The First Palau changes its format and becomes a marathon of seven concerts of half an hour each, which facilitates the work of the jury of this cycle-type competition that is open to young talents, EU citizens or residents of their member countries. Six soloists and a string quartet will participate tomorrow – from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. – in this 27th edition of the contest organized by the Palau de la Música with the support, for 22 years, of Mitsubishi Electric.
Debuting in the modernist room in professional conditions is already, in fact, a prize for the ten participants who this time have been selected from 80 applications. The requirements are, apart from residing in the EU, not to exceed 27 years in the case of instrumentalists, and 30 in the case of singers; demonstrate some studies and a minimum of interventions in other rooms, and present a concert proposal. That is, designing a half-hour music program that, as the Palau's deputy artistic director, Mercedes Conde, points out, "must not consist of a set of pieces to demonstrate the performer's abilities but rather have the coherence of a concert" .
The first prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and the second with 2,500 euros that the jury can decide to divide into two second prizes of 1,250. To this we must add three extraordinary prizes. Joventuts Musicals awards its award to the best performer of a work by a Catalan author, whose winner will participate in the Xarxa de Músiques de Catalunya. And the same is done by the Musical Youth of Spain with its Music Network. On the other hand, a jury made up of a representation of music critics from Barcelona will award the Critics' Prize, endowed with 1,000 euros for the purchase of musical material.
The public will be able to enter and exit the marathon and even vote for their favorite among the Swiss-Catalan cellist Ariadna Chmelik, the Spanish and American violinist Alexis Hatch, the Cantabrian accordionist Marta Cubas, the Segovian soprano Aida Gimeno and the Polish-American coloratura soprano Alexandra Nowakowski. , the clarinetist Daniel Molina and the Quartet Atenea (three Catalans -the violinists Gil Sisquella and Jaume Angelés and the viola Bernat Santacana- and a Galician, the cellist Iago Domínguez, all of them trained at the Basel School of Music). The 2021 winner, the pianist Eudald Buch, will give the closing concert on November 17, when the verdict will be officially announced.
"For me it is very exciting to play at the Palau, an immense honor, the place I used to come to as a child. In fact, I have always wanted to enter this competition. Because we already know what the world of music is like for young people, with what It means competing under pressure and with technical demands. Instead, here you participate in a more relaxed way, you don't have the feeling of competing, you just go on stage," says 26-year-old Ariadna Chmelik.
The young cellist regrets that the pandemic has affected in her case at that age that goes from 23 to 26 years old, the one to appear in contests and position yourself. "The deadline for me has not been proportional, it has practically passed by. My classmates and I had a hard time studying during this pandemic, because there was no clear objective."
Chmelik has chosen works by Guix, Grieg and Shostakovich. "When I met with Josep Maria Guix to comment on the work that I will play, we talked about the opportunities that Catalonia presents for the musicians who have left and who want to return. And these types of initiatives open doors to other possibilities," he says.
Jaume Angelés, from the Quartet Atenea, who will begin with Britten, will continue with Purcell, the contemporary García-Tomás and Debussy, also remembers the impression this room made on him as a child. "I couldn't imagine that one day I could play here. It's still unimaginable, I don't know how I'll feel playing."
And Alexandra Nowakovski, who will perform songs by Sabatés, Szymanowski, Granados and Moniuszko, was "excited to combine the music of Poland and Catalonia. It was very interesting to discover that these two countries have very similar histories. It is a great honor to sing here, about all singing Catalan music in Catalonia, at the Palau, is... uf".
Joan Oller, general director of the room, reminds that this concert will be recorded by Palau Digital and that therefore it will be available, both for the participants themselves and for the public. Only three years ago the First Palau went from being national to international, which for Oller represents a leap forward. And another fact: Mitsubishi was awarded five years ago by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for the sponsorship of the First Palau, which throughout its 27 years of existence has awarded 260,000 euros in prizes. "It is one of the great prides of the group", confirmed the director of Communication of Mitsubishi Electric in Spain, Araceli de la Fuente.
The jury of El Primer Palau 2022 is made up of the double bassist of the Simfònica del Liceu and professor of the Superior Conservatory of the Liceu Joaquín Arrabal, the guitarist and production manager at Catalunya Música Raimon Colomer, the clarinetist of the OBC and professor of the ESMUC Josep Fuster , the soprano and teacher of the Catalan Orfeó Choral School Ulrike Haller and the violinist and teacher of the Superior Conservatory of the Liceu Jordán Tejedor. The critic's jury is Jorge de Persia (La Vanguardia), Pep Gorgori (ABC), Alba Nogueras (Núvol), Albert Torrens (Revista Musical Catalana) and Lluís Trullén (Scherzo).
