History of the Festival
Our most precious inheritance are the stories that keep alive the values of an earlier life-style and serve as a starting-point for our own manner of being. That is why culture is simply an expression of human life.
The Torroella de Montgrí Music Festival started out in 1981 with a small number of concerts held in the medieval town centre – the Gothic church of Saint Genís, the portico-ed Gothic-Renaissance town square and the late 17th century former Augustinian monastery. 42 annual festivals have been held to date with 1.034 concerts and audiences totalling more than 572,971.
Many great musicians have performed at the Festival, including pianists Joaquín Achúcarro, Bella Davidovich, Itamar Golan, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Maria João Pires, Piotr Anderszewski, Olga Kern, Fazil Say, Boris Berezovsky, Alice Sara Ott, Grigory Sokolov, Eric le Sage, Rudolf Buchbinder, Alessio Bax, Ronald Brautigam, Josep Colom, Alexander Melnikov, Arcadi Volodos, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Alexei Volodin, Alexander Tharaud and Jan Lisiecki. Violinists have included Giuliano Carmignola, Fabio Biondi, Isabelle Faust, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Amandine Beyer and Daniel Hope, Cellists visiting the Festival, among others, have been Mischa Maisky, Radu Aldulescu, Natalia Gutman, Lluís Claret, Ophélie Gaillard, Gautier Capuçon,Tatjana Vassiljeva and Pablo Ferrández.
Singers who have given recitals include Jaume Aragall, Victòria dels Àngels, Barbara Hendricks, Teresa Berganza, Joyce DiDonato, Patricia Petibon, María Bayo, Julia Lezhneva, Núria Rial, Xavier Sabata, Josep Bros, Anna Prohaska, Pene Pati, Raquel Andueza, Marta Almajano, Anna Alàs, Laia Frigolé and David Alegret. Other musicians have been double-bassist Franco Petracchi, harpist Nicanor Zabaleta, guitarists Narciso Yepes and Pepe Romero, saxophonist Jan Garbarek, flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, clarinettist Laura Ruiz and the harpsichordist Benjamin Alard.
Orchestras that have come to the Festival include the Philharmonics of Minsk, Riga, Tallinn, Novosibirsk, Ostrava, Gottwaldow, the Armenian Philharmonic, the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC), the Spanish National Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Prague Philharmonic and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Visiting chamber ensembles have included the Prague, Moscow and Vienna Chamber Orchestras, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Budapest), the Virtuosi di Roma, I Solisti Italiani, the Vienna Soloists and the Chamber Orchestras of the Berlin, Riga, Vienna and Czech Philharmonics; also the Virtuosi di Praga, the Prague Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Sinfonietta, the Berg Chamber Orchestra, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields and the Camerata Salzburg; Camerata Royal Concertgebouwn Orchestra.
The main groups specialising in early music that have visited Torroella are the Capella Reial de Catalunya and Hesperion XXI directed by Jordi Savall, Europa Galante with Fabio Biondi, Musica Antiqua Köln (Reinhard Goebel), Il Seminario Musicale (Gérard Lesne), the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (Gottfried von der Goltz), the Gabrieli Consort and Players (Paul McCreesh), La Real Cámara (Emilio Moreno), The King's Consort (Robert King), L'Arpeggiata (Christina Pluhar), The Tallis Scholars (Peter Phillips), The Sixteen Consort and Players (Harry Christophers), Il Giardino Armonico (Giovanni Antonini), Ensemble La Fenice (Jean Tubéry), Harmonie Universelle (Florian Deuter), Al Ayre Español (Eduardo López Banzo), Concerto Köln (Werner Ehrhardt), Ensemble Zefiro (Alfredo Bernardini), the Ricercar Consort (Philippe Pierlot), Orfeo 55 (Nathalie Stutzmann), Musica Florea (Marek Stryncl), the Dunedin Consort (John Butt), the Accademia Bizantina (Ottavio Dantone), Tasto Solo (Guillermo Pérez), the Acadèmia 1750 (Ottavio Dantone, Stefano Demichelli and Liana Mosca), Il Banchetto Musicale, I Turquini and the Academy of Ancient Music; Ton Koopman & Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Amandine Beyer & Gli Incogniti.
Among the choirs and vocal consorts there are the Escolania de Montserrat, King's College Choir, Saint John's College Choir, the Tölz Boys’ Choir, the Glinka Choir (St. Petersburg), the Jeunesses Musicales World Youth Choir, the Patriarchate Choir of Moscow, the Prague Radio Chamber Choir, the Orfeó Català, the Prague Madrigal Singers, the Choir of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Prague Philharmonic Chorus, La Stagione Armonica, The Hilliard Ensemble, the Namur Chamber Choir, La Xantria, the Ensemble Micrologus and the Ensemble Organum.
World music has been represented by notable figures such as Ravi Shankar, Miriam Makeba, Alim Qasimov, Houria Aichi, Carmen Linares, Maria del Mar Bonet, the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare, Manolo Sanlúcar, Oumou Sangaré, Cristina Branco, Savina Yannatou, Miquel Gil, Yungchen Lamo, Josep Gimeno El Botifarra, Sarband and Lucilla Galeazzi, Ute Lemper, and the Kodo drummers.
