Jordi Savall
East-West
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Date
- 18:00 / Cancelled 18:00 / Sold out Sunday, 18:00
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationPricing
25% – Under 30
10% – Over 65
Cartão Gulbenkian:
50% – Under 30
20% – Over 65
10% – 30 to 65
- Conductor
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Hespèrion XXI
Ancient music’s most important value stems from its ability as a universal artistic language to transmit feelings, emotions and ancestral ideas that even today can enthral the contemporary listener. With a repertoire that encompasses the period between the 10th and 18th centuries, Hespèrion XXI searches continuously for new points of union between the East and West, with a clear desire for integration and for the recovery of international musical heritage, especially that of the Mediterranean basin and with links to the New World.
In 1974 Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, together with Lorenzo Alpert and Hopkinson Smith, founded the ancient music ensemble Hespèrion XX in Basel as a way of recovering and disseminating the rich and fascinating musical repertoire prior to the 19th century on the basis of historical criteria and the use of original instruments. The name Hespèrion means “an inhabitant of Hesperia”, which in ancient Greek referred to the two most westerly peninsulas in Europe: the Iberian and the Italian. It was also the name given to the planet Venus as it appeared in the west. At the turn of the 21st century Hespèrion XX became known as Hespèrion XXI.
Today Hespèrion XXI is central to the understanding of the music of the period between the Middle Ages and the Baroque. Their labours to recover works, scores, instruments and unpublished documents have a double and incalculable value. On one hand, their rigorous research provides new information and understanding about the historical knowledge of the period, and on the other hand, the exquisite performances enable people to freely enjoy the aesthetic and spiritual delicacy of the works of this period.
Right from the beginning Hespèrion XXI set out on a clearly innovative and artistic course that would lead to the establishment of a school in the field of ancient music because they conceived, and continue to conceive, ancient music as an experimental musical tool and with it they seek the maximum beauty and expressiveness in their performances. Any musician in the field of ancient music will have a commitment to the original spirit of each work and has to learn to connect with it by studying the composer, the instruments of the period, the work itself and the circumstances surrounding it. But as a craftsman in the art of music, he is also obliged to make decisions about the piece being played: a musician’s capacity to connect the past with the present and to connect culture with its dissemination depend on his skill, creativity and capacity to transmit emotions.
Hespèrion XXI’s repertoire includes, amongst others, the music of the Sephardi Jews, Castilian romances, pieces from the Spanish Golden Age, and Europa de les Nacions. Some of their most celebrated concert programmes are Les Cantigues de Santa Maria d’Alfons X El Savi, La Diàspora Sefardí, the music of Jerusalem, Istanbul, Armenia and the Folías Criollas. Thanks to the outstanding work of numerous musicians and collaborators who have worked with the ensemble over all these years Hespèrion XXI still plays a key role in the recovery and reappraisal of the musical heritage, and one that has great resonance throughout the world. The group has published more than 60 CDs and performs concerts for the whole world, appearing regularly at the great international festivals of ancient music.
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Orpheus 21
With the sound of traditional instruments such as the oud, the saz, the percussions of the Maghreb and the Orient, the ney and the Armenian duduk, and the voices of the Mediterranean, Orpheus 21 proposes a unifying concert with music from East and West. A de professional music ensemble made up of immigrant and refugee musicians from different countries around the world.
The idea was born in 2016 as a result of the determination of Jordi Savall, the European Union’s 2008 Good Will Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue and UNESCO Artist for Peace, to advance the integration of professional refugee and immigrant musicians and to afford them the opportunity to transmit their culture through an intercultural proposal comprising pedagogical action, training, enjoyment and creativity aimed at young refugees and immigrants with musical skills or talent, as a means of promoting Integration and dialogue.
Orpheus 21 is codirected by the Syrian musicians Moslem Rahal and Waed Bouhassoun. This music ensemble has performed concerts at leading international venues such as the Philharmonie de Paris (France), the Festival de Música Viva in Vic (Catalonia), the Geneva Summer Music Festival (Switzerland), the Music Sacred Music of the World Festival in Fez (Morocco), among others.
A music ensemble whose performances transcend all borders created by geography, war and intolerance.
