2023-08-15 19:30:24
One September day in that distant 1994, the Schubertíada de Vilabertran, which had just celebrated its second edition, welcomed on its stage a young German tenor who, despite carrying the label of great promise, was still unknown to the general public . It was Matthias Goerne, today an internationally recognized figure in the world of liedwhich since then has never stopped stepping, year after year, at the Empordà festival. Erika Baikoff, a young American soprano of Russian origin, will be in charge of inaugurating the 31st edition of the Schubertiad this Wednesday – at 8:30 p.m. at the Canonica de Santa Maria. His could be the new discovery of a pageant that continues to bet on combining established names with promising youngsters. Accompanied by pianist James Baillieu, Baikoff will perform pieces by Schubert, Korngold and Marx and by Russian composers Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
This decided bet for opening the doors to promising young people has become a “house brand”as he points out the director of the Schubertíada, Víctor Médem. And the fact is that next to Goerne, the Alt-Empordà festival too can boast of having welcomed other great figures such as the Italian baritone Andrè Schuen or the Kyrgyz soprano Katharina Konradi that made the public of the Vilabertran festival fall in love in the years 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both Schuen and Konradi, and of course Goerne, are once again part of the bill of a festival that starts this Wednesday and will last until Sunday, August 27with the already traditional concert of closure of the Casals Quartet. Among the young talents, the festival will also host this year, as part of Lied the Future, performances by sopranos Mireia Tarragó and Elionor Martínezwhich will be accompanied on the piano, respectively, by Carmen Santamaría and Olivia Zaugg.
“The Schubertiade is a unique festival both for the type of repertoire we present and for the combination and balance in the program between great figures and promising youngsters» asserts Médem about a festival that, after celebrating three decades of life last year, still a new edition betting on the same philosophy that positioned it as one of the most important lied competitions in Europe. “What I am most proud of is that both the public, the organization and the artists themselves have managed to form a kind of family that is very eager to meet each year” adds the director.
“There are many festivals, Shubertíades only one”
An improvised Schubert
One of the most innovative concerts that can be seen in this edition of the Schubertíada will be the one that will star on Sunday, August 20 the Menorcan pianist Marco Mezquida, a specialist in improvisation. Despite being one of the big names on the national jazz scene and having collaborated with a large number of artists, such as Sílvia Pérez Cruz from Palafrugell, Mezquida is a “classical pianist” by training and “his favorite composer is Schubert” . “A few years ago we were talking and I told him that because he wasn’t coming to the festival to present a Schubert program. He replied that for this he needed years of preparation. Last year he called me and told me that he was doing quite well» explains Médem. “The funny thing is that he will play alone and that he will start playing Schubert, but we will not know where he will go next» emphasizes the director of the festival, who adds that “it will be as if Schubert were alive”.
The 43rd Torroella Festival hosts a tribute to Victoria de los Ángeles
Alongside the Menorcan pianist’s concert, among the proposals that go beyond the most classical, there will be that of the Cosmos Quartet, who will perform in the same recital the Octet of German composer, conductor and clarinetist Jörg Widmann, a contemporary musician, and the work that inspired it, Franz Schubert’s Octet in F major. Regarding Widmann’s work, which will be performed for the first time in Catalonia, Médem points out that “it is a piece he wrote inspired by Schubert’s work. The listener is listening to Schubert, but through a mirror of two centuries. We think playing both works in the same concert will be a very interesting experience.”
Tribute to Victoria de los Ángeles
As it could not be otherwise, the Schubertíada also wanted to celebrate this year a concert dedicated to Victoria de los Ángelescoinciding with the centenary of his birth. The soprano Katharina Konradi and the pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz they will be in charge of offering a recital that will take place on Sunday, August 20 in the afternoon.
From the rest of the program, this year the festival will have much-loved names such as tenor Christoph Prégardien, baritone Konstantin Krimmel, sopranos Julia Kleiter and Dorothea Röschmann and pianist Javier Perianesanother of the great classics of the Schubertiade.
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