Granados Centenary News March 18, 2014: There is some very important news for the Granados Centenary. Dr. Mutsumi Fukushima of the University of Hiroshima is joining our committee. Mutsumi received her Doctorate in Barcelona where she lived for 11 years. She is an expert on Catalan piano music. In 2016 the Musicology Society of Japan will be having their annual conference at her University and she will make Granados and Spanish music the main topic. Mutsumi will also present a paper at our symposium in New York. Paolo Pinamonte, Director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela will join our committee. The Zarzuela will present María del Carmen in the original version, recovered by Walter A. Clark and Douglas Riva, in either Spring or Fall 2016. Reilly Lewis, Music Director of the National Cathedral in Washington has confirmed a performance of Cant de les estrelles in either 2016 or 2017. For the Granados centenary and the 150th Anniversary of his birth a new multi-media theatrical program is being developed. It will include spoken dialogue recalling Granados’ life and works with extensive quotations from his soon-to-be-published letters (prepared by Dr. Miriam Perandones Lozano) and selections of Granados’ piano, vocal and dance works. Performers will be pianist Douglas Riva, mezzo soprano Anna Tonna, actor and noted Classical radio personality (and artist) Kevin Gordon, and dancer Anna de la Paz. A special feature will be a rare performance of one of Granados’ final works, Danza de los ojos verdes, premiered in February, 1916 in New York. Maxine Thevenot, choral director and organist, has announced a performance of Cant de les estrelles, Fall, 2016 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The three choruses will be Polyphony Voices of New Mexico, the St. John Cathedral Choir and the women’s chorus, Las Cantantes from the University of New Mexico. Douglas Riva will be the piano soloist. A pre-concert lecture will be given by Dr. Walter A. Clark, author of Enrique Granados: Poet of the Piano, published by Oxford University Press.
The New Yorker on Falla and Flamenco March 18, 2014: In anticipation of the upcoming performance of Manuel de Falla’s ballet, El Amor Brujo, Joan Acocella writes in The New Yorker, that the composer “spent his late years creating what he hoped was a universalized version of Spanish music”. The event will take place this weekend (March 22-23, click here for tickets), and will feature the Foundation’s ensemble-in-residence Perspectives Ensemble. That Sunday, Foundation director Antoni Pizà will participate in a pre-concert roundtable discussion, along with writer Antonio Muñoz Molina and Perspectives Ensemble choreographer Igal Perry.
Two Visiting Scholars March 7, 2014: The Foundation is excited to be hosting two eminent visiting scholars this semester. Germán Gan-Quesada, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, will be giving a lecture a the Graduate Center on March 7. His talk, Spain Was Not (So) Different, will concern the avant-garde in 20th Century Spanish music. Julián Elvira is a visiting scholar that is also a talented flautist. In addition, he has recently designed a special type of flute that is capable of reproducing the timbres of many different instruments. In fact, this instrument can produce so many different tones, that Elvira is looking into data visualization. Data visualization is an exciting new field – pioneered by such scholars as Manuel Lima and CUNY’s own Lev Manovich – in which large pools of information are condensed and represented graphically.
An Album by the Perspectives Ensemble March 4, 2014: Perspectives Ensemble, instrumental group in residence at the Foundation, has recently released a CD of the music of Xavier Montasalvatge. Conducted by Angel Gil-Ordoñez, the music on this CD is based on the program presented by the Foundation at the Morgan Library in September 2012, in honor of the composer’s centenary. Sato Moughalian is the founder and artistic director of the group. The New York Times has reviewed the album, saying “you couldn’t ask for a better introduction to [Montsalvatge’s] elegant, refined, and piquant oeuvre than this vibrant collection by New York City’s Perspectives Ensemble.” See the whole review here.
