"Carmen Mateu and Montserrat Caballé shared a dream 40 years ago, and we have come this far." The artistic director of the Perelada Festival, Oriol Aguilà, looked to the origins to project into the future, 40 years after a foundational moment that "was decisive not only for Perelada, but also for the set of artistic proposals in the country."
Since Caballé served as inspiration for Carmen Mateu and Artur Suqué to fill the Castell de Peralada with lyricism, the festival has evolved to become an essential event for music lovers, and also for the performing arts, as a meeting point between disciplines.
In an edition full of symbolism for these 40 editions, the festival will once again be filled with music and artistic excellence this summer, with proposals that embrace lyricism, dance, chamber music, and also contemporary creation, by the hand of great local and international names. It will do so from July 17 to August 9, in various spaces within the Castell de Peralada enclosure, but also outside its walls: it has programmed an extraordinary concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana, with the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.
Great names fill the program of this 40th edition, with reference figures such as Ermonela Jaho, Benjamin Bernheim, Bryn Terfel, Sara Blanch, Jordi Savall or Sílvia Pérez Cruz. Also noteworthy are premieres such as Diario di una madre, by Alberto García Demestres with texts by Cristina Pavarotti, and Estètica i massacre, by Carles Prat. The program is part of a "certain new tessitura of Perelada, in which the commitment to new creation increasingly takes on more prominence," as Aguilà has highlighted.
The program will start with the couple formed by soprano Ermonela Jaho and tenor Benjamin Bernheim, who will open the festival on July 17 with a recital that covers Italian and French opera. The opening will give way to a program of 16 events that will bring together artists such as bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, soprano Sabina Puértolas in Diario di una madre, the Trio Fortuny celebrating its tenth anniversary with Judit Neddermann; soprano Sara Blanch and tenor Michael Spyres in a bel canto recital, and Jordi Savall and Núria Rial, who will close the festival with Les Musiciennes du Concert des Nations.
In addition, the festival will pay tribute to Montserrat Torrent on the centenary of her birth, with a concert that brings the organ to Perelada for the first time. The concert, in the Carme church, will bring Torrent herself to the festival, along with organists Paolo Oreni and Joan Seguí. The day will include two premieres commissioned by the festival, by Bernat Vivancos and Raquel García-Tomás. Meanwhile, the Mirador del Castell consolidates itself as the space dedicated to dance and contemporary scenic creation.
And even more anniversaries: on July 28, Aleix Martínez will celebrate ten years of Campus Peralada, with a creation that connects young dancers and musicians in training with artists of international trajectory. The condensed program will also feature Sílvia Pérez Cruz as a prominent artist, while Vivaldi will also be present with a reinterpretation of his classic in 4Danced Seasons.
Anniversary with gastronomy
The festival will celebrate its 40 years with a special gala on July 18. With a scenic and gastronomic proposal, the event40 years on the roadwill bring togetherthe gastronomy of Joan Anton Rechiwith guest artists who will be revealed throughout the night. The anniversary will also be highlighted with an exhibition that will cover 12 key moments of these four decades of trajectory, and which can be visited from June to December.
Thus, the festival emphasizes its innovative, transversal, and committed character to artistic excellence, in constant dialogue with the spaces that host them. This year, the Carme church, the Mirador del Castell, and the Celler Perelada will once again be the stage —in addition to the Palau exceptionally—. The possibility of adding another stage emerged in the presentation: "The family has the desire for it to return to the gardens, that exceptional place," Aguilà revealed.
This wish was corroborated by Julia Reger Suqué, representing the Suqué Mateu family, who highlighted the importance of this edition: "Forty years not only mark a trajectory, but they explain a path; a path of commitment to culture, artistic demand, and the will to leave a mark."
"I am part of a generation that has left a living legacy," Reger continued, at an event that brought together a large part of the family at the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, coinciding with International Dance Day —an anniversary they honored with a performance by choreographer and dancer Aleix Martínez—.
Cradle of projects and relationships
But the festival goes beyond its stages and the programming printed on its posters: it represents a space where ideas and projects are nurtured, and links are built between artists and the public, and also with their environment. It does so spontaneously, but also with activities grouped in the programArtistic Confluences,that brings together different disciplines and formats, and that will also leave the castle: the Reial Cercle Artístic will host on June 22 a meeting with Alberto García Demestres, Raquel García-Tomás, Carles Prat, Francesc Prat and Bernat Vivancos, to delve into their different ways of creating.In addition, it moves from the stage to the big screen with special screenings at the Verdi Cinemas, coinciding with its centenary. And the festival seeks to transcend and take music and performing arts beyond the stage, with a spirit that has accompanied it for 40 years, as Aguilà has evoked: "A festival is a ritual, a collective act of community and artistic expression", which continues to add editions in an exceptional setting.
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