El Vendrell commemorates the 52nd anniversary of the death of Pau Casals and the 50th anniversary of the death of soprano Conxita Badia with a month full of music and cultural activities.
To mark the 52nd anniversary of Casals’ death, El Vendrell will host, from September 21 to October 30, a new edition of Pau Casals Month organized by the Associació Musical Pau Casals of Vendrell. For more than a month, the town will be filled with concerts, lectures, exhibitions, and other activities. Coinciding with the celebration of the Year of Conxita Badia, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of the renowned Catalan soprano, some of the activities will focus on the musical and personal relationship between Casals and Badia.
Conxita Badia (Barcelona, November 14, 1897 – May 2, 1975), known as “the Viennese of Barcelona” by great musicians such as Schönberg, Strauss, and Weber, is considered one of the most prominent sopranos of the 20th century. Her unique versatility and diction allowed her to excel both in classical music and in popular repertoire, within and beyond Catalonia. She also had a brilliant career as a pianist and singing teacher, training renowned artists such as Montserrat Caballé.
After the death of Enric Granados, her second great mentor was Pau Casals. “Everything I have written for soprano voice has been with you in mind. Everything, therefore, belongs to you,” Casals confessed to her in a letter in his later years, from exile in Prades de Conflent. The maestro entrusted her with the premieres of his songs and made her a soloist in his orchestra, thus consolidating a professional and personal relationship that would profoundly shape her career.
The activities of Pau Casals Month will begin on Saturday, September 20 with a performance of Piazzolla’s famous Libertango, by Duo Dafne (flute and guitar), at the Auditori del Tívoli. Throughout the month, various lectures will be held, such as “Conxita Badia, the great lieder singer of the 20th century,” an interactive presentation by pedagogue and Conxita Badia’s granddaughter, Núria Bonet.
The Pau Casals Museum will also organize a free exhibition that explores the life and career of the soprano and her relationship with Casals, curated by Mireia Domènech, curator of the Year of Conxita Badia. Throughout the month, there will also be other activities and concerts, concluding with a final concert in honor of the 52nd anniversary of Pau Casals’ death, performed by the SenArts Wind Quintet, also at the Auditori del Tívoli.
Pau Casals Month Program
- Saturday, September 20 at 8:00 p.m. Opening of Pau Casals Month: by Duo Dafne (flute and guitar) at the Tívoli Auditorium. Featuring two Catalan performers born in 2001 who are consolidating their careers during their professional music studies at the Oriol Martorell Artistic School Institute. The concert revisits works by Piazzolla, Granados, and Paco de Lucía, among others, with music that speaks of passion, vital energy, and creative freedom.
At the same event, the International Day of Peace will be commemorated, in collaboration with Òmnium Cultural, with the reading of a poem by Mrs. Mireia Juanola, president of Òmnium Cultural of Baix Penedès. - Wednesday, October 1 at 8:00 p.m. Lecture by pedagogue Núria Bonet, granddaughter of Conxita Badia, presenting the screening of the film Conxita Badia no existeix at the Tívoli Auditorium.
- Wednesday, October 8 at 8:00 p.m. Lecture by Albert Fontelles: Juli Garreta and Pau Casals at the Tívoli Multipurpose Room.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Juli Garreta, to explain the strong bonds of friendship and artistic collaboration between the two figures.
Juli Garreta i Arboix is considered one of the most eminent sardana composers. He infused the sardana with musical values on the level of symphonic works. - Wednesday, October 15 at 8:00 p.m. Lecture by Pepe Reche on The Workers’ Concert Association at the Tívoli Multipurpose Room.
The Workers’ Concert Association was a musical society founded in 1926 on the initiative of Pau Casals, together with leaders of the Polytechnic Athenaeum of Barcelona, with the aim of bringing classical music closer to the working classes without resources. - Wednesday, October 22 at 8:00 p.m. Concert marking the 52nd anniversary of the death of Pau Casals: performed by the SenArts Wind Quintet; Tastavents at the Tívoli Auditorium, with a varied repertoire designed to showcase the different historical facets and timbral and musical possibilities of the wind quintet.
Floral offering at Pau Casals’ grave in the El Vendrell cemetery at 11:00 a.m., with the reading of a Glosa by Kevin Prados and a performance by two students from the Pau Casals Municipal School of Music.
All scheduled events are free for members of the Pau Casals Musical Association. General admission for the concerts on September 20 and October 22: €10.
Conxita Badia Year in El Vendrell
- From Thursday, September 18 to Sunday, October 19:
Exhibition at the Pau Casals Museum Conxita Badia. The Voice that Inspired Casals.
The Pau Casals Museum joins the celebration of the Conxita Badia Year with an exhibition that traces the life and career of the Catalan soprano and her relationship with Pau Casals, whom she considered one of her masters. The exhibition, curated by Mireia Domènech i Bonet, commissioner of the Conxita Badia Year, and coordinated and produced by the Pau Casals Foundation, showcases the close relationship between the two musicians through explanatory panels and original documents displayed in showcases, from the Conxita Badia Archive (preserved at the Biblioteca de Catalunya) and the Pau Casals Archive (preserved at the National Archive of Catalonia). - Wednesday, October 1:
At 6:00 p.m.: Conxita Badia, the great lieder singer of the 20th century: interactive presentation by pedagogue Núria Bonet, granddaughter of Conxita Badia, at the Tívoli Auditorium.
At 8:00 p.m.: Lecture by Núria Bonet and screening of the film Conxita Badia no existeix, at the Tívoli Auditorium. - Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m. Concert by the Conxita Badia Trio, at the Pau Casals Auditorium. Official premiere of this show. The program will include works by composers dedicated to Conxita Badia as well as some of Badia’s own compositions. The trio’s pianist, Pau Casan, is the great-grandson of the soprano.
- Bookmark project: each year, in October, within the framework of the project El Vendrell viu Pau Casals (“El Vendrell lives Pau Casals”), a new bookmark is presented that includes an image of the maestro, a phrase or thought, and reproductions of bibliographic, discographic, or museum-related items from the Public Library Terra Baixa collection or from the town’s museums. Each edition has a print run of 80,000 bookmarks, which the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya, through the Library Service, distributes among 400 libraries throughout the region. In 2025, the bookmark is dedicated to Pau Casals and Conxita Badia. The Pau Casals Museum covers the design costs of the bookmark.