A Successful Conference February 27-28: The “Sounding Communities” conference on Medieval Iberian Music, co-hosted by the Foundation, was held this past week at the Graduate Center and Columbia University. Bringing together scholars of music, art, and literature, the conference was a resounding success. The New York Andalus Ensemble, ensemble at residence of the Foundation, performed to a sold-out crowd. We would like to thank all of the artists and scholars involved, and look forward to more successful conferences, such as the upcoming Displacing the Voice conference on Spanish pop music and cinema. Here are some images from the event:
Enrique Granados Centenary and Anniversary A Granados Celebration Official International Committee Commemorating the Centenary of Enrique Granados in 2016 and the 150th Anniversary of his birth in 2017 Enrique (Enric) Granados (1867-1916) spent the final months of his life in New York. His visit to the United States included some of the most important artistic triumphs of his life—the World Premiere of his opera, GOYESCAS, at the Metropolitan Opera, solo and chamber music recitals with cellist Pau (Pablo) Casals, recordings for the Duo-Art Reproducing Piano, the premiere of his symphonic poem, DANTE, by the Chicago Symphony, and a recital at the White House. The coincidence of the Centenary of Granados’ death in 2016 and the 150th Anniversary of his birth in 2017 provides a unique opportunity to re-discover and re-evaluate the important contributions by Granados to the musical world and to highlight the ties between his native Catalunya and the city of New York. An international committee is now actively working to organize and coordinate events commemorating the Granados Centenary around the world. For a full list of Centenary events in NYC and around the world, please see this page. (Be sure to bookmark it and check back for new events!) Steering Committee Douglas Riva Antoni Pizà International Board of Advisors Carlos Arnasay Patricia Caicedo Walter Aaron Clark Carolina Estrada Mutsumi Fukushima Ángel Gil-Ordoñez Helen Glaisher-Hernández Yolanda Guasch Miriam Perandones Lozano John Watson Milton Mary Ann Newman Mònica Pagès Jorge de Persia Paolo Pinamonti Arturo Reverter Emilio Casares Rodicio Anna Tonna Alicia Torra de Larrocha Alvaro Torrente Marta Zabaleta Biographies Carlos Aransay (ARCM) studied singing at the Escuela Superior de Canto as well as piano and composition at the Real Conservatorio Superior, both in Madrid, and composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music in London. In Vienna he pursued conducting studies with Jacques Delacôte, a pupil of Hans Swarovsky. He has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, Pilsen Radio Orchestra (Czech Republic), the National Orchestras of Cuba and Peru, SODRE (National Broadcast) Orchestra of Uruguay, Trujillo Symphony Orchestra (Peru), Falcon Symphony Orchestra (Venezuela), etc. His involvement in opera has landed him jobs with the Earls Court arena production of Carmen (in Zurich, Munich and Berlin, with José Carreras leading one of five different casts), Costa Rica Chamber Opera ( national premiere of Suor Angelica), Midsummer Opera, Blackheath Opera, Floral Opera, etc. As an operatic chorus master Carlos has worked with the Ambrosian Opera Chorus (assistant to John McCarthy), Classical Productions Chorus (assistant to Terry Edwards and Simon Joly), Chelsea Opera Group, Midsummer Opera, etc. In 2009 he founded the London Lyric Chorus, which featured in a commercial recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra. In Lima he is music director of the new Dompablo Operetta and Zarzuela Company. Carlos’s professional chamber choir, Coro Cervantes, was founded in 1995 and is now firmly established as a succesful and prestigious group in the UK and Spain. They have released five CDs to date (Guild, Sello Autor, Signum) which have been highly acclaimed in the UK and abroad (Gramophone Critic´s Choice/CDs of The Year, Best Choral CD of 2010/The New CD Show Classic FM, etc) and have performed extensively in Spain, Holland, Mexico, Russia and the UK (Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. John’s Smith Square…). Carlos is a regular guest conductor of the National Choir of Spain, with concerts at the National Auditorium in Madrid and broadcasts on National Spanish Radio. As a teacher, Carlos works in Latin America since 1999, with regular visits to Mexico, Peru and Cuba. In London he is one of the teachers of the Lacock International Choral Courses (with courses in the UK, Spain and Mexico), Floral Opera Workshops and has also taught Vocal Repertoire and Technique at the City Literary Institute and Spanish and Latin American vocal repertoire at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, besides working as a private voice teacher. Since 2003, he is Music Director and a member of the jury of the Trujillo International Singing Competition (Peru). He writes and translates for EMI Classics, Naxos, Brilliant, and has been invited on several occasions to BBC radio programs such as In tune and The Choir. He has compiled a top selling CD for the National Gallery in London (The Sacred made Art) and, as a recording producer, he has worked with the Musikene School in San Sebastian and has released the world premiere recording of Juan José, an opera by Pablo Sorozábal. He has worked alongside artists like Harry Christophers and Joyce DiDonato in masterclasses, and is Patricia Petibon´s language coach in her latest CD for Deutsche Grammophon. Carlos has been a member of the Iberian and Latin American Music Society (ILAMS). Patricia Caicedo is both a musicologist and a soprano, specializing in Latin American and Iberian vocal music repertory. Recognized as a leading interpreter of the music, Caicedo sings in Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Quechua, and Nahuatl. She is also the founder and director of the Barcelona Festival of Song, a summer program and concert