The Palau de la Música will honor Victoria de los Ángeles with a concert

The Palau de la Música Catalana has presented the tribute concert to Victoria de los Ángeles for the centenary of her birth, which will be offered next Tuesday, January 16. The performance will commemorate the singer's debut, which took place at the same venue on May 19, 1944, in a concert that earned her unanimous recognition and the start of her international career.

Sopranos Montserrat Seró and Mercedes Gancedo and baritone Carlos Pachón will lead the concert, accompanied by the Victoria de los Ángeles Symphony Orchestra (OSVA), under the direction of Pedro Pardo. The repertoire will recall some of the works that the soprano performed in her debut and will pay tribute to Catalan song, reports ACN.

The concert program, which seeks to dignify Catalan song, will feature Quejas o la Maja y el ruiseñor, by Enric Granados; the cycle El combat del somni, by Frederic Mompou; Maig and A l'ombra del lledoner, by Eduard Toldrà; and a selection of popular Catalan songs arranged by Manuel Garcia Morante. The concert will conclude with Tríptic de Mossèn Cinto, by Joaquín Rodrigo, and Cinco canciones negras, by Xavier Montsalvatge.

The artistic director of the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation and commissioner of the Victoria de los Ángeles Year, Marc Busquets, explained that the initiative aims to reclaim the Catalan song that the singer made known throughout the world. "We will see a concert of Catalan song, with a symphony orchestra. It is a unique opportunity to hear composers like Mompou, Montsalvatge, Rodrigo, Toldrà, and Granados with an orchestra," he stated.

In this regard, soprano Mercedes Gancedo affirms that the repertoire to be performed is "first-rate" and that it is an "honor" to give voice to Catalan songs that will be offered in an orchestral version. The singers face the concerts after days of "intensity" and an "enriching" process with the entire artistic team.

As explained at a press conference, this repertoire was part of the soprano's debut program in 1944, which generated many ovations from the audience. It will be the first concert that the Palau de la Música will host as part of the celebration of the artist's birth centenary. It will be followed by two others in February with soprano Ermonela Jaho, accompanied by the Franz Schubert Filharmonia, and that of soprano Katharina Konradi, accompanied on piano by Ammiel Buschakevitz.