NEW CREATIONS, COMMISSIONS AND BIG NAMES

The 38th Peralada Festival presents 14 shows over 13 nights where every artistic proposal shines with its own personality. Big names like Beczala, Yoncheva, Savall, Pirozzi, the return of Sara Blanch and the debut of Ismael Jordi come together at a festival that will also host two big names on the piano: Yuja Wang and the emerging Yunchan Lim.

Perelada's commitment to creation will also play a fundamental role in this year's festival. The festival presents a programme with the premiere of the choral concert Renaissance Reloaded, starring the Chamber Choir of the Palau and directed by Júlia Sesé; the world premiere of the contemporary opera Don Juan no existe. Lo que olvidamos y lo que permanece by Helena Cánovas; and the premiere of a new composition by Marco Mezquida for Kebyart in what will be its debut at the festival.

Aleix Martínez directs and stars in Terra llaurada, a night of dance featuring Catalan and international dancers and creators commissioned by the festival for an event in which the company Acosta Danza returns with a programme filled with great choreographies by contemporary creators.

The Peralada Festival unveiled this morning its 38th summer programme, which will be held between July 19 and August 11 in the Carme Church of Peralada Castle, the Lookout over the Castle and this year also in the gardens of the Peralada Winery. The presentation, which took place at the Real Cercle Artístic de Barcelona, included Oriol Aguilà, artistic director of the Peralada Festival, who, accompanied by artists and creators such as Joan Anton Rechi, Júlia Sesé, Helena Cánovas, Aleix Martínez and Daniel Miguel (Kebyart), unveiled this year's programme.

After the success and positive feedback of the Easter edition, the Peralada Festival is presenting this summer a cultural proposal that brings together 14 shows starring great names in the world of song, classical music and dance. In addition, the programme will be complemented by a cycle of activities and dialogues under the name Artistic Confluences, the activities of the Peralada Campus and an exhibition at the Biblioteca del Carme featuring works and objects by Pedro Almodóvar.

The construction of the new Auditorium, which, as Oriol Aguilà has explained, "is ongoing", has led the Castell de Peralada Foundation, organiser of the contest, to once again present a programme for a reduced audience. Despite this, the festival, true to its artistic model, has not given up on presenting a top-tier programme with great stars, world premieres and new commissions, all of which make the festival a space that breathes creativity.

Lyrical singers and classical stars at the Carme Church

Great lyrical and classical artists will perform at the Carme Church this summer. With its usual passion for voices, the festival has gathered a luxurious vocal cast. The 38th festival will open with the great Polish tenor Piotr Beczala (19 July), who returns to the same stage where he debuted in 2013, also with a lyrical recital. This time, the tenor will present a recital alongside pianist Sarah Tysman dedicated in the first part to the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and, in the second part, to opera arias by Moniuszko, Dvorák, Verdi and Puccini.

Zarzuela, great opera arias and a Rossini night by three great female performers. On 26 July, the soprano Sonya Yoncheva and the baritone Ismael Jordi accompanied on the piano by Rubén Fernández Aguirre will present Pasión, a programme of the most popular romances and zarzuelas of the great masters of this lyrical genre. The following day, Neapolitan soprano Anna Pirozzi (27 July), together with a string quartet and with Sophia Muñoz on piano, will perform a programme of opera arias by Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Leoncavallo and especially the master of emotions, Giacomo Puccini. One of the greatest moments will undoubtedly be the night of 5 August, when the Catalan soprano Sara Blanch and the Italian baritone Pablo Bordogna take centre stage. Both singers are two of the most important Rossini voices of our time. She was the first resident artist of the Peralada Festival in 2016 and this summer she returns crowned as the great Rossini diva. Recently, the soprano debuted in a solo recital at the Palau de la Música Catalana, the last concert of the Palau Grans Veus cycle, to overwhelming success, and next September 2024 she will make her long-awaited debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Alongside one of the best buffi of his generation and with Giulio Zappa on piano, they will pay tribute to the brilliant composer, the swan of Pesaro, with a series of great arias from his most famous operas in an evening that the festival claims will be unforgettable.

