Antonio Galera

Antonio Galera has established himself as one of the most promising young performers in Spanish musical life. As a prize-winner of several competitions, including the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Award, his national career has brought him performances in major halls and festivals in Spain receiving outstanding reviews – “extraordinary sensibility,” “infallible technique control,” “very rare musicality.” Recently Antonio was invited to make his debut recital at the Madrid National Auditorium performing Mozart’s Concerto K467. Strongly devoted to the music of Spanish composers, he received the “Best Spanish Music Performance” Award at the Iturbi Prize Competition in Valencia.

Antonio also has a performing career in France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Lithuania, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Malaysia and Taiwan performing at Salle Cortot (Paris), Zhong Shan Hall (Taipei), and St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London), among others. Since 2019 he has been appointed Artist-in-Residence at the Bar Harbor Music Festival, presenting solo, chamber music and orchestra performances in New York City and Mount Desert Island, Maine. His presentation in America with Mozart’s K.595 and Poulenc’s Double Concerto conducted by Philippe Entremont received rave reviews. His first solo CD, Prelude, recorded in Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Granada with the label IBS has been praised by the critics.

Antonio Galera graduated with honors in piano and flute from the Joaquin Rodrigo Conservatory in Valencia. He later received the Diplome de Concertiste at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris with scholarships granted by la Comitée Roussel, Juventudes Musicales de Madrid, awards received from Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain, as well as a high specialization grant from AIE. He collaborates with the Orquesta de Valencia, with solo appearances performing Ravel Concerto in G and Gershwin Concerto in F. A regular performer in Palau de les Arts educational activities, he teaches at the University of Valencia and is regularly invited as a piano instructor in Europe, America and Asia. Passionate about cultural management and research, he has designed projects such as the Festival dels Horts, of which he is artistic director.

Tickets start at $31, including all fees, K-12 student tickets are free.

Préludes – 1er livre (1st book) Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)

I. Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi)
II. Voiles (Sails/Veils)
III. Le Vent dans la Plaine (The Wind in the Plain)
IV. Les Sons et les Parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Sounds and Scents Waft in the
Evening Air)
V. Les Collines d’Anacapri (The Hills of Anacapri)
VI. Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps on the Snow)
VII. Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest (What the West Wind Saw)
VIII. La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair)
IX. La sérénade interrompue (The Interrupted Serenade)
X. La Cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral)
XI. La danse de Puck (Puck’s Dance)
XII. Minstrels

Danzas Argentinas (Argentinian Dances) Alberto Ginastera
(1916-1983)

I. Danza del viejo boyero (Dance of the Old Herdsman)
II. Danza de la moza donosa (Dance of the Graceful Girl)
III. Danza del gaucho matrero (Dance of the Outlaw Cowboy)

Almería Isaac Albéniz
(1860-1909)
(from Iberia)

El círculo mágico (The Magic Circle) Manuel de Falla
(1876-1946)

A medianoche (At midnight)
Danza Ritual del Fuego (Ritual Fire Dance)
(from El Amor Brujo – Love, the sorcerer)

La Maja y el Ruiseñor (The Maiden and the Nightingale) Enrique Granados
(1867-1916)
(from Goyescas)

Allegro de Concierto

Program Notes (Debussy and Ginastera)
By Dr. Jack Burt

Although Schoenberg and Stravinsky often get the credit for ushering in what we now call “20th
Century Music” (during the 1900’s and 1910’s), with new ideas such as Atonality, Serialism and the
barbarism of the Rite of Spring, I believe Debussy (1862-1918) deserves more credit. In a very quiet,
subtle and sensuous way, the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, written all the way back in 1894, is
astonishingly modern and groundbreaking. It presented an entirely new way of thinking about
harmony, form and expression; what we now loosely call “Impressionism.”

Just to compare what else was in the air at the time: Brahms composed the 4th Symphony, his last, in
1884, the Dvorak 9th Symphony, From the New World, comes in 1893; and Mahler’s 2nd
“Resurrection,” in 1894. Debussy’s quiet little Prelude is much more “modern,” and “out there,”
than any other work of the time, until the advent of Schoenberg and Stravinsky, a decade later. Of
the composers of his generation: Mahler (born, 1860), Richard Strauss (1864) and Sibelius (1865),
none would offer such a break with traditional musical style as early as Debussy.

His two books of piano Preludes were written in 1910 (Book 1) and 1913 (Book 2). Each Prelude is
given a title, for the listener (or player) to contemplate. Some are literary quotes, others just single
words: “Sails”, “Footprints in the Snow” and famously, “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair”. In each
movement, Debussy utilizes different tonal systems: Whole-Tone harmony (Sails), folk-like
Pentatonicism (Footprints, The Girl…), and Quartal and Quintal harmonies (The Engulfed
Cathedral).

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) is one of South America’s most influential composers. His music,
although always difficult and complex, never strays far from his Latin and Argentinian roots. This is
especially true of his Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2, from 1937. Two wild, and virtuosic movements
surround a central, more lyrical and expressive movement. Though rhythmically challenging and
harmonically complex (for example, he first movement, “Dance of the Old Herdsman” is Bi-tonal: the left
hand is in the key of D flat, and the right in C major), the listener never loses the sense of its
Argentinian roots.

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