A Singular Piano and Other Proposals from the Julio Muñoz Ramonet Foundation
The venue on Carrer de Muntaner is hosting concerts, competitions, and lectures among its spring and summer activities.
If you’ve ever visited the Muñoz Ramonet Foundation, you’ll know it’s a magnificent small palace with gardens on Carrer de Muntaner that was once the home of a well-known industrialist in the city. Perhaps you’ve seen the house’s piano during a visit—an Érard piano, which is the centerpiece of one of the upcoming activities being organized at the house. It will take place from June 12 to 26, though activities at the Foundation continue into July.
In a few days, the Cycle: Resonances of Time: The Érard Piano of the Foundation in Dialogue (pictured) begins, consisting of three sessions. The first, on June 12 at 7 p.m., will introduce the star of the event: an Érard piano, which will be discussed by Joan Josep Gutiérrez, an expert in antique instruments like this one. It was built in 1882 by the Érard family, who designed and built France’s most famous pianos, also renowned abroad. In fact, they invented a mechanism for grand pianos (like the one here) that is still used in all such pianos today. After the presentation on Érard and their technique, pianist Marina Rodríguez Brià will perform pieces from the time the instrument was made, including works by Muzio Clementi (considered the father of the modern piano), Felip Pedrell, Matilde Escalas, and Claude Debussy.
Come back on June 19 at 7 p.m., when musicologist Imma Cuscó, project and program manager at the Barcelona Music Museum, will give a talk entitled Sounds of Barcelona: The Érard Piano in Dialogue with the City, placing the piano in the era of Mompou and Granados, among other Barcelona-based composers. This will be followed by a piano recital by Emili Brugalla, who will perform works by Mompou and Granados. Finally, on Thursday, June 26, speaker Mireia Freixa will present Virtuosity and Poetics: Liszt, Chopin, and Mendelssohn on the Érard Piano, followed by a performance by Ester Lecha, who will take the audience on a journey into Romanticism with works by Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, and Frédéric Chopin.
Also, don’t miss the concert in the Foundation’s gardens on Saturday, June 14, part of the Simfònic Festival, featuring the Marshall Academy, founded in 1901 by Enrique Granados.
Other events include the Mouillette d’Argent International Perfumery Contest (June 10–20) and performing arts training projects from the Oriol Martorell Institute in dialogue with the Foundation's spaces (June and July).
If you're interested in the Muñoz Ramonet art collection, don’t miss the lecture on July 3, The Muñoz Ramonet Collection: A Great Unknown, by journalist José Ángel Montañés and curator Eva González. And if you'd like to hear the Empordà-born Emma Stranton perform, come on July 10 at 7 p.m. Everything (for now) wraps up on Thursday, July 17 at 7 p.m., with a combined photography and dance project. The photography component is Inhabiting Nostalgia, featuring images by Jordi Vidal taken at the Foundation, and the dance piece is Out of Order, a solo performance by Clàudia Auzinger.
To avoid missing any of the activities programmed at the Julio Muñoz Ramonet Foundation in the coming weeks, check out the full schedule on the website.