About us

Legally constituted in 2018 under the chairmanship of Joan Guinjoan, the Foundation is born with the main objective of preserving and disseminating his legacy as a composer.

 

DIRECTOR

 

David Albet i Sunyer

(Venezuela, 1955)
 
  • Founder and artistic director of the Barcelona 216 ensemble, dedicated to contemporary music from 1985 to 2025.
  • Curator of the Robert Gerhard Centenary, celebrated in 1996.
  • Director of the Barcelona Contemporary Music Festival from 1996 to 1999.
  • Producer of the Catalan version of the opera Brundibar by Hans Krasa, premiered at the Mercat de les Flors in 1998 and generator of the Opera a Secundaria activity, with the ICUB, IMEB and the educational services of the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
  • Director of Composers in Barcelona, ​​an annual joint activity of the Institutes of Foreign Culture, the ICUB, the CCCB, the ESMUC and Barcelona 216 started in 1996.
  • Professor of flute, chamber, instrumental ensemble and secretary of the Municipal School of Music of Santa Perpètua de Mogoda from 1990 to 2002.
  • Head of the Department of Classical and Contemporary from 2002 to 2006, Professor of Instrumental Ensemble at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) and Coordinator of the Instrumental Departments until 2025.
  • Responsible for the chamber music programming of the Barcelona Auditorium from 2006 to 2009.
  • Member of the Board of Directors of the ICUB since 2007.
  • Member of the Catalan Council of Culture and the Arts (CONCA) from 2012 to 2018.
  • He has played with the National Orchestra of Catalonia and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Chamber Orchestra of the Teatre Lliure.
  • He has worked with: Kaja Saariaho, Hans Zender, Fabià Puigserver, Ernest Martínez-Izquierdo, Josep Pons, Rosa Novell, Rosa Vergés, James McMillan, David Cirici, Martin Matalon, Magnus Lindberg, Jorge Lavelli, Lindsay Kemp, Joan Albert Amargós, Xavier Albertí and Manuel Huerga, among others.
 
 

FOUNDATION'S BOARD

 

Francesc Guinjoan

Chairman
(Paris 1959) Full professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain).Son and heir of Joan Guinjoan

Josep María Escribano Casaldàliga

Vicechairman
(Manresa 1948) Pianist and Artistic Director of the Music and Dance Season of Andorra la Vella since 1993. He works in the field of artistic management collaborating with various entities organizing cultural events. He is patron of the Victoria de los Angeles Foundation. For 22 years he has been the director of the Andorran Institute of Musical Studies of Andorra la Vella. He was awarded the National Music Prize of the Generalitat de Catalunya in its first edition in 1991 as the best interpreter of 20th century music. He has recorded on CD the complete piano works by George Gershwin. He has been organizer and responsible for numerous concert series and musical events. He has worked in TVE (spanish public TV) as coordinator and advisor of classical and contemporary music programs. He was a founding member of the Asociación de Intérpretes de Música Clásica. He has received numerous commissions to elaborate cultural projects abroad, to dynamize new spaces or to rethink programming. As an article writer he has collaborated in reputed specialized magazines and as a teacher, pianist and lecturer he has participated in several debate forums, congresses, professional associations, foundations, universities, schools and conservatories.

Lluís Claret

Board member
Born in the principality of Andorra to exiled Catalan parents, he began his musical studies inspired by the figure of his godfather, Pau Casals.
Later, the family moved to Barcelona, where he studied at the Liceu Conservatory. For many years he receives lessons from Enric Casals, Pau's brother, who, although not a cellist, will be his main mentor.
His encounters with Radu Aldulescu, György Sebök, Eva Janzer, Maurice Gendron and Bernard Greenhouse have also deeply marked his personality.
First prize winner of the Pau Casals and Mstislav Rostropovich competitions, his career is projected worldwide, as a soloist and a great lover of chamber music.
His interest in the music of his time led him to collaborate with great composers such as Pierre Boulez, Witold Lutoslawki, Krsystof Penderecki, Joan Guinjoan, Salvador Brotons and Agustí Charles, among others.
His deep pedagogical vocation has allowed him to teach for more than 20 years at the Toulouse Conservatory and 10 years at the Victoria de los Ángeles Conservatory in Sant Cugat del Vallès. He regularly gives master classes in Europe, America and Asia.
He is currently professor and head of the string department at the New England Conservatory in Boston and regularly visits Conservatorio Superior del Liceu .
His instrument is a Lupot Nicolas (Paris 1820).

