Stéphane Degout & Simon Lepper at Palau de la Musica Catalana

About the Event

For an extraordinary evening of piano classics, visit the impressive Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona to hear the masterpieces of Fauré, Schumann, Duparc and Ropartz.

Gabriel Fauré

Gaetano Donizetti was an Italian composer of the early 19th century. He was one of the leading composers of the bel canto opera style along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini. Over the course of his career, Donizetti wrote almost 70 operas both comic and serious. His first notable success came with a serious opera, Zoraida di Granata, which was presented in 1822 in Rome. As a result, he made a major impact on the Italian and international opera scene and shifted the attention to opera seria noble and 'serious' style operas. However, his best‐known works include comedies such as L'elisir d'amore 1832 and Don Pasquale 1843.

Robert Schumann

Giacomo Puccini was an Italian opera composer of the late 19th century. He was considered one of the greatest composers of the Italian Opera, second only to Verdi. His early works were characterised by features of the traditional 19th century romantic Italian opera. Later, his style developed into the realistic verismo style, which inspired him to write his most famous masterpieces and became one of the leading exponents of the style. His most renowned works La bohème 1896, Tosca 1900, Madama Butterfly 1904, and Turandot 1924, all are popular operas played in the most prestigious venues of the classical world.

Henri Duparc

Monteverdi’s unique artistic legacy marks the transition of musical traditions from Renaissance to Baroque. Born in 1567 in Cremona, Italy, Claudio Monteverdi showed his talent at an early age. Already in 1582 his first work, a set of motets, was published in Venice. By 1590 he became a famous composer in Italy and a musician to the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga of Mantua where he made acquaintances with prominent painters, composers and writers of the time. In 1607 his first opera, L’Orpheo, was staged in Mantua and was a sweeping success. Even today this passionate and expressive opera is frequently performed worldwide. The following year his second opera L’Arianna followed, again receiving public acclaim. Unfortunately, only a piece from this opera L'Arianna has survived until present day.
After the death of Duke Vincenzo, Monteverdi did not wish to serve in the court anymore and moved to Venice where he was appointed as a maestro di cappella at San Marco Cathedral. There he managed the choir and composed sacred music. In the 1630’s Monteverdi’s world was severely disturbed by the outbreak of the plague in Venice leading to more than 45000 casualties. However, 1637 is marked as a revival both of the city and the composer’s work: that year saw the opening of the magnificent opera house of San Cassiano, for which Monteverdi composed a few successful operas up until his death in 1643.

Guy Ropartz

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni was an Italian Baroque composer of the early 18th century. He is well known as one of the greatest composers of instrumental music, especially known for his concertos. 'Adagio in G minor' was supposedly written by him. His fascinating instrumental music attracted attention from different figures of the Classical scene, such as Johann Sebastian Bach who wrote at least two fugues on Albinoni's themes.