The piece is a commission for the exhibition at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, of Velázquez’s portrait of that Queen on loan from the Museo del Prado.
Portrait of Mariana of Austria, for viola and harp, was composed by Martí Noguer for the exhibition “Mariana: Velázquez’s Portrait of a Queen from the Museo Nacional del Prado” at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. This exhibition has allowed the public to admire for the first time in the United States the portrait of Queen Mariana of Austria painted by Velázquez around 1652. Martí Noguer’s music is inspired by the Queen’s life through four introspective movements: Childhood, Marriage, Political Influence, and Retirement. The performers were Albert Coronado (former student and scholar of the Ferrer Music Foundation and current member of the orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu and viola professor at the Conservatori) and Cristina Montes Mateo, principal harpist of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. The work was presented with the collaboration of SPAIN Arts & Culture, the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington DC, the Museo del Prado, and the Norton Simon Museum.
The museum has published a video featuring the performance of Portrait of Mariana of Austria, which includes a prior presentation by the composer.
Martí Noguer graduated in 2019 from the Liceu Conservatory, where he studied under Professor Víctor Estapé. During his studies, he received the Ferrer Music Foundation’s Excellence Scholarship. After graduating, he was awarded the eighth winner of the Oticons Faculty 2020 international film music competition and began collaborating with film composers such as Alfred Tapscott, Fernando Velázquez, Xavier Capellas, and Sergio J. Lacima. He has worked as a soundtrack producer, orchestrator, and music editor, in addition to writing music and additional arrangements for Netflix and Amazon Prime projects.
Thanks to a scholarship from the “la Caixa” Foundation, Martí moved to Los Angeles to study the prestigious “Screen Scoring” master’s program at the University of Southern California.
Currently, Martí lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a composer for international film, video game, and television productions.
For more information:
Video from the Norton Simon Museum (featuring the performance of Portrait of Mariana of Austria, with an introduction by Martí Noguer)