The 'Girona, Temps de Flors' exhibition includes the first ‘a capella’ music festival in Catalonia

Girona (ACN).- The exhibition “Girona, Temps de Flors” will be accompanied this year by the first Girona A Capella Festival, to be held from May 12^th to May 19^th. The largest part of the program will take place during the first weekend of the floral exhibition, when it will combine performances in enclosed theaters and outdoors making the Mercat del Lleó a performance space. The artistic director of the Festival, Pau Marquès, said that it is the first event of this kind to take place in Spain, and its intention is to become “a reference in Southern Europe”.

The visitors of the “Girona, Temps de Flors” exhibition will be surprised this year by ‘a capella’ performances that will be distributed around the city on the occasion of the festival. The Jardins dels Alemanys or the Jardins de la Majordoma will be just some of the scenarios where the groups will perform, and they will also sing in other spaces like the Mercat del Lleó, the Centre Cultural de la Mercè, the restaurant Els Jardins de la Mercè, the Caixa Fòrum Girona, the Casa de Cultura and the patio of the Diputació (the Provincial Council building). Some of the events will be free.

The festival aims to accommodate Catalan artists as well as foreigners, because they want to promote internationalization. It also wants to be a platform for new creators, so they can find in this event “an incentive that can help them to develop their work”, according to the organisation. The common factor of those who will perform is intended to be the quality of their acts, according to Marquès, “without a doubt that is the main criteria in order to select the artists”.

Six groups are going to perform in the first edition of the festival. One of them is The Earth Angels; a vocal choir formed in Barcelona that sing 'doo-wop' that has gained recognition in the United States. The Ukrainians Mansound, the most distinguished ‘a capella’ choir in the former Soviet Union, will also be at the festival. Another participant will be The Hanfris Quartet with members from Greater Barcelona (Mataró, Barcelona and Sant Feliu de Llobregat). In a championship held in 2011 in Murcia, in southern Spain, they were chosen the best in the country in the barbershop quartet category.

The Sixters, a group formed by six girls from Girona, who sing with a very personal style, will also be present. Their purpose is to discover new languages and offer something new. Another participant will be the group Singfònics, made up of 30 singers from Terrassa whose age range goes from 16 to 23 years old. Finally, the Chamber Choir of the Girona Provincial Council will also perform in this festival. This aside, on May 19^th there will also be a gospel and spiritual music workshop in the Casa de Cultura hosted by Moisès Sala, Director of The Gospel Viu Choir.

Promoters hope that in the future this will become a two week festival with some master-class, courses and other activities like a college contest at Girona University. The Mayor of Girona, Carles Puigdemont, said that the Festival “aims to remain in the city”. He also admitted that, even though he is “playing safe” by taking advantage of the visitors of the ‘Girona, Temps de Flors’ exhibition, there is also a small “risk” because it is a “new and original” proposal.