series dedicated to promoting Latin American and Iberian Vocal repertoire. Walter Aaron Clark, author of Enrique Granados: Poet of the Piano (2006/2011) and Isaac Albéniz: Portrait of a Romantic (1999/2002), both published by Oxford University Press, professor of musicology at the University of California, Riverside, where he is the Founder and Director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music, prepared the first edition of Granados’s Catalan opera Follet published by Tritó, Barcelona. Carolina Estrada is a Spanish-born concert pianist. She performs frequently in international festivals and has given recital in prestigious concert halls around the world as soloist and with orchestras. She has edited several recordings with Quality Classics in Holland and recorded live broadcast for National Catalan and Spanish Radios. She won her first award at the age of 8, since then, she has been grant holder of numerous international awards and prizes. Currently she has been awarded at the Chamber Music Section of the Australasian International Double-Reed Competition in Sydney and is recipient of the George Henderson Award and the Kathleen & Allison Short Scholarship, both Faculty Merit Scholarships offered by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to financially support her doctoral degree. Carolina Estrada started her studies with Carles Julia and Ramon Coll in Barcelona. Later, she studied her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees with Matthijs Vershoor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she was selected to undertake a year of specialization at the Universitat der Kunste Udk with the legendary pianist Laszlo Simon. She has also received advisement from Dejan Lazic, Paul Badura-Skoda, Natalia Sheludiakova, Claude Helffer, Gerard Willems, Ilse Graubin, Edit Fisher and Malcom Bilson. Mutsumi Fukushima is a musicologist and pianist. She is the author of El piano en Barcelona entre 1880 y 1936 (to be published in 2014 by Ed. Boileau), as well as numerous articles on concert life in Barcelona. Fukushima is professor at the Elisabeth University of Music, Hiroshima. Angel Gil-Ordóñez, PostClassical Ensemble Music Director, has conducted symphonic music, opera, and ballet throughout Europe, the United States, and Latin America. In the United States, he has appeared with the American Composers Orchestra, Opera Colorado, the Pacific Symphony, the Hartford Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the National Gallery Orchestra in Washington. Abroad, he has been heard with the Munich Philharmonic, the Solistes de Berne, at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and at the Bellas Artes National Theatre in Mexico City. In 2006, the King of Spain awarded Angel Gil-Ordóñez the country’s highest civilian decoration, the Royal Order of Queen Isabella, for his work performing and teaching Spanish music in its cultural context. Gil-Ordóñez is principal guest conductor of New York’s Perspectives Ensemble (with which he has recorded the music of Xavier Montsalvatge for Naxos [8.573101]), and music director of the Georgetown University Orchestra in DC. He also serves as advisor for a program in Leon, Mexico, modeled on Venezuela’s El Sistema. Helen Glaisher-Hernández is an Anglo-Spanish concert pianist, musicologist, pedagogue and curator. She regularly performs in the UK’s major venues including Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room, Barbican, St James’s Piccadilly, St John’s Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-Fields and has given the UK premiere of numerous pieces by Latin American composers including Villa-Lobos, Guastavino, Vitier, Guarnieri and Carreño. She is Chairwoman of ILAMS, the Iberian and Latin American Music Society, based in London. Yolanda Guasch is manager of the Barcelona publishing house Editorial Boileau. Ed. Boileau is the most important publisher of Granados’ works, including the 18 volume Complete Piano Works, directed by Alicia de Larrocha and Douglas Riva, Cant de les estrelles, Songs for Male Voice, Religious Works, and many more. In conjunction with the Granados Centenary, Boileau will also publish the first Spanish translation of Enrique Granados: Poet of the Piano by Walter A. Clark, and The Complete Correspondence of Enrique Granados, by Miriam Perandones Lozano. Dr. Miriam Perandones Lozano, author of La canción lírica de Enrique Granados (1867-1916) and The Complete Letters of Enrique Granados, to be published by Ed. Boileau, Barcelona. She is also the author of various articles about Granados, such as: Enrique Granados en París: la construcción de un icono español en el ámbito musical internacional, Revista de musicología, No. 34, 2011; La canción de Enrique Granados: un microcosmos estilístico, Cuadernos de música iberoamericana, No. 22, 2011) She is Professor at the Universidad de Oviedo. John Watson Milton, writer and historian, author of the award-winning historical novel on the life of Enrique Granados, The Fallen Nightingale (2004), Catalan translation El rossinyol abatut, published by Pagès Editors (Catalan), Spanish translation El ruiseñor abatido, published by Ediciones Milenio, and the novels Time to Choose, published by Xlibris Corporation, and Crossing the Barriers: The Autobiography of Allan Spear, published by the University of Minnesota Press. Mary Ann Newman, head of the Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the United States, noted author and translator of Catalan literary works . Mònica Pagès, noted musical journalist and translator, author of Acadèmia Granados-Marshall: 100 anys d´escola pianística a Barcelona (2000). Jorge de Persia, musicologist and professor, was Director of the Archivo Manuel de Falla in Granada. His books include Los últimos años de Manuel de Falla, 1993; Joaquín Turina, notas para un compositor, 1999; En torno a lo español en la música del siglo XX, 2003; Julián Bautista and Tiempos y espacios, 2005. He also writes musical