artists who for decades shared with him in the construction of one of the most prestigious lied festivals in Europe.
As usual in recent editions, the Schubertíada will begin with a prelude before arriving at its main venue, the Canònica de Santa Maria de Vilabertran. The first concert will take place in Vilajuïga, while the church of Sant Pere de Pals will host a new collaboration with the Festival Clàssic Pals, where baritone Mikhail Timoshenko and pianist Elitsa Desseva will make their festival debut performing Franz Schubert's Winterreise cycle.
From August 16, the Canònica will become the epicenter of the festival with a program that combines big names and a new generation of performers. The opening concert will be headlined by the Swedish soprano Matilda Sterby, while the soprano Ruzan Mantashyan will return to Vilabertran after the success achieved in the previous edition.
The Schubertíada will continue to focus on the Lied the Future program, a platform dedicated to promoting new talents in the genre. This year, soprano Mireia Tarragó will make her recital debut, after her time with this initiative, and artists linked to previous editions will also participate, such as soprano Elionor Martínez and pianists Maximilian Kromer, Victoria Guerrero and Jesús López Blanco.
2025 edition.
One of the highlights will be the performance of Die schöne Magelone by Johannes Brahms, by baritone Andrè Schuen and pianist Daniel Heide, with actor Pere Arquillué as narrator. Brahms will also have a central role in the concert of the vocal quartet formed by Elionor Martínez, Marie Seidler, Santiago Sánchez and Henk Neven, accompanied by pianists Victoria Guerrero and Pauliina Tukiainen, who will perform, among other works, the famous Liebeslieder Walzer .
Chamber music will also occupy a prominent space with the performance of Erwin Schulhoff's String Sextet, a work that the Nazi regime described as "degenerate music". The work will be performed by musicians Bernat Prat, Maria Florea, Noemí Fúnez, María Rallo, Blai Bosser and Oriol Prat, thus recovering one of the Czech composer's most significant scores.
The tribute to Jordi Roch will culminate during the last weekend of the festival with three particularly symbolic concerts. Pianist Javier Perianes will offer a recital with works by Manuel de Falla, Frédéric Chopin and Isaac Albéniz, also part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Andalusian composer.
Afterwards, baritone Matthias Goerne, accompanied by pianist Alexander Schmalcz, will present a program conceived entirely in memory of the founder of the Schubertíade, in one of the most emotional moments of this edition.
The closing concert will be the Casals Quartet, with the special participation of soprano Juliane Banse. The final concert will bring together works by Robert Schumann, Joseph Haydn and Schubert's legendary Death and the Maiden quartet, putting an end to an edition that combines artistic excellence, generational renewal and memory.
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