The Chamber Choir of the Palau under the direction of the young Júlia Sesé (7 August) will present the concert commissioned by the festival Renaissance Reloaded. At the heart of this programme is Helena Cánovas' Intorno a due vermiglie e vaghe labbra, based on a madrigal by Monteverdi. Young composers have been asked to revisit Renaissance polyphony and counterpoint and reshape them through their own language. Thus, the musical language of Xavier García Cardona, Joan Magrané, Carles Prat, Helena Cánovas and Josep Ollé will dialogue with compositions by Alonso Lobo, Maddalena Casulana and Claudio Monteverdi in a concert that will also include premieres by Aurora Bauzà and Pere Jou and a new madrigal by Anna Campmany.

Two great piano recitals will also take place on the Carme stage. Young Korean pianist Yunchan Lim (3 August) is arriving after his debut last Easter had to be cancelled due to injury. On the other hand, the virtuoso and charismatic Chinese pianist Yuja Wang will bring the 38th festival to a close on the night of 11 August.

This year will see the return of one of the most versatile musical personalities of his generation. On 30 July, the master of the viola da gamba Jordi Savall will present El foc i les llàgrimes de les muses, a programme featuring Renaissance composers and instrumentalists from the Elizabethan period, such as Christopher Tye, William Byrd, Richard Nicholson and John Dowland, which the festival will dedicate to the memory of Luis López de Lamadrid, who directed the festival for twenty five years. Ancient, faraway songs that will be performed by the Hespèrion XXI ensemble, an inescapable reference for understanding the evolution of music during the period spanning from the Middle Ages to the Baroque, which, together with the voices of Elionor Martínez and William Shelton and the direction of Jordi Savall, will make it possible for the public to naturally enjoy the spiritual and aesthetic delicateness of that time.

Dance at the Castle Lookout

The Castel Lookout will host the proposals related to the art of movement and opera. There we will get to see a performance of the Cuban company Acosta Danza. On the nights of 26 and 27 July, Folcror will shine under the direction of Carlos Acosta. It is a spectacle that focuses on its Cuban roots, full of African, Spanish, Latin American and European influences, and represents the melting pot that is Cuba. Here Carlos Acosta has collaborated with the famous Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg in the work Paysage, soudain, la nuit. Lidberg celebrates youth between nightfall and dawn to a rumba-inspired score by Leo Brouwer. We will also see Spanish choreographer Rafael Bonachela's Soledad, an elegant, sexy and emotionally charged duet. It explores the wild and tender sides of a relationship, as well as Spanish roots, to the music of Mexican singer Chavela Vargas and Gidon Kremer's homage to Piazzolla. The evening will conclude with Hybrid, by Cuban choreographers Norge Cedeño and Thais Suárez. The energy and skill of the dancers is shown while seamlessly blending the African traditions of the Yoruba with a strongly contemporary dance.

The other great night of dance and creativity will be on 10 August, when the choreographer and dancer Aleix Martínez presents Terra llaurada, a commission from the Peralada Festival featuring Catalan and international dancers and creators. Bringing together eleven Catalan and European dancers, including Martí Paixà (principal dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet), Lorena Nogal (choreographer, assistant and dancer at La Veronal), Albert Hernández (principal dancer of the National Ballet of Spain and choreographer at La Venidera) and even Aleix Martínez (principal dancer of the Hamburg Ballett and choreographer), and works by creators such as John Neumeier, Lorena Nogal, Marco Goecke, Albert Hernández and Aleix Martínez, Terra llaurada aims to be a night of dance dedicated to small creative seeds, the spark that contains the power to light a fire.

