The four winners of the Composition Scholarships premiere their symphonic works at L’Auditori

The residency of the Composition Scholarships awarded by the Federació de Joventuts Musicals de Catalunya and the Fundació Ferrer de Música brought together this weekend the four winning composers, alongside the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya (JONC), conducted by Júlia Cruz, Francesc Prat, Josep Planells and Diego García Rodríguez.

On 19 and 20 September, the JONC worked at ESMUC on the four works created specifically as part of these grants. Burn, by Hugo Gómez-Chao, was conducted by Francesc Prat; Surface and symbol, by Francisco Javier Sánchez Barajas, by Júlia Cruz; Xuxurlak, by Jon Esnaola, by Diego García Rodríguez; and Set, by Guillem Palomar, by Josep Planells.

The project also featured the participation of Stefano Gervasoni, the Italian composer and composition professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, who accompanied the four grant recipients as a mentor throughout the residency.

From the score to the orchestra

Minutes before the start of the residency, Estefania Rico, Director of Fundacions Ferrer; Joan Magrané, President of the Federació de Joventuts Musicals de Catalunya; Manel Valdivieso, Artistic Director of the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya; and Guillem Palomar presented the initiative on the Assaig General programme on Catalunya Ràdio.

The residency began with a welcome dinner bringing together the organisations behind the initiative, the composers and the conductors participating in the project. The following day, the working session began with an exchange of ideas about the four works between the composers and conductors, with the guidance of Stefano Gervasoni.

Throughout Saturday, the JONC musicians began working on the pieces by instrument sections before moving on to their first contact with the conductors and composers. The day culminated in the first joint rehearsal of the four compositions, a key moment in the process of transforming the scores into music performed by an orchestra.

Premiere at L’Auditori

The culmination of the project was the premiere of the four symphonic works on Sunday 20 September at the Sala Oriol Martorell of L’Auditori de Barcelona, in a concert introduced by Sílvia Pons, Musical Initiatives Specialist at the Fundació Ferrer de Música, Joan Magrané and Manel Valdivieso.

The audience was able to experience a concert format specifically designed to bring them closer to the creative process behind the works, as they had the opportunity to hear each of the four compositions twice. Between the two performances, the composers took the floor to share their motivations, explain their creative process and offer some insights into how to understand and listen to their works from a new perspective.

New opportunities

This residency and the premiere of the four symphonic works are only the first step in the journey of these grants. At the end of the year, the four composers will also premiere their respective chamber works, thus completing the creative programme planned for this edition.

At the same time, the call for applications for the second edition of the Composition Grants from the Fundació Ferrer de Música and Joventuts Musicals de Catalunya will open soon, with four new composition grants of €25,000 each to support emerging talent and foster contemporary musical creation.

Through this initiative, the Fundació Ferrer de Música, under the artistic direction of Raquel García Tomás, reaffirms its commitment to contemporary creation and to supporting young composers, facilitating their collaboration with performers and orchestras and contributing to the addition of new works to today’s symphonic repertoire.