articles for La Vanguardia, Barcelona. Antoni Pizà, musicologist, Director of the Foundation for Iberian Music at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Arturo Reverter is one of the most distingusihed music critics in Spain. He was a founder of the important music magazine Scherzo. Known for his vast knowledge of vocal music, he is the author of El arte del canto, Las 50 mejores arias de Verdi, and Alfredo Kraus, una concepción del canto. He has collaborated with numerous publications and Radio Nacional de España. Douglas Riva, pianist and musicologist, Grammy nominated for his recording of the modern premiere of Granados´ masterpiece Cant de les estrelles, the only pianist to record the complete piano works of Granados (11 CDs) for Naxos, Assistant Director of the first critical edition of the 18 vol. Complete Piano Works directed by Alicia de Larrocha published by Ed. Boileau, Barcelona, currently preparing a critical edition of the complete chamber music for Tritó, Barcelona, currently preparing the first critical edition of the complete orchestra works of Granados which will be published by Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales, 2014. Emilio Casares Rodicio is a noted Spanish musicologist and professor, and one of the foremost experts on zarzuela. He is founder and former Director of the Complutense Institute of Musical Studies (Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales), Madrid. Anna Tonna is a mezzo soprano, Fulbright scholar to Spain, distinguished recording artist and noted performer of Catalan, Spanish and Latin American music. Alicia Torra de Larrocha is daughter of celebrated pianist Alicia de Larrocha. From 1997-2009 she was the Manager of the Academia Marshall, founded by Granados, in Barcelona. Since her mother´s death in 2009, she has dedicated herself with the creation of the “ARXIU Alicia de Larrocha” and working on various projects to make available complete information about her mother’s career and enormous contribution to Spanish and Catalan music. Alvaro Torrente is Spanish musicologist. One of the world’s foremost experts on Spanish baroque music, especially the villancico genre, Torrente is a professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Director of the Complutense Institute of Musical Studies (Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales), Madrid. Marta Zabaleta is one of the finest Spanish pianists who has taken on the responsibility of directing the Academia Marshall, in accordance with the express wish of her predecessor, Alicia de Larrocha. Ms. Zabaleta has won numerous international competitions and has performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonieorchester (Berlin), the Basque Euskadi National Orchestra (San Sebastián) and the Spanish RadioTelevision National Orchestra (RTVE), as well as the symphony orchestras of Bilbao, Extremadura, Castilla y León, Murcia, Comunidad de Madrid, Galicia, Córdoba, Málaga, Granada and Valencia, under the baton of outstanding conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Daniele Gatti, Harry Christophers, Sergiu Comissiona, Günter Neuhold, Arturo Tamayo, Juanjo Mena, Juan Ramón Encinar, Max Bragado-Darman, and Christopher Wilkins. Her recordings have been issued by EMI INternational, Claves and the RTVE label. Support for A Granados Celebration events generously provided by:
A Performance of Cant de les estrelles in Washington D.C. 2016: As a part of the Enrique Granados Centenary and Anniversary, the chorus of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., directed by Reilly Lewis, will give a performance of Enrique Granados’ Cant de les estrelles (Song of the Stars). Featuring piano, organ, and voice, the piece was premiered on March 11, 1911, with Granados himself on the piano. The poetic text derives from an unknown source, and is entirely in Catalan. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Granados was one of the defining composer of the Spanish nationalism movement, and this is one of his finer pieces. More details to come.
A Call for Papers Enrique Granados, A Century Later: Twenty-first Century Contexts for Nineteenth Century Musical Works This call for papers is now closed. Thank you for your submissions. February 25, 2014: The Foundation for Iberian Music at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York invites paper proposals for a conference on the music of Enrique Granados (1867-1916). The conference will take place at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York, in the Spring of 2016. Devoted to a reexamination of Granados’s life and works, the conference will be held on the occasion of the centenary of his death. All topics relating to Granados, his music, and cultural context may be submitted. Suggested areas of research may include, but are not limited to: Vocal music, operas, and Spanish musical theater His pedagogical works for piano Piano works: concert and pedagogical works Granados and Catalan nationalism Granados and early recording technology Granados in the USA Editorial issues in Granados’ music: manuscripts, critical editions, archival holdings Keynote Speaker Walter A. Clark, UC Riverside Organizing Committee Antoni Pizà, director of the Foundation for Iberian Music Douglas Riva, foremost Granados scholar and pianist Walter A. Clark, director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music
The New York Andalus Ensemble on Tour February 2014: The New York Andalus Ensemble, ensemble in residence at the Foundation, is currently on tour in California, and its members are busy traveling and giving performances, demonstrations, and workshops. They have made appearances at Chadeish Yamenu and Peace United Church Community (Feb. 16), University of California, Riverside (Feb. 20), and the Levantine Cultural Center (Feb. 23). Their tour will culminate in a concert at the Sounding Communities conference on medieval Iberian music at the CUNY Graduate Center on February 27.