The pianist will perform the triptych in Valencia on the 2nd of April, 18h
Pianist Antonio Galera will showcase ‘Imatges’ in his next recital in València, within the cycle ‘Música en Construcció’ at Centre Cultural La Beneficència.
Imagined in Massarrojos (València) and finished in Madrid (January 2021), Imatges is a collection of three pieces which were inspired by famous landmarks in the city of València and its surroundings, and by the sensuous poetry of Vicent Andrés Estellés (Burjassot, 1924 – València, 1993). Each of the pieces pays homage to a 20th century composer: Henri Dutilleux, Xavier Montsalvatge and György Ligeti.
The piece received its premiere in the Semifinal round of the Iturbi Competition, where the full triptych was performed by the ten semifinalists.the order in which the pictures are to be played.
Piano Recital
Works by Coll, Sánchez-Benimeli, De Falla, Debussy, Òscar Colomina i Bosch, i Dutilleux.
Centre Cultural La Beneficència. Sala Alfons el Magnànim.
2nd of April, 2023, 18:00h
Antonio Galera, piano
Imatges
I. Cant i Espai, Pedra i Llum (Song and Space, Stone and Light)
This piece is inspired by the city’s Cathedral and its neighbouring Plaça de la Verge (the Virgin’s Square). Echoing the Cathedral’s amalgam of various styles, Cant i Espai grows and develops in parallel to the evolution of Western polyphony. It starts with an intervallically modified version of the Gregorian chant Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea), which serves as a basis for polyphonic transformations. After reinterpreting Romanesque and Gothic techniques, the music portrays the impression of entering the Cathedral, the immensity of the empty space and the light created by the huge Gothic lantern (the Cimborri, with its thin marble-leaves in its glass windows, which bath with a distinctive, milky light the whole space). At the end, as the listener is standing in the middle of this imagined musical space, the sound of a small, distant bell is heard, coming from outside the building.
II. Platja i Nit. Albà. (Beach and Night. Albà.)
This second piece is inspired by the Malvarrosa Beach, the city’s iconic urban beach (famously portrayed by Sorolla in numerous of his paintings) and by L’Horta (the historical farming area around the city of València). The music takes the main melodic material from the Albà, a traditional vocal form developed in L’Horta to accompany religious festivities, and which is sung all night until dawn (Alba) arrives.
III. Aigua i Alabastre (Water and Alabaster)
The final piece of the set is based on the Marble Gate of the Palace of the Marquise of Dos Aguas (Portada del Palau del Marqués de Dos Aigües). The structure of this alabaster sculpted portico comprises a bottom part with two twin sides framing the entrance (representing World elements: harvests, water, etc) and an upper, unified part which represents the heavens and which converges into an urn where the image of the Virgin is displayed as a central piece. The gestures and structure of the musical piece follow these structural elements: earthy and violent ascending canons open the piece and are strictly mirrored in the second section, but shaped into a descending, watery cascade of sounds. An airy, immaterial and silvery sounding contrasting section, finishes with all lines converging and focusing into a single, central
Antonio Galera
Described by Scherzo as “a voice with its own personality”, Antonio Galera has performed in the most important Spanish venues, such as the National Music Auditorium, the Palau de la Música in Valencia, the Zaragoza Auditorium, the Barcelona Palau de la Música, the Adda Auditorium in Alicante, Cartuja de Valldemossa, Fundación Juan March or Teatros del Canal, and in cycles and festivals such as the Young Performers of the Fundación Scherzo, Musika-Música Bilbao, Ciudad de Úbeda or the Festival del Mediterrani at the Palau de les Arts.
His international career has led him to perform in concert-halls such as Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Balliol Hall in Oxford, Salle Cortot in Paris, Chapelle de la Trinité in Fontainebleau, Steinway Hall in New York, Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach or Zhong Shan Hall in Taipei, as well as in Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia or Qatar.
As a soloist, Antonio Galera has performed with the Orquestra de València, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Symphony Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias, Orquestra del Vallès, Palm Beach Symphony, Orchester des Écoles Américaines, Bar Harbor Festival Orchestra, National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic , Nuevo León Symphony Orchestra (OSUANL) and the Youth Orchestras of the Community of Madrid (JORCAM), the Valencian Community (JOGV) and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (NTSOy) conducted by Philippe Entremont, Beatriz Fernández, Francis Fortier, Manuel Galduf , Rubén Gimeno, Lee Hsieh Wen, Jesús Medina, Eduardo Portal, Pablo Rus, Andrés Salado, Cristóbal Soler, Ramón Tebar or Francisco Valero-Terribas among others.
Very active in the field of chamber music, he has performed at the Juan March Foundation, Center de Musique de Chambre de Paris, Música en Segura or at the Bar Harbor Music Festival, where he is a resident musician. He regularly collaborates with musicians such as Iris Azquinezer, Miguel Colom, Manuel Gómez, Francisco Mestre, Leticia Moreno or Isabel Villanueva in various Spanish venues and within the framework of the Festival dels Horts, of which he is the founder and artistic director. He collaborates multidisciplinary with the companies La Veronal, La Fura dels Baus and Cashalada or with the writer Elvira Lindo in the show “Literatura al Compás”.
