Jordi Savall: "Without utopia, there is no creativity."

Barcelona"It will be a tribute to diversity, but also to friendship, beauty, and the great power of music," explains Jordi Savall about the fifth edition of the Jordi Savall Festival, which will be held from August 11 to 17. The Santes Creus monastery will continue to be the central venue for a program that will also spread throughout Montblanc and, for the first time, will reach Valls and the Convent of the Arts in Alcover. As usual, the festival will combine concerts by Savall's groups with other guest artists. "I'm very excited because it's very diverse and has very contrasting programs," says Savall, who, at the press conference held this Thursday at the Palau Moja in Barcelona, recalled the utopian element that led him to create the festival. "Without utopia, there is no creativity," he said.

The first program directed by Savall (on August 12) in Santes Creus will be the second part of The Silk Road dedicated to Marco Polo's travels, "the road back to Venice" through music from China, Tartary, Persia and Venice. "It was easier to travel to the 13th and 14th centuries than it is now. Today Marco Polo would spend his time dealing with bureaucratic procedures, and even then he wouldn't be able to pass through some countries," he says. There will also be an evening dedicated to Folly (August 13) and another (August 15) at the Eve of the Blessed Virgin by Monteverdi, "a work of extreme beauty and spiritual depth," says Savall. On the 16th he will tackle another masterpiece, The musical offering by Bach. And the festival will close on August 17 with the program Canticum pro pacem: war and peace: from the Thirty Years' War (1618-1948) to the surrender of Barcelona and the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (1714), "a concert that reflects on the many European wars and peace processes." In fact, a warlike atmosphere also permeated the press conference. When asked if he considered the festival to be consolidated, Savall replied: "As long as we continue to live in a world where war does not affect us directly, I would say yes. But we must fight so that war does not come."

The Santes Creus monastery will also host a concert by Orpheus 21 conducted by the Syrian singer Waed Bouhassoun (August 13), and one by the Royal Chapel, conducted by Lluís Vilamajó, which will recover its original position on the 14th. Mass for the dead by Cristóbal de Morales. Among the guest artists, the Casals Quartet (playing Haydn and Beethoven fourth notes), the Ricercar Consort, flautist Pierre Hamon (with his daughter, singer Ananda Brandäo), lute player Enrike Solinis, and brothers Marc and Pierre Hantaï stand out. As the festival's general director, Martí Sancliment, explains, "for the first time there will be a dance performance." The tomorrow of yesterday, by choreographer Federica Porello and cellist Daniel Claret, to be held at the Convent of the Arts in Alcover. This year, round-trip bus services will depart from Barcelona, ​​Vilafranca del Penedès, Tarragona, Reus, and Valls.

The art of Frederic Amat

The poster for the fifth edition of the festival has been created by Frederic Amat, who will also be co-star of an audiovisual exhibition at the Old Hospital of Santa Magdalena in Montblanc entitled The sound of ink"Jordi Savall will perform five pieces lasting a few minutes, and I'll respond with ink. It will be a mirage of two creatives, him playing and me painting in time," explains Amat, who has been using "a secret notebook" for years at Savall's concerts in which he makes "blind drawings," without looking. "I follow my fingers," Amat assures.