abbey

New world-class group will have around 20 boys and girls aged 17 to 24

Catalonia's iconic site houses one of the oldest publishers in the world alongside Oxford and Cambridge

The 27^th of April is the feast day of the Mare de Déu deMontserrat,Our Lady of Montserrat, or as she is more affectionately called in Catalonia, la Moreneta, "the little dark-skinned one". One of the only black images of the Virgin Mary in Europe, the Virgin of Montserrat is the patron saint of all dioceses in Catalonia and together with St. George (Sant Jordi) is considered the patron saint of the territory. In recent history, she has also become a symbol for Catalan national identity and Catholic Catalan nationalism. Up in the mountains of Montserrat, the Santa María abbey celebrated on Monday with a mass dedicated to the Virgin, and outside in the main square there were numerous traditional activities including people making human towers (castells), music bands and food stalls, as well as groups dancing the traditional Catalan dance, La Sardana.

The Children’s Choir of Montserrat is participating in a tour of China between 23 February and 10 March. Montserrat is home to one of the oldest boys’ choirs in Europe, dating back to 1223. Concerts will take place in China’s largest auditoriums in Beijing and Shanghai. Around the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the music school at Montserrat really began to grow in importance and recognition at international level and nowadays it is one of the world’s most important children’s choirs. The concert programme will be directed by Lawrence Castellon and include Catalan folk songs and some Chinese folk songs. The Chinese cultural manager invited the Choir of Montserrat following their success in the United States.

Next March, L’Escolania de Montserrat, one of the oldest music schools in Europe and one of the most famous children’s choirs, will carry out its first ever tour in the United States. On the 13^th, 14^th and 16^th of March 2014 the choir will sing in concerts in the cities of New York, New Jersey and Washington, respectively. Following this landmark tour they will continue to offer performances throughout Catalonia and then they will begin the recording of their new album. The last time the choir group sang in the Americas was in January 2004 when they played in Puerto Rico. L’Escolania de Montserrat is based in the Benedictine abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat, located in the centre of Catalonia, and has produced many prevalent composers and performers down the years.

The Catalan multi-peaked mountain, which displays unique rock rounded shapes, received 3.7% less visitors than last year, due to a drop of local tourists as a consequence of the economic crisis. However, there has been an increase in the number of visitors to the Natural Park surrounding Montserrat. The mountain is the Catalan spiritual centre, and apart from the Benedictine abbey, it is a place where visitors can go hiking and climbing.

The most prestigious choirs of Catalonia will sing at the religious ceremony inside Antoni Gaudí’s temple. The Orféo Català, the Coral Sant Jordi and the children’s choir of Montserrat Abbey will be amongst the participants.