He is originally from a small village in Norway with just over 6,000 residents (he is the only famous person born there, to anyone’s knowledge), but his music has been heard around the world, or just about, given that the creations of this pianist and symphonic and choral music composer are among the most widely performed music of our time. He was born in northern Europe in 1978, but with his obvious musical talent and a childhood exposed to eclectic sounds that spanned from Brahms to ABBA, he was trained in London and New York. He lives in this US city, where he independently composes music in an almost cinematographic style that has been described as exuberant and harmonious. His influences and sources of inspiration include classics such as Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and especially Rachmaninov, as well as jazz legends such as Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny, compositions for the cinema by the US composer Thomas Newman and even Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures and Frank Gehry's buildings (the fish at Barcelona’s Port Olímpic and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao).
We’ll hear a selection of his works, including Dreamweaver, in a concert in which Ola Gjeilo himself will play the piano and the Orfeó Català, the Youth Choir of the Orfeó Català and the Girls Choir of the Orfeó Català will all perform.
Produced by Palau de la Música Catalana.
Directed by: Pablo Larraz, Montserrat Meneses, Oriol Castanyer Composition: Ola Gjeilo Performed by: Ola Gjeilo (piano) / Quartet Atenea (Gil Sisquella, first violin / Jaume Angelès, second violín / Bernat Santacana, viola / Iago Domínguez, cello / doublebass) / Emma Campàs (guitarra) / Orfeó Català Pablo Larraz, conductor; Montserrat Meneses, assistant conductor) / Youth Choir of the Orfeó Català (Pablo Larraz, Oriol Castanyer, conductors) / Girls Choir of the Orfeó Català (Montserrat Meneses, conductor). Dramaturgy: Bernat Cot / Performing: Laura Aubert (Els Pirates Teatre)