Pilar Almalé (ES)
It is said that the nomadic people don't have their own alphabet because a donkey ate the fresh lettuce leaves which they had used to wrap up —in an excess of reverence— the letters which the gods had gifted them. Pilar Almalé speaks, dances, sings, paints, and writes with this "selected light alphabet" —I snag the verse of a poet who is alive, and I make it my own by paying homage to a classic— and she speaks what normally goes unsaid: enthusiasm for life, curiosity for one's neighbor, confidence in art, and hope in the world. (Víctor Andresco, writer, and cultural critic)
Pilar Almalé is a Spanish viol player, singer, composer, and artistic director specializing in early music, whose repertoire ranges from jazz to Latin American and traditional music. An interdisciplinary artist, she has training in fine arts, dance, and aesthetic theory. She has performed in important national and international music scenes and has worked with artists of such a standing as Jordi Savall, Dulce Pontes, Carlos Nuñez, actor Juan Kruz Díaz de Garaio Esnaola and flamenco dancer Eva Yerbabuena.
Born in Zaragoza, she has trained in different places across Spain, Europe, and India, culminating her studies with a Fine Arts degree from the University of Seville in 2016 and at the Higher Musical Conservatory of Vigo in 2019. Pilar plays the viol, the violone, and the Medieval vihuela or esraj, and she adapts her music to different stage formats such as theatre and dance theatre, exploring new possibilities in integrating different artistic disciplines. On stage, Pilar Almalé́ has a great presence and her music and performance excite and enthral the audience. Thanks to her versatility and her interdisciplinary nature, she plays everything from Sephardic music to music from twentieth century Latin American singer-songwriters.
In 2017, along with Elena Escartín, she released her first album, Caja de Música with her dúo Caranzalem. In 2018 it was awarded honorable mention at the Aragonese Youth Institute's CREAR18 awards. In 2021 she released her second album, Hixa mía, with the Catalán record label Segell Microscopi, this time acting as the leader of her personal project Pilar Almalé (Quartet). This album was named one of the top 200 albums of 2022 by the European World Music Chart. She also creates and co-directs with the dancer Ana Continente the show Claroscuro de Artemisia, which in 2023 receives the First Prize Santa Isabel of Portugal, as the best dance show of 2022.
The adjective multifaceted describes her to a tee. She is a professional viol player, but she also sings and dances and acts and composes and paints and draws... Pilar Almalé, one of the most promising talents in Aragon ... (Heraldo de Aragón)
In 2022 she created and directed FEMMAZ, the first Women Early Music Festival in Zaragoza, the primary objective of which is to rediscover and perform music from female composers and performers from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods, whose work has historically been overlooked. The first edition was dedicated to the French composer Anne Rochette (1739-1784). As a composer, her project Mélodies Oubliées. Anne Rochette’s Manuscript stands out. Pilar arranged the original melodies from the manuscript in different styles, from the most purely historical to the most contemporary. Additionally, worthy of mention is her composition of the soundtrack for the animated short film dedicated to Francisco de Goya, El niño que retrató monstruos, directed by Víctor Izquierda, released in 2022, and selected for the Málaga Film Festival in 2023.