SOMNIS AND MELODIES

**C2. PROGRAMME:**

- "El cant de batre" – for solo piano
- "El combat del somni" – Three songs for solo voice and piano (on three poems by Josep Janés i Olivé)
- Commissioned by "The New York Opera Society"
1) "Mai més"
2) "La Llum"
3) "En du-te'm"

- "CORAL" – for solo piano (from "Tres Piezas Académicas para Piano")
- Includes spoken excerpts from "María Ribera: La Llamada de la Tierra" (from "Los Diarios de Manhattan" by Ricardo Llorca)

- "THE DARK SIDE" – Monodrama for mezzo-soprano and piano
1) Spoken
2) "Prayer" (song)
3) Spoken
4) "Monologue" (song)
5) Spoken
6) "Thread" (song)

**MARISA MARTINS. Mezzo-soprano**

The Spanish-Argentine mezzo-soprano Marisa Martins is one of the most versatile voices on today's musical scene. Nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004 for Xavier Montsalvatge’s *El gato con botas* and awarded the Orphée d’Or in 2008, she has distinguished herself in opera, Lied, and innovative productions.

Her repertoire includes roles by Monteverdi, Mozart, and Rossini, performed at renowned theatres such as the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Real de Madrid, La Monnaie in Brussels, and the Rossini Opera Festival. In 2006, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival with *L’oca del Cairo* and *Lo sposo deluso*.

She has worked with prestigious conductors including René Jacobs, Harry Bicket, Christopher Hogwood, Giovanni Antonini, Fabio Biondi, and Alberto Zedda. Additionally, she has explored the fusion of voice and movement in theatres in Basel, Berlin, and New York, collaborating with choreographers such as Trisha Brown and Joachim Schloemer.

A specialist in Lied, she has premiered works by Catalan composers such as Montsalvatge, Mompou, Carlota Garriga, and Miquel Ortega. Her extensive discography includes titles such as *Frederic Mompou* (Warner Music), *Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi* (Harmonia Mundi), and for Columna Música: *Xavier Montsalvatge: Integral de Canto (Vol. I)* and *Requiem de Benguerel* (winner of the CD Compact 2007 award).

Her career reflects a constant pursuit of artistic excellence and expression.

**RICARDO LLORCA. Composer**

The Alicante-born composer Ricardo Llorca (Benidorm, 1958), recently awarded the XXII "Premio de Cultura de la Comunidad de Madrid 2024", is one of the most distinctive figures in the international music world. With over 20 years teaching at the prestigious Juilliard School, Llorca's profile is broad and versatile. A resident of New York since 1988, he has undertaken numerous projects through institutions such as the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute and The New York Opera Society, where he serves as composer-in-residence.

Ricardo Llorca’s music has been performed at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions: Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, the United Nations Auditorium, World Financial Center, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Berlin Cathedral, São Paulo Opera, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, among others.

Llorca has been a grant recipient from The Argosy Foundation and the Met-Life/Meet the Composer Series. He balances his teaching role at Juilliard with an active composing career, which has earned him accolades including the Richard Rodgers Scholarship (1992), the American Chamber Music Award (1994), the Virgen de la Almudena Prize (1999), and the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2001), one of the most esteemed honours in American intellectual life.

Avoiding adherence to any aesthetic school, Llorca’s compositional path has evolved independently of avant-garde movements, embracing a form of historical revisionism he describes as follows:

> "Composers have faced a dilemma: either continue along the path of experimentation or return to classical frameworks. Some of us have found ourselves unable to proceed under the same aesthetic premises that have dominated music for recent decades. Looking backward may be the only viable solution—revisiting the past and re-engaging with classical musical structures and concepts (both horizontal and vertical), reviving expressivity according to traditional models."

**ROSA TORRES-PARDO. Piano**

One of Spain’s most prominent pianists of her generation. National Music Prize and Premio Extraordinario from the Madrid Conservatory recipient, she furthered her studies in London with María Curcio and at The Juilliard School in New York.

She has performed at venues including Teatro Real in Madrid, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Konzerthaus in Berlin, collaborating with orchestras such as LA Philharmonic, Soviet Radio TV Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra. Her recent recording of E. Granados’ piano works with Deutsche Grammophon has received unanimous critical acclaim. She has given masterclasses at Juilliard School, the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, and the Beijing Conservatory. Her repertoire spans 18th-century Spanish music to works by the latest generations of contemporary composers.