Bach Collegium Barcelona (ES)
Founded in 2018 by Adriana Alcaide and Pau Jorquera, Bach Collegium Barcelona is a professional choir and orchestra, specialised in Early Music and instrumentally flexible according to the programme. Under Jorquera’s direction, its mission is to spread Early Music, especially Bach’s works, through projects that bring music closer to audiences. In summer 2024, BCB became the first Catalan ensemble invited to BachFest Leipzig, receiving great acclaim. Upcoming projects include concerts at L’Auditori de Barcelona and Montserrat Monastery, as well as collaborations with conductor Lawrence Cummings and countertenor Alex Potter. The ensemble is firmly present on Spain’s early music scene, offering regular concerts at the emblematic Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. At the same time, it develops the Mitsingen Bach Collegium initiative, which since 2011 has performed over 50 of Bach’s cantatas in a participatory format.
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Bach Collegium Barcelona is a marvellous ambassador of the timeless music of the Cantor of Leipzig in the southern latitudes. Given our strong choral tradition, the performance of the cantata was a success; the participatory and professional choirs merged in perfect harmony, and the music flowed with both depth and joy. (Elsa Alvarez Forges, El Núvol Ara.cat, 8 June 2021)
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Throughout the evening, Pau Jorquera unfolded a gestural repertoire as varied as it was expressive and effective, giving confidence to the performers and making the most difficult seem easy: the concertante passages for choir and orchestra, where – apart from an occasional uncertain entry – both voices and instruments shone. Inevitably, the conductor paid more attention to the choir – his speciality – than to the orchestra, which consisted of some of the finest professionals available. (Albert Torrens, Revista Musical Catalana, 16 December 2021)
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La Salvat Ensemble and the soloists of the Bach Scholarship–Fundación Salvat completed a cast of outstanding performers. Under Pau Jorquera’s firm and precise direction, with a lively and agile pace, he conveyed the surge of energy so characteristic of Handel’s music. The string orchestra quickly found a more natural and relaxed style. The musicians performed in an exultant state, greatly satisfied with the ovation from the audience. Pau Jorquera’s work deserves recognition, as he proved to be a fine connoisseur of baroque music and of Handel in particular. (Elsa Alvarez Forges, El Núvol Ara.cat, 27 December 2020)
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The Bach Collegium Barcelona orchestra accompanying this production, led by violinist Adriana Alcaide, included some of the country’s finest specialists in historical performance practice, such as Xavier Puertas (double bass), Emmanuel Balssa and Anna Casademunt (viola da gamba), Eva del Campo (harpsichord), Guillermo Turina (cello) and Joan Izquierdo (recorder). (Abadia de Montserrat, 28 March 2021)
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In this project, Bach Collegium Barcelona featured several soloists from within its choir: soprano Maria Pujades, altos Mariona Llobera and Yolanda Romero, tenors Oriol Guimerà and Matthew Thomson, and basses Vincent de Sommer and Néstor Pindado – many of them winners of the most recent editions of the “Salvat Beca Bach”, an initiative led and sponsored by the Fundación Salvat, aimed at supporting the training and promotion of young vocal soloists around the music of J. S. Bach. The Bach Collegium Barcelona orchestra, under the leadership of violinist Adriana Alcaide, brought together some of the best specialists in historical performance practice in the country. (Canal Taronja, 29 March 2021)
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For this production, the ensemble also collaborated with some of the country’s best specialists in historical performance practice. The concert was broadcast live via Montserrat TV and La Xarxa (a network of local broadcasters), which also retransmitted it later. (Editors RMC, Revista Musical Catalana, 18 April 2021)
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From the very beginning we were struck by the magnificent sound of the singers, accompanied on the organ by Mireia Ruiz – precise and well blended, in perfect synchrony thanks to Pau Jorquera’s accurate musical direction, which rearranged the voices for each piece. This marvel unfolded throughout the concert, with a special moment of communion rich in nuances, beautifully captured and expressed by the singers. The spectacular debut of Bach Collegium Barcelona concluded with Bitten by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Pau Jorquera guided the choir with care, coherence of discourse, and a refined sensitivity full of meaning. (Marta Porter, Revista Musical Catalana, 20 November 2019)
Adriana Alcaide, born in Barcelona in 1973, completed her baroque violin studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag with Enrico Gatti and Pavlo Besnoziuk. From 2000 to 2002 she was a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra under R. Goodman, L. U. Mortensen, and A. Manze. She has performed with conductors such as R. Alessandrini, C. Pluhar, E. López Banzo, M. Huggett, and A. Marcon, and she frequently collaborates with L’Arpeggiata, appearing at venues including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and at many festivals across the USA, Europe, and Asia. She has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Naïve, K617, and Brilliant Classics, and in 2019 released her solo CD Still Life. She is the founder of the Symbiotic Ensemble and Follia Project. She travels regularly to Japan, collaborating with Soubugen and fortepianist Megumi Tanno, giving concerts and masterclasses in Tokyo. Since 2018 she has been director of Händel and Friends at AUDITORI EDUCA, an educational project at l’Auditori de Barcelona. Together with Pau Jorquera, she is the leader and co-founder of the orchestra and choir Bach Collegium Barcelona.
