New Music Season in Barcelona

The city’s new music season gets under way in September with a varied and attractive programme.

You could start by sampling the programme at the Palau de la Música, which has a “Mozart in jazz” concert on 1 September, with Llibert Fortuny on sax and Manel Camp on piano. Also awaiting you will be the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès (18 September) and the guitarists Xavier Coll (8 and 17 September) and Pedro Javier González (24 September).

If you visit the Liceu between 4 and 7 September, you can enjoy an opera in four acts, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, with music by Christoph Willibald Gluck and a libretto by François Guillard. It opened in Paris in 1779. This is the second version of Iphigenie auf Tauris, which marked the end of the composer’s Paris period and is one of his truly brilliant operas.

On 27 and 30 September you will find Marc Piollet and Calixto Bieito directing the comic opera Carmen, with music by Georges Bizet, a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy and based on the novel by Proper Mérimée. It opened in Paris in 1875 and in Barcelona in 1881, coming to the Liceu in 1888.

As regards symphonies, the OBC will be at the Auditori (24-26 September), conducted by Pablo González and playing compositions by Ramon Humet, Debussy and Shostakhovich.

The Mas i Mas Festival in August

For eight years the Mas i Mas Festival has been adding rhythm to the warmest days of the year. This edition’s festival, which kicks off on 29 July with a performance by the Malian diva Rokia Traoré, has programmed over 160 concerts to suit all tastes with world music, flamenco, classical and electronica.

Among all that will be going on, one concert stands out, the Plaça Reial tribute to the city’s most iconic jazz club, the Jamboree, which is 50 this year. Musicians like Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald and Ornette Coleman have been here, so jazz will be the star of this free concert on Monday 30 August, starting at 6 pm.

The Big Acoustic Band, the best national jazz outfit, and WTF All Stars, the musicians that liven up the WTF Jam Sessions every Monday at the club, will have the job of bringing the Jamboree out into the light in Plaça Reial.

Appearing at the Mas i Mas Festival besides Rokia Traoré will be Flavio Rodríguez, Lucrecia and Sole Giménez, accompanied by the saxophonist Perico Sambeat. This last recital will close the festival on 1 September at the Palau de la Música.

The inclusion of the Palau de la Música as a festival stage is one of the new features of the eighth Mas i Mas Festival. There the chamber music room will hold three latin and jazz concerts a day.

In all the festival will have seven stages around the city. La Pedrera once again provides the stage for classical music, with three concerts a day, while flamenco will be based at the Tarantos, with six sessions a day, and electronica at the Moog. The Auditori will open the festival and there will also be concerts at Luz de Gas and the Jamboree.

All those people who say nothing happens in Barcelona in August have got it all wrong!

“Barcelona is the best city in the world” by Woody Allen

Playing to a full house last Sunday March 28, film director Woody Allen and his regular band showed their jazz repertory, some of which is closely associated with his films. During the concert he declared his love for the Catalan capital, saying: “Barcelona is the best city in the world“.

This was the film director’s second performance at the iconic Modernista concert hall, Palau de la Música. He was appearing on the Millennium Festival programme, in which he held a distinguished place a few years ago as a clarinettist in the New Orleans Jazz Band.

With a calling card of modest remarks, like “I’m nothing more than an amateur clarinettist“, “if I weren’t famous, nobody would come to my concerts“, “people come more to see me than to hear me“, Allen made another appearance before his Barcelona public, fans both of his films and performances.

The Modernista Palau had a put up a notice two days before the concert informing the public that all tickets had sold out for concert featuring the film director, a jazz musician, as he himself admits, with a passion for New Orleans music.

Allen learnt to play the sax soprano when he was thirteen or fourteen, but he later chose the clarinet as he’d always loved New Orleans jazz, especially Sidney Bechet.

While acknowledging that he listens to other kinds of music in his free time, including opera, classical music and modern jazz, and that he also loves songs from Broadway musicals, he reaffirmed his preference for New Orleans music. Source: www.bcn.es

Web de Woody Allen & His New Orleans Jazz Band

“Play me, I’m Yours” at Barcelona

From March 2010, more than 20 street pianos will be distributed across the streets of Barcelona for the International Music Competition Maria Canals. Located in public parks, streets and squares, the pianos are for any member of the public to play, to personalise and to enjoy.

Touring internationally since 2008, “Play Me, I’m Yours” is an artwork by artist Luke Jerram.

The Maria Canals Music International Contest was the first music contest in Spain and is one of the most prestigous all over the world. The Contest will be on from March 13th to March 26th in El Palau de la Música and will organize more than 50 concerts all around Barecelona within the framework of the Off Contest 2010.

Don’t shoot the pianist

The Maria Canals International Music Competition of Barcelona was founded in 1954 by the pianist Maria Canals and her husband, the writer Rossend Llates. This Competition has achieved international prestige since it was accepted by the World Federation of International Music Competitions in 1958.

It is held at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, being endorsed by the World Federation of Music Competitions for the organization of the branches of piano, violin, singing, cello, chamber music, guitar, percussion and flute. Since 1954, the Competition has held over 110 branches, with over 7.000 participants from 100 countries and 180 jury members from all over the world.

The 56th Barcelona Maria Canals International Music Competition will bring together 91 pianists from 26 countries between 13 and 26 March. At the same time, the Off-Competition will be taking piano music to the public.

