ESQUERDA II: BATEC (CREVICE II: HEARTBEAT)
LA FERIDA QUE RESPIRA (THE WOUND THAT BREATHES)
Proto-fest 2025 Opera Studio students and a chamber instrumental ensemble formed by Sara Balasch (first violin), Elisabet Bataller (second violin), Nina Sunyer (viola), Joan Palet (cello), Robert Cases (theorbo), Nina Alcanyiz (oboe), and Josep Mateu (harpsichord)
Jordi Domènech, musical direction.
Mireia Andreu and Jaume Martínez, stage direction.
A heart that felt nothing awakens with the first breath. Here, each tear is an ancient name that starts beating under the skin; each silent breath, a pact of resistance. Blood and fragility are no longer condemnations, but springs gushing with hope: a river of light running through the bones. The notes burst open like flowers in a desert: they bear no trace of pain but merely a promise of roots that sink into the darkness. The word —sometimes broken— invades the stage like the tears of a first-born child: a soft cry that becomes an embrace, a wall of calm that overcomes the inner storm. Here, the body not only weeps or falls, it elevates. And in the shattered air flourishes the sigh of a possible future.
Baroque arias by composers such as Georg Friedrich Händel, Henry Purcell, Nicola Porpora, José de Nebra and Antonio Vivaldi play an essential role in understanding the evolution of European vocal music. They are pieces of great expressiveness and formal strength, with an exceptional melodic richness. Some of these works of great virtuosity highlight the human voice and the technique of the great singers of the time. This concert, which culminates the Opera Studio course given by the tenor Jordi Domènech during Proto-fest, will bear testimony to the creativity and diversity of Baroque music, which has deeply marked the history of western music.
MUSICAL DIRECTION
Jordi Domènech is a Catalan counter tenor known for his versatility and expressiveness in both baroque and contemporary works. Initially trained as a pianist, he specialised in voice in Switzerland and has performed on the leading stages of Europe and Asia. He has worked with prestigious conductors such as William Christie, Fabio Biondi and René Jacobs, and has taken part in opera productions, oratorios and recitals. In addition to his career as a performer, Domènech is a composer and teacher, and is known for his artistic sensitivity, which makes him unique in today’s lyrical scene.
STAGE DIRECTION
Mireia Andreu studied dramatic arts and stage direction at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. She joined the Rodrigo García’s company La Carnicería Teatro in 2001, where she was an assistant to direction and production in works that were performed at theatres and festivals throughout Europe. In 2004, she received the UBÚ theatre award for the best contemporary production performance and, in 2009, the UNESCO award for the best contemporary theatre production. She began her own artistic career in 2005, in the field of video art and experimental film. Since then, she has created performances that could be seen in locations such as the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, the Lo Pati Art Centre, the Pensa Festival of Philosophy in Barcelona, and A Cel Obert in Tortosa.
Jaume Martínez is a designer whose work includes graphic design, stage design and plastic art, always with a strong connection to Tortosa and its surroundings, and particularly sensitive towards interior spaces and the ties with architecture and urban memory. Martínez has shown an interest in creating poetic stages that encourage the audience to delve into memories and imagination, using the city’s architectural elements and being inspired by areas of silence that are often desolate of human activity. This approach shows a deep reflection of the city’s evolution, the mutation of the urban network, and the meaning of human existence.