Dani Espasa
Harpsichord and conducting
Doubtless, one of the most versatile musician of early music nowadays. Born in La Canonja (near Tarragona), he learned piano at the Conservatories of Tarragona and Barcelona, and Architecture at the E.T.S.A. of Barcelona. He has worked as a composer, as a pianist and as a musical conductor of theatre, dance and TV (TV3 and TVE). In addition to being the producer and composer of many of Lídia Pujol’s albums, he is also the musical conductor, pianist and accordion player for the singer Maria del Mar Bonet. He has conducted the contemporary music ensemble BCN216, and he has premiered and recorded piano pieces by the composer Joan Albert Amargós. Since 2003 he is collaborator pianist and harpsichordist of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (OBC).
After finishing his studies in harpsichord and continuo at the ESMUC with Béatrice Martin, some courses with Pierre Hantaï and Olivier Beaumont, and chamber music studies with J. Savall, P. Memelsdorff, J. P. Canihac and M. Kraemer, he started an intense activity in baroque, renaissance and medieval ensembles. It was then when he worked with the Acadèmia 1750, Mala Punica, La Hispanoflamenca, Les Sacqueboutiers de oulouse and La Caravaggia. He has performed in prestigious music festivals and concert halls of Europe, America and Asia. Since 2005 he is the conductor of VESPRES D’ARNADÍ.
Pere Saragossa
Oboe and direction
Pere began his musical studies at the Ateneu Musical in his native La Vila Joiosa, continuing at the conservatories of Alacant, València and Barcelona where he obtained the superior oboe degree. At the age of 21 he won a place in the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, where he worked for 9 years. After this period he began studying baroque oboe, and in 2005 he obtained a degree in Early Music Performance specialising in historical oboes under the guidance of Alfredo Bernardini at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya.
In 2005, together with the harpsichordist Dani Espasa, he created Vespres d'Arnadí, a baroque group with which he has performed at prestigious festivals in Europe. In 2006 he created Musièpoca, a concert agency specialising in early music, which in 2009 also became a record label. In 2014 he created the Renaissance group Lucentum XVI.
He has been invited by prestigious international baroque orchestras such as the Accademia Bizantina, Zefiro Ensemble, Balthasar Newmann Ensemble, Europa Galante, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Matheus, Stockholm Barokorkester, Le Concert des Nations and Austrian Baroque Company.
He has recorded records with different orchestras, including Antonio Vivaldi's "Tito Manlio" and "Händel: Organ Concertos, op. 4" with the Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone, different records with the baroque orchestra Vespres d'Arnadí, and the most recent with the Lucentum XVI group "El Cantoral del Monestir de Santa Maria de la Murta d'Alzira", published by the Musièpoca label in 2021.
Since 2016 he has been teaching historical oboes at the Conservatori Superior de Música of Castelló.
