Sold out tickets for 12 of 14 shows and an overall occupancy of 95%. This is the balance of the 38th edition of the Perelada Festival, which has attracted a total of 3,900 spectators. Chinese pianist Yuja Wang was in charge of putting the finishing touch to this year's edition, in which the festival organization has continued its "commitment to excellence, to new creation, to emerging local talents, with the intention of granting creators carte blanche to work," according to the festival's artistic director, Oriol Aguilà.
In this sense, local talent with international projection has starred in evenings such as the one offered by soprano Sara Blanch, the dance show by Aleix Martínez Terra Llaurada, the recital Renaissance Reloaded, by the Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana directed by Júlia Sesé, and the premiere of the chamber opera Don Juan no existe, composed by Helena Cánovas. Born in Tona in 1994, Cánovas has become the youngest director to present an absolute premiere at the festival, with a work that vindicates all those authors who have been silenced, through the figure and forgotten opera of Carmen Díaz de Mendoza Aguado (1864-1929).
The prominent roles of Cánovas and Sesé reflect the festival's commitment to vindicating the figure of women in the compositional field, as well as works composed by those under 40. In addition to serving as a stage and loudspeaker for local talent, the festival has seen internationally renowned performers pass through its spaces, such as tenors Piotr Beczala, and sopranos Anna Pirozzi and Sonia Yoncheva. Also present at this edition of the Perelada Festival were tenor Ismael Jordi and the Acosta Danza company's show, which were also highlights of an edition that programmed 14 shows in 13 nights. Within the program, the Ad Libitum Concerts series also stood out, with tenor Julian Prégardien and the Kebyart saxophone quartet, in a show paired with wine and gastronomic tastings.
The festival will be the guest of the prestigious Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland next summer, with its production The Fairy QueenWith the works to reform the auditorium on the horizon, the main stages of the festival have once again been the Carme church and the Mirador del Castillo, "proximity spaces that allow for a communion between artists and audience, that set in motion new dynamics and allow the audience to live unique artistic experiences," according to Aguilà. However, the spaces and dates have gone further, through proposals such as a composition workshop by Helena Cànovas at the Liceu Conservatory in May; a ballet class by Carlos Acosta and his academy's teacher Verónica Corveas in Figueres in July, and a choreography workshop with Aleix Martínez at the Peralada sports center.
Also crossing the festival's borders and dates, the exhibition Vida detenida & Waiting for the Light, by Pedro Almodóvar, can be visited until December. The director's work has also played a relevant role in the festival, through a concert of iconic pieces from his films, with the voice of Pasión Vega.
The closing of the summer edition of the festival has been accompanied by announcements: the Easter 2025 edition will premiere Responsoria Hebdomadae Sanctae by composer Bernat Vivancos. The third Easter edition, which will start on April 17, will include the cycle of cantatas Membra Jesu Nostri by Dietrich Buxtehude, performed by the vocal group Cantoría. Also new for 2025, the festival will be the guest of the prestigious Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland next summer. It will attend with its 2022 production The Fairy Queen by Purcell, with musical direction by Dani Espasa and with countertenor Xavier Sabata as one of the ideologues of the production, which will export the festival with a Catalan seal to Finnish lands.