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By Patricia Caicedo
2014 have been a very special year for the Barcelona Festival of Song that celebrated its 10th anniversary.
To celebrate this important occasion, besides doing our traditional Course of history and interpretation of the Iberian & Latin American vocal repertoire, we presented 9 concerts and 2 exhibitions. We also published a book with the history of the festival and commissioned the composition of a new song cycle that was premiered during the opening concert of the festival.
This year the festival received 15 students, its biggest group ever, coming from the US, Mexico, Australia, France, Brazil and Argentina. Like every year the group was very varied and included young singers as well as university voice teachers, all united by the same motivation for learning the Iberian & Latin American repertoire.
During the 10 days we were together, we worked non-stop, attending master classes, concerts, diction sessions and also exploring the beautiful Barcelona every time we had a free moment.
One of the most memorable moments was the class and concert made simultaneously between São Paulo, Brazil and Barcelona, it was like science fiction, being able to make music in 2 different continents at the same time, with musicians and audiences in both places.
Also unforgettable was our visit to the National Library of Catalunya where we had the opportunity to have in our own hands the manuscripts of Granados, Falla, Montsalvatge, Guastavino, Mompou and so many other composers! We even saw XII century music manuscripts. It was really amazing, and made more that one of us to cry. The combination of the access to old and traditional sources and the cutting age technology in this festival was really unique.
The BFOS is unique, not only because of the vocal repertoire it studies, in Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese, but also for the fact that is not only about performing but also about learning the context of creation of the repertoire and studying its history, diction and performance practice.
In 2014 the Barcelona Festival of Song celebrated:
• 10 years receiving students and teachers from 18 countries!
• 10 years celebrating technological innovation!
BFOS is pioneer festival in technological innovation for music education. From 2011 it presents classes and concerts simultaneously between Sao Paulo, Brazil and Barcelona thanks to the Internet2 technology.
• 10 years commissioning the composition of new song cycles to important Catalan and Latin American composers!
In its history, the BFOS has commissioned the composition of 8 new cycles and had premiered works of more than 15 composers, including works by F. Mompou, E. Borràs, Benet Casablancas, Walfrido Domínguez, Edgar Valcárcel, Agustí Fernández, Miquel Ortega, Moises Bertran, José Lezcano, and Jaime Leon, among others.
• To celebrate its 10 years anniversary the BFOS published a book and made two exhibitions! A book which explains its history and two exhibitions: one organized by the National Library of Catalonia, titled Catalan musicians in America and the Barcelona Festival of Song and one by Illustrator Bea Simon, dedicated to the figure of Victor Jara and his song Te recuerdo Amanda.
• 10 years doing concerts to promote the vocal repertoire of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula in Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese!
In 2014 the BFOS presented 9 concerts of Iberian and Latin American music that included repertoire for voice and piano, piano, voice and guitar, flamenco and solo piano.
Here is a link to our 10th year anniversary video www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOfHu2iSFSk.
