Musical Vespers in the Monasteri de Pedralbes

During these long summer evenings, open air cultural activities are being held in every corner of our city. One of these locations is the Monasteri de Pedralbes. While it may appear to be a location more given to silence, the monastery has programmed three evening concerts between the 11th and 25th of July. If one pauses to consider it, however, amid the peacefulness and seclusion of the surroundings, the monastery has been cultivating the interpretation of devotional song by the nuns of the Order of St. Clare for centuries.
 

This year´s Musical Vespers series begins on Thursday the 11th of July under the title Música del silenci (Music of silence), and Jordi Masó will be interpreting Música Callada (Silent Music, or The Voices of Silence), by Frederic Mompou accompanied by the actor Sergi Mateu, who will perform a reading of texts by John of the Cross, Josep Janés and Paul Valéry.
 

Wednesday the 17th will see the turn of Música de l'ànima (Music of the soul), with the performance of Quartet for the end of time, by Olivier Messiaen, interpreted by the Trío Kandinsky with José Luis Estellés on the clarinet.
 

The series closes on the 25th with a concert titled Música del claustre. Naturalesa i esperit (Cloisters music. Nature and Spirit), with soprano Elena Copons and pianist Francisco Poyato interpreting works by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and Richard Strauss.
 

In the words of the organisation, the objective of the series is to “...present the public with a musical programme that has strong ties with the monastery and includes spiritual music, compositions that are historically related to the location, and compositions written and played, or inspired by, women”.