Premiere of Mass. Protected from the wrath of the world to Ramon Humeitperformed by the vocal group Band ya all Directed by Xavier PastranaHaha The 44th edition of the Torroella de Montgrí Festival has concluded. (Pix Empordà).
And I have done so since then.St. Genis Church With an intimate concert of acoustic excellence that captivated the audience. The piece was commissioned by the festival and was inspired precisely by its motto: shelter from the wrath of the world. “The pandemic made us think about what we wanted the festival to be, this refuge to enjoy music in peace in a world that is moving so fast,” explained the festival director, Montse Vora, adding that this is where the mission “to do a mass where peace and tranquility were the main focus” arose.
The work, which, as the composer explained, is reflected in the polyphonic masses of “great Renaissance masters such as Tomás Luís de Victoria, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, William Byrd or Cristóbal de Morales”, adopts the traditional structure of the Catholic Mass in five movements, as well as its Latin text.
The composer said that the Mass, composed for six voices, which lasts about half an hour and was premiered on Thursday in Torruella, “longs for the ideal of building a world in which peace reigns,” also explaining that he devoted “his whole life to writing it.” To which Humet says, “a series of months have passed in writing it, but the Mass is the result of all the experience.”
In addition, the composer praised the interpretation given by the O Vos Omnes choir. Founded in 2011 by the director and composer Xavier Pastrana, the choir has established itself as one of the most popular early vocal groups in Catalonia. In Torruella, a “double concert” was offered, because in the first half hour the group performed Ascendens Christus in altum and Missa Ascendens Christus in altum by the Renaissance composer Tomás Lluís de Victoria. After an intermission of just over five minutes, the audience was able to enjoy the premiere.
Missa Custoditus ab ira mundi is not the first work by Humet to premiere at the Torroella Festival. On 14 August 2008, the Church of Sant Ginés hosted the premiere of Un vent transparent, commissioned by the Caixa de Catalunya Foundation and co-produced by the Torroella de Montgrí Festival and Zaragoza Expo 2008, and interpreted by the Chamber Orchestra of the Zaragoza Hall – Enigma Group.
In fact, throughout his career, Ramón Humet has premiered his works in the major concert halls of Barcelona and Madrid, as well as in many capitals in Europe, Canada and the United States. The composer has received awards such as the Olivier Messiaen International Prize for Composition and the XXIV Queen Sofia Prize for Composition, among others.
93% average occupancy
The programming of this 44th edition of the Torroella de Montgrí Festival included a total of 43 musical evenings (18 within the framework of the Torroella Festival, 19 in the Torroella-L’Estartit Fringe program and 6 in musical documentaries in the new proposal at -Edit Empordà) that gathered a total of 11,186 spectators -3,000 more than the 2023 edition – with an average occupancy of 93.33%.
In addition, the commitment to classical music was maintained with 60% Baroque music, 30% singing, and the three most performed composers in the history of the festival: Johann Sebastian Bach with three concertos, and Mozart and Vivaldi with a study of each.
The director of the Torroella de Montgri Festival, Montse Foria, expressed her happiness with this job, stressing that “the festival is being strengthened for another year as a success that attracts and maintains the public, and at the same time it is a recipe for joy. The public is different from the festival.”
Highlights of the programme include performances such as the complete recovery after the pandemic of the Singulars Torroella concerts, which were sold out; the return after more than 30 years of his last concert at the Festival de l’Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, which opened the 44th edition on August 2 and which was also sold out; as well as the performance of Purcell’s opera The Fairy Queen, the second opera to be performed at the Torroella Festival after Mozart’s Apollo and Hyacinthus, which was presented in the 1991 edition.
Another sold-out concert was the one by the Freiburger Barockorchester with fortepiano player Kristian Bezuidenhout. And for the Bach Collegium Japan concert, they had to increase the capacity due to high demand for tickets.
The director of the Torroella Festival also commented on the importance of the integration of the string quartets of Xostakóvitx, as well as the first edition of In-Edit Empordà that was screened, with six music documentaries screened in l’Estartit and Torroella de Montgrí. “A successful complement to the festival’s programming”.
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