SMCC 2014: Incantato proudly presents the Choral Exchange with the Youth Choir of Prince of Asturias Foundation

Dear travellers and friends of San Marino Chamber Choir,

What an exciting exchange: San Marino Chamber Choir and the Joven Coro de la Fundación Principe de Asturias (Youth Choir of the Prince of Asturias Foundation) will meet, sing and share time and music on on March 31 and April 1st in Asturias.

Prince of Asturias Awards Finale Concert with Prince of Asturias Choir

The Prince of Asturias Foundation, under the Presidency of HRH The Prince of Asturias, has a great international reputation, due to cultural activity along the year (as Prince of Asturias Awards), and also to the high quality of its musical activities and choirs under its Music Department. 
You can take a look to the videos of some Awards Ceremonies here
(By the way, let me share with you that it was during this Awards that HRH The Prince Felipe got to met his wife Letizia, now Princess of Asturias, where she was working as special journalist for the TV)

The Music Department

In 1983 the Prince of Asturias Foundation, a private organization whose aim is to contribute towards strengthening the links between the Prince of Asturias, the heir apparent to the Spanish throne, and the Principality of Asturias, formed a polyphonic group that whilst fostering the traditional love of the people of Asturias for choral music, would elevate it to its greatest heights. 
With Jesús López Cobos and Krzysztof Penderecki as Honorary Conductors, the Music Department runs different activities during the whole year: International Music School, the Concerts and the Choirs.

THE YOUTH CHOIR

The Youth Choir was founded in 1988 and is currently made up of young musicians from 15 to 25 years of age. It is one of the three choirs –also the Senior Choir and the Children’s Choir- that make up the Music Department of the Prince of Asturias Foundation, which has more than 300 voices. 

Under the conduction of José Ángel Émbil, the Youth Choir has performed throughout Asturias on numerous occasions. It toured Germany with great success in 1990 and took part in the Clermont-Ferrand International Youth Choir Festival (France).
They keep performing at national concerts.
In 2001, they obtained the second Prize at the Children’s Festival in Habaneras, held in Torrevieja. In April 2002, they offered two concerts in Barcelona and in June they performed at the Jerónimos Church in Madrid.
In 2005, the Choir returned to Madrid to sing in the El Pardo Royal Palace on occasion of the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, at a concert that was presided over by T.R.H. the Prince and Princess of Asturias.
In December the Choir returned to Madrid to perform at a concert in the Royal Palace for the staff of the National Heritage. The concert was presided over by H.R.H. the Prince of Asturias.
During the XXIX Religious Music Week (2006), the Choir premiered Diez villancicos pixuetos at the Saint Nicholas of Bari Church, by Elvira Bravo and the Fernández Ahuja brothers, and restored and harmonized by José Mª Martínez.
In 2009, they celebrated a exchange with the Youth Choir of the Performing Arts School in Kentucky (U.S.A.) at a concert in the Chamber Music Hall of the Prince Felipe Auditorium in Oviedo. The concert, a part of YPAS performing tour with Incantato, was a great success, where the magnificent composer Richard Burchard presented as European premiere "A song of Eternal Love". 

 

The choir has premiered pieces specially written for it by composers like Alfonso Sánchez or Luis Vázquez del Fresno. It is also a source of new voices for the Senior Choir, which has already reached unquestionable prestige in Spain and abroad.
The Youth Choir covers a wide repertoire, from elder to contemporary music and from religious to popular music. The members of the Choir rehearse for more than five hours every week and attend classes of music theory and vocal technique with the teachers of the Choirs of the Prince of Asturias Foundation.

Prince of Asturias Foundation Choir

Conducted by José Esteban G. Miranda, the Prince of Asturias Foundation Choir is regarded as one of the most important amateur groups in Europe and its prestige is world-renowned. Jesús López Cobos, the 1981 Prince of Asturias Award Laureate for the Arts, has been the honorary conductor of the choirs since their inception. He currently shares this role with Krzysztof Penderecki, who received the same Award in 2001. In December 2007, the European Parliament recognised the Choir with a special honour "for its outstanding services for the European Union".

Choirs and Internatinal Music School

They are the result of the educational work carried out by the Prince of Asturias Foundation's Music Department over the last twenty-five years. This explains why, along with its work recovering and fostering Asturian musical and choral traditions, it was chosen by the International Music Council (IMC), an organisation responsible to the United Nations, as an "Example to the World" in its support for music teaching and training. It was invited to present its work, aimed at fostering music, in the first "World Music Forum", which was held in Los Angeles, USA.

The Choral Exchange with San Marino Chamber Choir

The program of this upcoming and exciting choral exchange is divided in 2 days, in which both choirs will have the opportunity to meet, sing, share and rehearse as well.
The Choral Exchange will end in a Joint Choral Concert on April 1st, in the brand new Auditorium of Pola de Siero.
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