The Perelada festival offers an intimate proposal for Easter

The Perelada Festival reaffirms its commitment to its Easter edition with a second edition. With the aim of providing new dates for the tourist offer of Empordà and the Costa Brava beyond summer, the cultural event has scheduled concerts from this Thursday until Saturday in the intimate Església del Carme, with classical and newly created proposals.

"Perelada is alive all year round," says its artistic director, Oriol Aguilar, both with the winery and the casino, as well as visits to the castle, with an extensive collection of copies of Don Quixote. "The Easter edition is a first step to desensitize our artistic offer," Aguilar maintains, while waiting for the work to build a permanent creation space on the premises to materialize, still in the project phase, although construction was expected to begin in the summer of last year.

With a more concentrated program, Easter Perelada will include the absolute premiere of Tenebrae Responsoria by the Reus-born composer Joan Magrané, an updated revision of the responsories of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, episodes that recount the pain of Christ's death. Accompanied by Maria Hinojosa and the GIO Symphonia, Magrané will return to Perelada Castle after premiering the contemporary opera Diàlegs de Tirant e Carmesina in 2019. This time, he will be directed by Francesc Prat, who has already premiered six of his pieces and will add a seventh.

Also noteworthy in the second Easter edition will be a long-time ally of the festival, the baroque ensemble Vespres d'Arnadí with Dani Espasa in the musical direction with Alessandro Stradella's San Giovanni Battista. This oratorio for five voices, including countertenor Xavier Sabata, will also premiere in Spain in Peralada, but partially, this being the first time it will be performed in modern times. It was a work that premiered with great success in 17th-century Rome, but quickly fell into oblivion until it was recovered in the mid-20th century.

One of the main attractions of this Easter was going to be the participation of Korean pianist Yuncham Lim, a global phenomenon of only 18 years old. After selling out, with tickets sold to attendees who were going to come from his native country, he has canceled his performance due to medical prescription after an injury and will be replaced by Andalusian pianist Javier Perianes. Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with Bach's version by the Bachcelona Consort and the Royal Opera Orchestra of Versailles will complete the lineup. "These are very exceptional contents, a hallmark of a festival that has its own voice," Aguilar remarks.

"When it was born a year ago, we already said it was here to stay. After the good reception last year, we now ratify it. It is a unique, intense, and very intimate experience through a dialogue between music and spirituality as befits this time of year," Aguilar defends. After a 95% occupancy in the first edition, the cancellation of Yuncham Lim may affect the final balance of the second edition of the festival. Another show that has sold out is Bachcelona Consort's Stabat Mater.