Modest Mussorgsky: The Nursery / Dmitri Shostakovich: Satires, Op. 109 / Maurice Ravel: Histoires Naturelles, Op. 50 / Sergei Rachmaninov: Songs, Op. 38 / Béla Bartók: Dorfszenen

The Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená is unquestionably one of the greatest singers of our time. She has made many recordings of great quality, and regularly performs at leading festivals and in the main concert-halls throughout the world. Accompanied today by the excellent pianist Yefim Bronfman, Kožená’s first appearance at Torroella will be a recital of short song cycles by composers from different stylistic and aesthetic traditions, thus addressing the fascinating relationship between text and music.

From the very personal vision of childhood depicted in Mussorgsky’s Dietskaïa to the pungent irony and ingenuity of Shostakovich (Satires, Op. 109), together with the impressionism of Ravel’s Histoires naturelles and the ever-personal musical language of Rachmaninov and Bartók, there will be no shadow of doubt that the intense expressive quality always to be found in the art of Magdalena Kožená is the best recipe for a recital that will be one of the high points of this summer’s Festival.