The students from the Conservatory were conducted by Santiago Serrate in a concert held at the Main Theatre of the city
Composer Benet Casablancas, a professor of Composition and Analysis and former academic Director of the Liceu Conservatory, is the resident composer of Joventuts Musicals de Sabadell during a period in which approximately 40 of his works will be performed in his hometown. This will allow for an intense exploration of the creative path of one of the most distinguished and performed composers of our time.
Within this residency, the Liceu XXI Ensemble performed a monographic program dedicated to Benet Casablancas under the direction of fellow Sabadell native Santiago Serrate, a conductor with a prominent international career who has been both a student and professor at the Liceu Conservatory, with frequent collaborations.
The program included the works In Modo di Passacaglia, Quadern de Haikus (A Viennese Notebook), Romance without words (homage to Granados), and Dance, song and celebration (homage to Montsalvatge). These pieces reflect the evolution of the composer’s musical language in the field of ensemble music and present a significant technical and expressive challenge for the performers.
On April 24, a first performance of the program took place in the Orchestra Hall of the Liceu Conservatory, featuring a pre-concert discussion between the director and the composer that provided context for the works and offered attendees insight into the artistic circumstances and intentions behind each piece.
The following day, in a public concert at the Main Theatre of Sabadell and as part of the Joventuts Musicals season, Santiago Serrate once again conducted Liceu XXI with the same program. Both performances were well-received by the audience, which included several prominent figures in contemporary Catalan music who praised the work done by the conservatory students on this demanding repertoire.
The Liceu XXI Ensemble trains students in the performance of contemporary repertoire while working on key pieces from the compositional avant-garde or the music by composition students of the Liceu Conservatory.
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