ESQUERDA IV: FOSSA (CREVICE IV: GRAVE)
SANG I MEL ALS LLAVIS (BLOOD AND HONEY ON THE LIPS)
with the participatory chamber choir and the Erdesz Viola Trio
Francesc Valldecabres, musical director
Mireia Andreu and Jaume Martínez, art direction
Stones bleed fragments of rockets and promises. Let us not walk over ruins: let us swim in the guts of children. Each crack in the wall is a map of houses that no longer withstand dreams. Memory is not recollection: it is a corpse with an umbilical cord attached to the news. The shadows of 1492 rise up to drink from the graves of 2024. The dead never rest: they are crushed under the tracks of the tanks, and each name ripped from the skin burns with white phosphorous on the tongues of those who keep quiet.
The grave is no metaphor: it is a womb that gives birth to death under the bombs of a drone that has been paid for with your taxes. It is the roots of ancient olive trees turned into knives that are sunk into the throats of the survivors. Amidst the frenetic rhythm of sirens and cries, you are a prisoner. Politicians auction organs on the market of indifference and call the silence of those who can no longer cry, “peace”. When the dust of ruined schools fills your lungs and the drone echoes in your dreams, you will hear the last message from a murdered journalist mixed with the humming that keeps you firm in bed. It is the confession written with blood that forces you to look into the abyss.
CONDUCTING
Francesc Valldecabres studied at Valencia Conservatory where he graduated in Orchestra Conducting, Choir Conducting, Improvisation-Accompaniment and Harpsichord. He expanded his education with a master’s degree in Musical Aesthetics and Creativity from the University of Valencia, another in Musicology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and another in Choir Conducting from Rotterdam Conservatory. He has taken part in masterclasses with teachers such as F. Brüggen and A. van Beek. He has collaborated as a pianist and accompanist with ensembles such as Laurens Collegium and Turiae Camerata, and has conducted orchestras and choirs from around Europe. He has also recorded around fifteen albums dedicated to the heritage of Valencia.
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.