“One of humanity’s most tragic defects is its great capacity for amnesia. That is why we want to offer this “concert of music for solidarity against oblivion”, in the conviction that the commitment and art of all these musicians, as well as the power of emotion and beauty of their music, which is at once so ancient and yet so modern, will –like the song of Orpheus– make us grow in sensitivity and solidarity.”
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Jordi Savall
“Jordi Savall testifies to a common cultural inheritance of infinite variety. He is a man for our time” (The Guardian)
Jordi Savall is one of the most versatile musical personalities of his generation. For more than fifty years, he has rescued musical gems from the obscurity of neglect and oblivion and given them back for all to enjoy. A tireless researcher into early music, he interprets and performs the repertory both as a gambist and a conductor. His activities as a concert performer, teacher, researcher and creator of new musical and cultural projects have made him a leading figure in the reappraisal of historical music. Together with Montserrat Figueras, he founded the ensembles Hespèrion XXI (1974), La Capella Reial de Catalunya (1987) and Le Concert des Nations (1989), with whom he explores and creates a world of emotion and beauty shared with millions of early music enthusiasts around the world. Then, in 2017, he founded the Jove Capella de Catalunya, and in 2020, La Capella Nacional de Catalunya, with the aim of creating a new generation of international singers for La Capella Reial de Catalunya and making both historical and contemporary music accessible to all audiences. In 2018, he created Orpheus 21, a musical ensemble made up of professional musicians, migrants, and refugees from the Mediterranean region. Five years later, in 2023, he founded Les Musiciennes du Concert des Nations, an all-female orchestra specializing in Baroque repertoire, inspired by the women’s orchestras of the 18th century, particularly in Italy.
With his key participation in Alain Corneau’s film Tous les Matins du Monde (awarded the César Cinema Prize for the best soundtrack), his intense concert activity (about 140 concerts per year), his record releases (6 recordings per year) and the creation in 1998, together with Montserrat Figueras, of his own record label, Alia Vox, Jordi Savall has shown that early music does not have to be elitist, but rather that it appeals to an increasingly wide and diverse audience of all age groups.
Jordi Savall has recorded and released more than 230 discs covering the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music repertories, with a special focus on the Hispanic and Mediterranean musical heritage, receiving many awards and distinctions such as the Midem Classical Award, the International Classical Music Award and the Grammy Award. His concert programmes have made music an instrument of mediation to achieve understanding and peace between different and sometimes warring peoples and cultures. Accordingly, guest artists appearing with his ensembles include Arab, Israeli, Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Afghan, Mexican and North American musicians. In 2008 Jordi Savall was appointed European Union Ambassador for intercultural dialogue and, together with Montserrat Figueras, was named “Artist for Peace” under the UNESCO “Good Will Ambassadors” programme.
Between 2020 and 2021, to mark Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, he conducted the complete symphonies with Le Concert des Nations and recorded them in 2 CDs entitled Beethoven Révolution. The impact they have had in the record market worldwide has been defined as “a miracle” (Fanfare), and volume II has been distinguished with the Schallplattenkritik Prize for the best orchestral record.
Jordi Savall’s prolific musical career has brought him the highest national and international distinctions, including honorary doctorates from the Universities of Evora (Portugal), Barcelona (Catalonia), Louvain (Belgium) and Basel (Switzerland), the order of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France), the Praetorius Music Prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of Lower Saxony, the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Helena Vaz da Silva Award and the prestigious Léonie Sonning Prize, which is considered the Nobel prize of the music world. This year, he has been elected Honorary Member by the Royal Philharmonic Society, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and la Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
East-West
A firm believer in the ability of music to promote peace and understanding between different peoples and cultures, Jordi Savall has devoted himself tirelessly to disseminating the intersection of music from different faiths and geographies in an inspiring dialogue. East-West is one of his most exciting musical adventures, bringing together Christian, Jewish, and Muslim musicians around music from the Mediterranean and the East. An intense musical journey shared by Hespèrion XXI and Orpheus 21, led by Savall’s charismatic expertise.
Sponsor Gulbenkian Music
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation reserves the right to collect and keep records of images, sounds and voice for the diffusion and preservation of the memory of its cultural and artistic activity. For further information, please contact us through the Information Request form.