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Adriana Alcaide is a violinist born in Barcelona who has devoted herself to baroque music and, more recently, to improvisation. Alongside her extensive international career, she released her first solo album Still Life in 2019. During the pandemic, she responded by giving her first online concert via YouTube (Pau Requena, Barcelona Clàssica, 14 April 2020).
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Alcaide is regarded as one of the finest Catalan violinists of early music. At the Puríssima Concepció church in Pujalt, she presented Still Life with illustrator Amanda Stefanelli. In this exceptional setting, her extraordinary performance was marked by magnetism and artistic depth (Carmel·la Planell Lluís, Veu Anoia, 31 May 2020).
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Her album Still Life has received wide acclaim. Critics highlighted her personal and original interpretation, refined improvisation, the blend of works by Bach, Biber and Matteis with her own, and her expressive power, which leads listeners into an intimate world of music (Martí Sancliment, Revista Musical Catalana, 2 August 2020).
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At the Camino de Santiago Festival in Tamarite de Litera, she captivated the audience with Still Life. Her violin mastery evoked the pilgrim spirit of the Camino as a metaphor for life’s inner and spiritual journey (Fran Montaner, Cadena Ser, 31 July 2021).
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At Seviqc Festival, Alcaide has already performed, being praised as an outstanding interpreter. In duo with the theorbist Carles Blanch, she impressed with her expressive and emotionally rich performance of Stylus Phantasticus and Intima (Marina Žlender, Glasna, 28 September 2023; Katarina Randaljac, Radio Slovenija, 30 August 2023).
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As a member of L’Arpeggiata, she has performed across Europe’s major stages. Critics praised her virtuosity, improvisation, magnetic presence, and highly communicative style (Pau Requena Rubau, El Núvol, 9 August 2023; Jordi Maddaleno, La Vanguardia, 7 August 2023; Imma Merino, El Punt Avui, 8 August 2023).
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She has also appeared with Vespres d’Arnadí, establishing herself in Handel’s repertoire and receiving praise for her outstanding interpretation and technical mastery (Lluís Trullén, Revista Musical Catalana, 26 November 2022).
After graduating from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Mojca Jerman continued her studies in baroque violin at the Conservatorio di Musica G. B. Martini in Bologna under the guidance of Enrico Gatti, with honours. In 2021 she won the Premio Nazionale delle Arti, the national competition of all Italian conservatories, in the category of Early Music. Following this success, she appeared on the well-known morning show Unomattina in Famiglia on RAI 1 and was invited for a solo recital at the Biblioteca Manfrediana in Faenza. She has performed with ensembles such as Insula Orchestra, Orchestra Anima Eterna, Orchestra Frau Musika, and Musica Cubicularis, working with P. H. Casado, A. Marcon, T. Hengelbrock, L. Equilbey, G. Graden, and G. Jourdain. She has also taken part in the Dartington Summer Music Festival Orchestra, the Haydn Academy, the Eeemerging+ Academy, and the Cuban-European Youth Orchestra. Founder of the Piano Trio Rêverie, Tacet Ensemble, Messa di voce, and Nocturnalia Ensemble, she performs regularly at Slovenian festivals as well as across Europe (Paris, London, Vienna, Budapest, Athens …) and in Argentina.
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Bruno Hurtado Gosálvez se je rodil v Barceloni v družini glasbenikov in se že v otroštvu srečal z različnimi glasbenimi slogi. Študij je nadaljeval na Zürcher Hochschule der Künste v razredu Roela Dieltiensa. Diplomiral je iz glasbenega izvajanja na Hochschule der Künste Bern, kjer je študiral violončelo pri Louise Hopkins in violo pri Brianu Franklinu. Kasneje je zaključil študij viole da gamba pri Lorenzu Duftschmidu na Musikhochschule Trossingen. Poleg svoje orkestralne dejavnosti kot glavni violončelist orkestra Franz Schubert Filharmonia redno nastopa z ansambli, ki izvajajo širok repertoar od stare glasbe do zgodovinsko informirane romantične glasbe, kot so El Gran Teatro del Mundo, ansambel Tamuz, Protean Quartet, Zefiro, La Grande Chapelle, Freiburg Barockorchester, Le Parlement de Musique in številni drugi. Snemal je za založbe Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Dynamic, Ars, Eudora, Seuletoille, Ambronay Editions (Diapason d’Or 2022) in druge. Njegovo zanimanje za sodobno glasbo ga je pripeljalo do tesnega sodelovanja s priznanimi ustvarjalci, med drugim z DJ Swetom.
Ana Marija Krajnc, born in Ljubljana in 1999, is a soloist, harpsichordist, and organist. She began her studies at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana with E. Mihajlović and D. Miklavčič, and continued in Milan with L. Ghielmi, under whose guidance she won 1st Prize at the “Gianni Gambi” International Harpsichord Competition in Pesaro in 2022. She is currently studying harpsichord and organ at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with A. Marcon, A. Buccarella, and T. Lindner. Her concerts have received enthusiastic public response and critical acclaim. In autumn 2023 she was featured in Una sera in discoteca on Radio 3. In Italy she has performed at concerts organized by the Società del Quartetto di Milano, given a recital on historical instruments from the Tagliavini collection at the San Colombano Museum in Bologna, and participated in the 1st edition of the “Tirini Bonometti” International Organ Festival in Rezzato. In August 2023 she both opened and closed the Seviqc Festival with the complete Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord by J. S. Bach, together with Adriana Alcaide.