 

Francesc Farré Rius (1936-2024)

Honorary Board member
Doctor of Physical Sciences from the Pierre et Marie Curie Faculty of Science (Paris). Member of the Board of Directors of Spain of Perkin Elmer, Applied Biosystems, Applera, Celera, (Hubble Telescope, Human Genome). As Director of the Researchers ’Residence, he collaborated with Joan Guinjoan for more than 10 years, commissioning the works“ Verbum. Human Genome ”and the“ 3rd Symphony, White Synchrotron (Symphony of Light) ”.

Rosa María Fernández

Board member
M. Sc. in Geography and History from the University of Oviedo. Ph. D.  in Musicology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Author of the doctoral thesis "The Pianistic Work of Joan Guinjoan" (1996). Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela where she has led several educational projects linked to music. She has been a researcher at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Milano. Director of several musicology congresses, she has been curator of several exhibitions for various institutions such as the Auditorio Nacional de España, among others. He has taught numerous courses and conferences in various centers such as the Collège d'Espagne in Paris or the Instituto Cervantes in Brussels. He is a corresponding member for Santiago de Compostela of the Royal Academies of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi.

Víctor García de Gomar

Board member
(Barcelona 1975) is the artistic director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, a position he has held since September 2019.  He completed his higher studies in singing (baritone) and piano at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu. His training is complemented by law studies at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a postgraduate degree in direction and management of institutions, companies and cultural platforms at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (1999-2000), IESE (PDG 2015-2016), Kellogg School of Management (2018) and Harvard Business School (2019). His experience in the public and private spheres has allowed him to combine different projects with recognized contribution to the improvement of the entity: the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Auditori de Girona, the Festival Nits de Clàssica de Girona, the Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, the Music Service of the “la Caixa” Foundation. He has taught at several Catalan universities and is the author of several publications in his field.

Ernest Martínez Izquierdo

Board member
(Barcelona, 1962) He studied orchestral conducting in Barcelona and Paris. In 1985 he created the contemporary music ensemble Barcelona 216. After working as Assistant Conductor of the National Orchestra of Spain, Pierre Boulez invited him to be his assistant at the Ensemble InterContemporain in Paris. Parallel to his activity as Principal Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona and the Orquesta Nacional de Cataluña and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, as guest conductor he has conducted numerous orchestras in Europe, America and Asia. He has received several awards, including the Ojo Crítico de Radio Nacional de España, Ciudad de Barcelona and Latin Grammy awards. He is a member of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi at the proposal of Joan Guinjoan. Recently the Government of Finland named him Knight of the Order of the White Rose. He currently combines his activity as a conductor with that of professor at ESMUC where each year he conducts the Joan Guinjoan Prize concert.

Josep Pons i Viladomat

Board member
(Puig-reig, 1957) Considered one of the most relevant conductors of his generation, Josep Pons has built strong ties with orchestras such as Gewandhauss of Leipzig, Staastkapelle of Dresden, Orchestre de Paris, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, WDR Köln, Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestre de Capitulo de Toulouse, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen or BBC Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has made several appearances at the BBC Proms in London. Since 2012 he is the musical director of the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona and is also Honorary conductor of the “Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España”. He has been Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and was founder of the Orquesta de Cambra Teatre Lliure de Barcelona and the Joven Orquesta Nacional de Cataluña. He was musical director of the Barcelona 92 Olympic ceremonies. In 1999 he was awarded the National Music Prize by the Ministry of Culture and is a member of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts. He has recorded more than fifty titles for Harmonia Mundi and Deutsche Grammophon, having obtained the highest awards: Grammy, Cannes Classical Awards, Grand Prix de la Academie Charles Cross, Diapasson d’Or, Choc de la Musique. Recent releases have been a DVD of Mahler’s 8th Symphony for DG and a CD of works by Mahler and Berio with Matthias Goerne and the BBC Symphony Orchestra for HM. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in 1993.

Ruth Prieto Menchero

Board member
(Madrid 1965) Creator and director of El Compositor Habla (ECH) since 2008, Ruth Prieto has reported for this website, either from the international editorial office in Brussels, from Madrid or in situ, several of the most relevant musical events of the moment, whether concerts, premieres, CDs, reviews and interviews with the protagonists of contemporary creation. She is currently the director of El Compositor Habla, the discussion program Enclave Contemporáneo, co-director of La Soirée Musicale and host of the section “Música al dente de Bruselas con ñ” on Radio Alma. She is a frequent contributor to other media such as Ritmo, Mundoclásico, and Ópera Actual. Prieto is also a pianist, pedagogue,  lecturer and music journalist, specialist in cultural management and music diffusion. Her profile is very eclectic and combines artistic, creative and educational aspects. She is a graduate of the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid (RCSMM) and holds a Master’s Degree in Cultural Management from the University of Alcalá de Henares and a European Diploma in Cultural Project Management.
 
 



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