Mastersingers in Barcelona — 2005

Background of the Symposium

Barcelona and the “autonomous community” of Catalonia of which it is capital is a hotbed of choral activity.  A principal unifying organization is the Federació de Cors de Clavé (FCC), which coordinates the activities of 150 choirs (men’s, women’s, mixed, etc.) throughout Catalonia.  The name Clavé, incidentally, is taken from Josep Anselm Clavé, the 19^th century founder of the first men’s choirs on the Iberian peninsula.

In recent years, the FCC has engaged in many projects to promote choral singing in Catalonia, and its most recent endeavor was the “First International Symposium for Men’s Choirs,” which took place July 9-23, 2005.  Only 6 men’s choruses were invited to participate:

• Côr Meibion Colwyn from Wales,
• The Slovak Teachers’ Choir (Spevácky Zbor Slovenskych Učitelov) from Slovakia,
• The Coral Santa Lucía from the autonomous community of Spain known as Basque Country,
• The Choral Society Saint Rafailo Banatsky from Serbia,
• The Bonifantes Male Voice Choir from the Czech Republic, and
• Mastersingers USA.

The first 3 choruses participated during the first week of the symposium; the latter 3, the second week.  Each chorus gave 4 concerts.  Three of the concerts were at small venues, either in Barcelona or in its suburbs, in most cases sharing the stage with a local choir.  The fourth concert was at the Palau de la Música Catalana, one of the great concert halls of the world, built in 1905-8 and designed in the modernist style by Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

	The red star is Malgrat de Mar

The choruses were billeted in the resort town of Malgrat de Mar some 60 km. northeast of Barcelona, along the part of the Mediterranean known as the Costa Brava.  Meals, lodging, and ground transportation were provided gratis by the FCC, as was an “excursion day” to the mountain shrine of Montserrat that included a tour of the Cordoniu winery.

So much for background.  Here’s what the week was like from the Mastersingers' point of view.