Maria Canals Competition wants to take advantage of the presence of so many prestigious pianists in the city to take piano music out to the public. More than fifty pianos will be spread around the city so everyone who wants to can play the piano in some very unusual places.

Green spaces, squares and streets will provide the setting for concerts aimed at everyone, children and adults, professionals and amateurs, with grand pianos installed so the participants in the competition can take their art to every corner of the city. Rambla del Raval, Plaça de Sarrià, Can Brians prison and the Line 2 metro station lobby in Plaça de la Universitat are some of the improvised “concert halls” for these young artists.

The Pope will visit Barcelona and Sagrada Familia

On Sunday November 7th, Pope Benedict XVI will come to Barcelona and consecrate the Temple of Sagrada Familia. This piece of news was announced yesterday by Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona, Lluis Martinez Sistach.

This visit shows the high esteem of the Pope for the catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, added the spoke-person at the Vatican, Federico Lombardi. NN Hotels invites you to discover all Gaudi’s buildings as well as other Art-Noveau works in Barcelona, such as Park Guell or Palau de la Musica, with the Modernism Route.

The last time a Pope was in Barcelona dates from 1982, when John Paul II visited Montserrat, the construction works at Sagrada Familia and celebrated mass at the Camp Nou stadium.

11th Gospel Festival of Catalonia

It promises to be spectacular with the best performances in contemporary gospel, to judge by the choice on offer at the Catalonia Gospel Festival. The South African choir Soweto, the American choirs Georgia, Amen and Black Heritage, plus the ‘lady of gospel’ and soloist Bridget A. Bazile from New Orleans, are just some of the acts.

In addition, the Barcelona Gospel Institute choir, with its 200 members, has shown we too have our own home-grown enthusiasts of this highly spiritual style of music. All these choirs will be filling Catalonia, throughout this month, with an authentic Afro-American spirit.

One of the voices you’ll be able to savour will be that of the classically trained Bridget A. Bazile, who hails from New Orleans and puts her unique voice at the service of an equally unique tradition.

On Thursday 17, at the Palau de la Música, you can treat yourself to the impressive music of the South African choir, Soweto. You’ll be amazed by their explosion of rhythm, colours, strength and vitality. You’ll have the opportunity to experience the gospel you’d expect of this music genre, the kind performed by choirs and with the force of a whole continent behind them.

You’ll find yourself carried away by the authentic African legacy of Black Heritage, who pay tribute to the Afro-American musical tradition, from its origins in the plantations of the Deep South to its urban variations.

Concert ‘Amen Gospel Choir + The Brotherhood Singers’ | Date: 12/12/2009
Place: Gran Teatre del Liceu

Concert ‘Soweto Gospel Choir’ | Date: 17/12/2009
Place: Palau de la Música Catalana

Concert ‘Bridget A. Bazile Singers i la Coral de l’Institut Gospel Barcelona | Date: 23/12/2009
Place: L’Auditori de Barcelona

Festival Website: www.theproject.es  | NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

Miles Davis at 41st Voll Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival

The Barcelona International Jazz Festival will be paying homage to the album ‘Kind of Blue’, by the trumpet player and composer ‘Miles Davis’, considered the most important work in this musical style.

Released 50 years ago, the album is one of the great musical works of all time and is still a touchstone in Jazz today.

Also taking part in the festival will be Wayne Shorter, a member of the Miles Davis quintet during the 1960s, and Marcus Miller, who co-composed the legendary Tutu’ album with Miles, as well as great female singers like Cassandra Wilson and Concha Buika.

This time the festival, which will taking place from 18 October to 6 December, will be flooding the city with a record number of concerts - over 70 - and a stellar one to finish with at one of the most legendary halls in North American jazz, the New York Jazz Standard.

The concerts will be performed at fifteen different venues, including the Auditori, Luz de Gas, Jamboree, Palau de la Música and Harlem Jazz Club.

Source: www.bcn.es | www.nnhoteles.com

Hospital de Sant Pau: 600 years improving Barcelona

The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau dates back to 1401 when six hospitals in the city merged, forming the Hospital de la Santa Creu. With the growth of the city and the advances in medicine in the 19th century, the centre was unable to meet the demands of the time and construction of a new building was proposed. The original 15th century buildings, located near Hotel 1898, now house a design school and a library. The new buildings were erected outside the ancient city, on the new ‘Eixample’ and near the Sagrada Familia grounds.

Thanks to the legacy of Pau Gil, a banker, on January 15, 1902 the first stone of the new building was laid. “Sant Pau” was added to the old hospital’s name to honour the wishes of its benefactor. The genious architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner was commissioned with the project. Domènech i Montaner is also known for his work at Palau de la Música Catalana. Over the years, the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau has become the most significant public building in Catalan modernisme. On 1997, the building was acknowledged as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Recently, Hospital de Sant Pau has been seen in Woody Allen’s movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona and pictured as scenario in Batman’s Barcelona adventure.

After one century serving the city, the modernist pavilions needed a major update, and a new building will now host all the health services. The modernist pavilions will be fully restored and soon to be used as a permanent seat for the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, together with other cultural activities.

More inf@:  Hospital de Sant Pau website   ..::.. Tourist information about Hospital de Sant Pau