Grand premiere night with contemporary opera

Without a doubt, the most important event of the Empordà festival will be the world premiere of the newly created opera Don Juan No Existe. Sobre lo que olvidamos y lo que permanece by the young composer, winner of the II edition of the Carmen Mateu Young Artist European Award Opera and Dance, Helena Cánovas. Co-producted with the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Teatro Real and the Teatro de la Mestranza, the composer aims to pay tribute through the character of Carmen Díaz de Mendoza Aguado, the Countess of San Luis, author of the opera Don Juan no existe, written and premiered at the beginning of the 20th century, to all those women who have been erased from history simply because they were born women. With a libretto by Alberto Iglesias, stage direction by Bárbara Lluch and musical direction by Jhoanna Sierralta, the cast is made up of soprano Natalia Labourtette, tenor Pablo García-López and baritone David Oller, while the music will be performed by the Cosmos Quartet with saxophonist Elena Otero and percussionist Miquel Vich.

The Almodóvar universe at the Peralada Festival

This year's festival poster is signed by Pedro Almodóvar, so it is only natural that the Peralada Festival, in co-production with ClàssicAnd, is presenting the musical show Pasión Almodóvar (20 July) with stage direction by Joan Anton Rechi. A unique proposal featuring the incomparable voice of Pasión Vega where the singer will offer a recital with songs taken from the films of the great director from La Mancha. A tribute to the filmmaker's sentimental and emotional universe through the songs that make up the soundtrack of his long and applauded filmography.

Likewise, the Festival will also present Vida detenida & Waiting for the Light by Pedro Almodóvar at the Biblioteca del Carme from July to December 2024. An exhibition made up of a series of images that could be taken from his films. Inspired by the emotion radiated by the still lifes of Madrid realists such as Antonio López and Isabel Quintanilla, Almodóvar starts to observe everyday life anew and to experiment with the language of photography. During the visit, you will be able to see a selection of these still lifes alongside objects linked to the artist's creative universe in the display cases of the Castle Library. Books, movie posters, storyboards and scripts will dialogue with the collection of festival posters dating back to 1992.

Ad libitum concerts: a musical experience between the Winery and the Church with a gastronomic tasting

For the first time, the festival will present two concerts that will take place between the Peralada Winery and the Carme Church. Two unique proposals that will be accompanied by a gastronomic tasting. A musical pairing designed to offer new experiences to the visiting public. First comes Die schöne Müllerin (“The Fair Maid of the Mill”) by the Viennese composer Franz Schubert. The singer Julian Prégardien, alongside the actors Francesc Torrent and Maria Molins, will interpret this story filled with romantic symbolism comprising twenty songs divided into several acts, as if it were a theatrical performance. Secondly, one of the most promising groups on the world scene today, the sax quartet Kebyart, will present a programme divided into two parts that mirror each other and establish a dialogue. Works by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jörg Widman, Bach and Ravel will share the programme with a fantasia, a world premiere commissioned by the festival by the creative musician Marco Mezquida to mark the imminent celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Maurice Ravel.

A space for reflection

The Festival has programmed a series of activities centred around the programme starting with the epicentre of the premiere of Helena Cánovas' opera and the night of dance by Aleix Martínez. Cinema, dialogues and conferences with the support of organisations such as Amics del Liceu and the Bcn Film Fest.

A new edition of the Summer Campus

In 2016, the Castell de Peralada Festival launched an educational project with the aim of bringing culture and art closer to the young people of the Girona regions. Through classical and dance shows, a series of activities are organised around the programming within the framework of the Festival. The Summer Campus provides, year after year, orientation spaces and educators to enable young people to experience and have a closer contact with the stage. This year, the Campus offers a unique opportunity to take a ballet class with the dancer Carlos Acosta with a large ballet barre (16 July at 6:30 pm on Plaça de Josep Pla, Figueres); a composition workshop with Helena Cánovas (23 May, from 10 am to 12 pm at the Centre Superior del Conservatori del Liceu); and a choreography workshop with Aleix Martínez for intermediate level classical or contemporary dance students, from 12 years of age (29 and 30 July, from 9 am to 12:30 pm, in the Peralada Sports Hall).

Tickets will be made available for purchase on 15 May at 10:00, on www.festivalperalada.com