"As a child, I thought I would be a biologist, like my father, and the truth is that I love natural history and the study of life, especially paleontology. But, after discovering Mozart in my adolescence, my future expectations took a big turn." The composer Marc Migó sips a drink of sparkling water ---"with ice, lemon and, if possible, lime"--- just served. He keeps a few moments of silence, after which he smiles and concludes: "Music swept me away!"
And it did so with the force of a tsunami, because from the day his grandfather gave him that collection of Deutsche Grammophon records that would change his life, this Barcelona native, born in '93, went through stages. He enrolled in piano, harmony, counterpoint, and composition classes with Liliana Sainz and Xavier Boilart. From there, in just two years, he jumped to ESMUC, where he studied with professors such as Salvador Brotons, Agustí Charles, and Albert Guinovart.
Also with other teachers who do not bring him such good memories, "like one, whose name I do not want to remember, who came as a guest, and gave us the homework of writing a contemporary work for piano, that is, composing something that sounded like what ordinary people think contemporary music sounds like: that is, like the last thing no one would want to hear in a concert hall." Marc Migó remembers writing that work "in less than a minute, and on top of that I got a ten. Something that happened to me more often, due to a kind of institutional conspiracy against meritocracy," he reflects with a frown.
But, despite a context sometimes adverse to that meteoric creative development he carried within, he wrote works that entered international festivals such as Buffalo Festival or Charlotte New Music. He began to reap awards and, at 24, he was flying to New York, with a scholarship to study at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music.
The pleasure of being wrong
He looks back and remembers "the cocktail of emotions" of his first day at the legendary conservatory. "The orchestra sight-read a violin concerto written by a composition student. When it concluded, I felt terrified, thinking that I didn't deserve to be there. How could I belong to the same world as those musicians, so young and brilliant? So I started writing like crazy, to see if I was wrong. And yes, apparently I was wrong," he laughs, happy that it was so. That same year he won the orchestral composition competition organized by the school. As a prize, that same orchestra that had inspired so much respect in him on his first day, played his music at Lincoln Center in New York. A high-flying takeoff.
"In my seven years at Juilliard, I've had more and more concerts, I've been lucky enough to be quite awarded, I got my doctorate, I got divorced…", continues the one who has been awarded, among others, by the very American ASCAP Foundation, which last year gave him the Morton Gould Young Composer Award and the Leo Kaplan Award, the latter for his Concerto Grosso nº1 The Seance recognized as best composition of 2023.
--- I almost don't dare to ask you what you're up to now.
Marc Migó laughs. "Well, now I'm premiering my First Symphony at the Berliner Philharmonie, with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt conducting Metamorphosen Berlin." The composer describes it as "a dark work that addresses the world of conspiratorial disinformation in which we are immersed." Looking ahead to next year, he is finishing his Carnaval de las Indias, "a new carnival of the animals based on Latin American mythological creatures. The text, by the playwright and director of the Cervantes theater in Buenos Aires, Gonzalo Demaría, is wonderful." He sips a drink of water and reflects. "I still have to say quietly, due to a caution I demand of myself in events of such magnitude, that this work will be performed this year at the Palau de la Música Catalana with the orchestra of the Real Círculo Artístico conducted by Glen Cortese and with Alan Kwiek and Martha Argerich on the pianos. In addition, Annie Dutoit-Argerich will be the narrator. As if that weren't enough, this same work is also scheduled in Buffalo, Sarasota, and Berlin."
--- Quite a lot!
The trace of Noucentisme
The "rather melancholic" nature of the parishioner inclines him to be attracted "by the promises offered by Noucentisme, a cultural and identity movement of the early 20th century that was cut short by progressive politicization and, ultimately, by the Civil War." He sees these promises embodied in the good side of a Barcelona of which he praises "the marvelous architecture, the musical heritage of the 20s, the modernist-atmosphere cafes, the bookstores and, above all, the attitude of friends passionate about music and art, who are truly the ones who enlarge the predilection I feel for my hometown."
Born and raised in the Vila Olímpica just one year after the Olympics that gave rise to his neighborhood, composer Marc Migó lives Barcelona as his base, the point of reference to which to return from New York and despite his travels around the world. A reunion not always happy, "because sometimes, speaking of music, there is a snobbish point in the Barcelona public that I detest. I also see a lack of critical sense in pursuit of various sectarianisms. Barcelona leads a provincial mentality that rewards the bad known from outside to the detriment of the good to be known from the local heritage, which is more than neglected," he laments. The sparkling water runs out. "Even so, it is still my favorite city in the world," he adds.
--- Another reason why you will love this city is the gastronomy of this Bar. We have a menu, à la carte, combined dishes, tapas, portions. Delicacies, all of them.
Marc Migó does not suppress his laughter.
--- I'm quite into the children's menu, I'm afraid ---he replies, amused by the situation.
--- Seriously? No way!
--- Yes, yes! With meat and potatoes I'm already happy... especially on special occasions like this!