In the Silent Film and Live Music section, the silent films Modern Times (1936), with the Lithuanian National Orchestra; Battleship Potemkin (1925), accompanied by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra; Metropolis (1928), with pianists Pierre Oser and Frank Strobel; The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), with the Barcelona City Orchestra; The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), with the Berg Chamber Orchestra, have been screened with musical accompaniment.
Works by composers Xavier Montsalvatge, Eduardo Rincón, Xavier Benguerel, Jordi Cervelló, Benet Casablancas, Francesc Taverna-Bech, Jesús Rodríguez-Picó, Agustí Charles, Ramon Humet, Domènec Gonzàlez de la Rubia, Albert Guinovart, Salvador Brotons, Lleonard Balada, Salvador Pueyo, Oriol Graus, José Zárate, Josep Maria Mestres Quadrenys, Anna Cazurra, Albert Llanas, Lluís Gasser, Josep Maria Guix, Josep Manel Ríos Parejo, Jep Nuix, Delfí Colomer, Manuel Valls, María Fernández Marín, David Padrós, Miquel Roger, Antoni Besses, Joaquim Homs, Josep Casas, Albert Sardà, Jesús Rueda, Ernest Martínez-Izquierdo, and Joan Magrané have been commissioned and premiered.
From its beginnings, the Torroella Festival has offered a number of educational activities designed to benefit young Catalan musicians. These have been advanced courses for instrumentalists, students’ concerts, chamber music courses with the Camerata Lysy from the International Menuhin Music Academy, Gstaad, series of concerts by young performers, the Jaume Aragall Competition for Opera Voices and now the Fringe, the youngest, emerging part of the Festival, providing opportunities for ensembles, individual musicians and compositions of differing styles and disciplines, with performers who are taking their first steps on the professional stage.
As from 2014, a new event has enriched the summer cultural agenda of the Costa Brava, the Sea Jazz l'Estartit, which brings to Catalonia internationally famous performers from the world of jazz, with music of different jazz genres – tradition from the past or music looking to the future. The Festival follows the example of the jazz concerts which were programmed as from the late 1980s at the Torroella de Montgrí Festival, with artists that included Stéphane Grappelli, the Tete Montoliu Trio, the orchestra of the Catalan Association of Jazz Musicians, the Max Sunyer Septet, Didier Lockwood and the Lluís Vidal Trio.
To date, the Festival has featured outstanding artists such as The Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Trio Brad Meldhau -John Scofield - Mark Guiliana; James Carter Trio; Trio Albert Sanz - Javier Colina -Al Foster; Avishai Cohen Trio; Duo Dave Holland - Kenny Barron; Dianne Reeves Quintet; Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano & Jan Lundgren; Paquito D'Rivera quintet; Enrico Rava New Quartet; Julian Lage trio; Bruce Barth trio; Stefano Bollani Quintet; Golden Gate Quartet; Jose James; Charles McPherson Quartet; Joshua Redman- Ron Miles- Scott Colley & Dave King; Chris Cheek; Jordi Rossy; Jerry González, Perico Sambeat, Chano Dominguez, Martirio, Horacio Fumero, David Xirgu, Jordi Sabatés; Jonah Smith; David Soler; Esteve Pi; Llibert Fortuny; Miles Sanko; Gabriel Amargant Quintet; Joan Mar Sauqué - Joan Chamorro, The Gramohone Allstars & Judit Neddermann; King Salomon; Madeleine Peyroux Trio; Kandace Springs; Trio Mezquida-Aurignac-Prats; Carlos Sarduy Quintet, Carles Benavent Trio, Jorge Pardo i Raynald Colom; Albert Cirera i els Tres Tambors i The Street of New Orleans & Mark Braud; Lluc Casares Quintet; Stochello Rosenberg & Biel Ballester trio; Rita Payés & Elisabeth Roma.
The Torroella de Montgrí Festival has been a member of the European Festivals Association (EFA) since 1992.
Awards received
| 1990 Montgrí Medal from the City Council of Torroella de Montgrí. |
| 1992 National Music Award from the Generalitat de Catalunya. |
| 1995 IX Nit del Turisme Award from the Ferran Agulló School of Tourism. |
| 1997 Mosca de Sant Narcís from the Girona Journalists' Association. |
| 1998 Timó d'Or from the Union of Hospitality and Tourism of the Costa Brava Center. |
| 2005 Special Convention Bureau Award from the Girona Chamber of Commerce. |
| 2008 Civic Performance Award from the Carulla Foundation. |
| 2009 Tourism Medal from the Generalitat de Catalunya. |
| 2016 Timó d'Argent from the Union of Hospitality and Tourism of the Costa Brava Center. |
| 2018 T Award from the Jordi Comas Foundation. |
| 2020 Special Honorary Award Jordi Comas i Matamala · G! Tourism Award of the Girona Regions |
| 2021 Catalan Music Award, recognition of the 40-year history of the Grup Enderrock festival |
The Torroella de Montgrí Festival has been awarded the EFFE Label 2017-2018 & Label 2019-2020 by the European Festivals Association, a distinction only given to the best festivals in Europe. The reasons given by the jury for giving the award highlighted “the Festival’s efforts to bring music to a wide public and to foment contacts between young musicians and established professionals, making use of a sound infrastructure which is a potential for a festival that, despite its many years of existence, has never lost contact with society".
Joventuts Musicals de Torroella de Montgrí
Convent dels Agustins. Apartat de correus 70
17257 Torroella de Montgrí (Girona)
Tel. +34 972 760 605
