Agustí Charles
Composer
Born in Manresa, Agustí Charles began his music studies at an early age. His first works in composition date from the 80s, under the guidance of his first composition teachers: Miquel Roger, Albert Sardà and Josep Soler. Later he studied with Franco Donatoni, Luigi Nono and Samuel Adler, as well as working with other composers and conductors including Joan Guinjoan, Cristóbal Halffter, J.R. Encinar and Ros Marbà.
He has had much recognition for his work, receiving nearly fifty awards, among these are the most important national and international composition prizes. He has also received commissions from important institutions and prestigious performers, as a result of which his music is performed worldwide. His work “Seven looks” was awarded the prize of the Association of Spanish Symphonic Orchestras (AEOS) and has been played by all the major Spanish orchestras between the 2004 and 2008 seasons. His first opera “La Cuzzoni, esperpent d’una veu”, was premiered in October 2007 at the Darmstadt Staatstheater in Germany with great success. Recently, in 2008, the Italian Stradivarius Records Co. has published a new monographic CD with part of his orchestral work, played by the Orchestra of the Community of Madrid and directed by José Ramón Encinar. The Tritó Records Company edited a new monographic CD in 2010 with the Symphonic Orchestra of Barcelona and National of Catalunya, directed by Jaime Martin. In March 2011 the premiere of his second opera, “Lord Byron, un estiu sense estiu”, will take place in the Staatstheater of Darmstadt, Germany. The libretto is by Marc Rosich with stage direction by Alfonso Romero.
He is also author of texts and books related to musical composition and analysis, among which stand out the following: “Análisis de la música española del siglo XX (2002)”, “Dodecafonismo y serialismo en España” (2005), “Instrumentación y orquestación clásica y contemporánea” (2005).
At the present time he teaches composition, occupying the chair in composition at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón, and is also composition teacher at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya.
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Marc Rosich
Writer of librettos
(Barcelona, 1973)
Rosich is a graduate both in Journalism, and Translation and Interpretation, (Arabic and English). He is also a playwright, director, occasional actor and literary translator. He was a member founder of the production company Teatre Obligatori. His basic formation in dramatic writing was received in seminars in the Obrador de la Sala Beckett in Barcelona, where at the present time he gives beginners classes in dramaturgy. Among the most recent pieces of his own work are Carwash (tren de rentat) (Staastheater Stuttgart/FACYL Salamanca/ Teatre Romea, dir. Annette Pullen), Rive Gauche (Sala Muntaner, Cia. Q-Ars Teatre, dir. Rafel Duran) i Vittoria (Club Capitol, dir. Antonio Calvo). With the director Andrés Lima, he has just completed the translation and dramaturgy for Falstaff, based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV (CDN). As a frequent collaborator with the director Calixto Bieito, he is co-responsible with him for the dramaturgy of the production Voices, a modern passion (Betty Nansen Teatret, Copenhagen) and of Friedrich Schiller’s Don Carlos de (Cia. Romea / CDN / Mannheim Schillertage), as well as of the adaptations of the novels Tirant lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell (Teatre Romea / Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin / Schauspielhaus Frankfurt / Teatro Albéniz, with music by Carles Santos, (Critics Prize 2008 in Barcelona for the dramaturgy) and also Michel Houellebecq’s Plataforma (Edinburgh Festival / Teatro Bellas Artes / Teatre Romea). For the Barcelona Teatro Nacional de Catalunya he has carried out the dramatic adaptations of the novels Pedra de tartera by Maria Barbal and together with Rafel Duran, Mort de dama,by Llorenç Villalonga (2010Stage Prize for the best adaptation). He has also done the dramaturgy for Homer’s L’Odissea for Lluís Soler based on the translation by Carles Riba (Temporarada Alta, Girona / Théâtre de l’Archipel, Perpinyà / Festival Grec, dir. Antonio Calvo).
As a writer of librettos he has collaborated with the composer Agustí Charles on the two-act opera Lord Byron, un estiu sense estiu (Gran Teatre del Liceu / Staatstheather Darmstadt / Teatros del Canal, 2011) and also the chamber opera La Cuzzoni, esperpent d’una veu (Staatstheater Darmstadt / L’Auditori de Barcelona / Teatro Albéniz, 2008). At the present time he is preparing the one-act piece Suite de Java, with Agustí Charles, and also the opera Los cuentos de la Alhambra with composer Enric Palomar, based on the work by Washington Irving.
In the field of stage direction for dramatic productions and classical music he is responsible for a considerable number of projects, mostly in collaboration with the musical director Elisenda Carrasco. As a result he has taken part in the most recent editions of the Festival d’Òpera de Butxaca i Noves Creacions, responsible for the dramaturgy and directing of the lyric works Alma (2007, based on the life of Alma Mahler), Últimes cançons, (2006, from Mahler lieder), Don Giovanni (2005, an adaption of the work of Mozart for the pupeteer Pepe Otal)and Il geloso Schernito byPergolesi (2003, together with Albert Tola). At the same time, he has created the following concerts for children, Pierrot a la lluna and Va de banda, for the educational service of the Auditori de Barcelona, as well as the concerts for schoolchildren, Jugant amb Haydn, Les faules de La Fontaine and Les quatre estacions, all three commissioned works from the Orquestra de Cambra de l’Auditori de Granollers.
As dramaturge, he has had the following works premiered N&N, nuria i nacho (Sala Beckett, 2008, dir. Antonio Calvo), Enfermo imaginario, (Teatro Condal, 2008, written with Pau Miró, dir. Antonio Calvo), Party Line (Sala Beckett, 2007, dir. Andrea Segura), Duty Free, (Teatre Talia, València, 2007, dir. Antonio Calvo) for the Jácara Teatro (Alacant), De Manolo a Escobar, (nacional tour, dir. Xavier Albertí). Surabaya (Teatre Romea, 2005, dir. Sílvia Munt, a work which received the finalist prize for the Premi Fundació Romea 2004) Copi i Ocaña, al purgatori (Tantarantana, 2004, dir. Julio Álvarez) and Unhappy Meals (Teatre Malic, 2002, directed by the author himself).
