Opening on 17 December at 7:30 pm, with a welcome by Victor Medem (director of L’Auditori), an introduction by Jordi Alomar (Director of the Museu de la Música) and contributions by Mireia Domènech i Bonet (curator of the exhibition and of the Conxita Badia Year), Oriol Martí (Managing Director of ICUB), Íngrid Llopart (Deputy Director General for Cultural Promotion at the Government of Catalonia) and Aiala Ruiz de Arana (Director General of Institutional Coordination for the Generalitat of Catalonia's external action).
This will be followed by a short concert featuring works by Enric Granados, Pau Casals, Manuel de Falla and Conxita Badia, performed by Maria Bañeras (soprano) and Alícia Daufí (piano), and a visit to the exhibition.
Admission to the opening is free and no prior booking is required.
On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of soprano Conxita Badia (Barcelona, 1897–1975), the Museum presents an exhibition tracing the legacy and career of one of the key figures in twentieth-century song. With a distinctive voice and sensitivity, her work as a performer was crucial in shaping and disseminating the Catalan and Spanish art song repertoire, fostering new compositions and encouraging the writing of new poetic texts.
Approaching her figure today offers a privileged way into the cultural and artistic worlds that defined much of the musical life of the last century. The vibrancy of 1920s Barcelona, the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936, exile, her relationship with radio broadcasting and her return to Catalonia under Franco are all factors that mark a life wholly devoted to music.
Heir to Felip Pedrell’s project of musical modernisation, it was through direct contact with Enric Granados —her first teacher and mentor— that she became a privileged “vocal instrument” for the premiere of new songs. She maintained an intense and ongoing artistic collaboration with Pau Casals and Manuel de Falla, which established her as one of the most acclaimed voices of her time and a leading figure on the musical scene.
The events of the Spanish Civil War cut short a brilliant career. Exiled in France with the support of the Republican Government of Catalonia, she embarked on a second exile in Latin America, where she worked with some of the most prominent composers and maintained an intense artistic activity. On her return to Catalonia, she once again stimulated musical life around her and committed herself to teaching and to cultural resistance under the dictatorship.
Her life exemplifies the commitment of a generation marked by war and exile, and remembering her restores to Conxita Badia the undisputed place that is rightfully hers.