OCTOBER 2021
Repertoire
Anthem for the United Nations
Concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV 1043
Ninth Symphony in D minor, op. 125, 4th movement “Hymn to Joy”
Performers
Eugenia Boix, soprano
Marta Infante, mezzo
Joan Francesc Folqué, tenor
Josep-Ramon Olivé, baritone
Orfeó Català (Simon Halsey, artistic director ; Pablo Larraz, conductor)
Franz Schubert Filharmonia
Tomàs Grau, conductor
Programme notes
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the Anthem for the United Nations with lyrics by the poet W.H. They hear that Secretary General U-Thant commissioned Pau Casals. At the same event, on October 24, 1971, the United Nations Peace Medal was awarded to Pau Casals, at the headquarters of the General Assembly in New York. His speech of gratitude, improvised and emotional became a historical moment of reference, starring a universal Catalan.
50 years later, the Pau Casals Foundation commemorates that historic moment with a concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana, by the Franz Schubert Philharmonic and the choir of the Orfeó Català, who will perform, among others, the Hymn for at the United Nations. The concert has the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Ministry of Culture and AC / E Acción Cultural Española. The 50th anniversary of Pau Casals’ speech at the United Nations has been declared an “official commemoration of 2021” by the Generalitat de Catalunya.