Xavier Pastrana, director titular

Nascut a Tarragona al 1977, estudia guitarra amb Enrique Malo i Carles Trepat i n’obté el títol superior l’any 2000. Estudia direcció coral amb Pierre Caó i composició amb el mestre Manel Oltra. Així mateix ha participat en diversos cursos de direcció coral i orquestral amb mestres com Frieder Bernius, Jorma Panula o Salvador Mas.

Ha obtingut diversos premis en els Premis Ciutats de Reus de Composició de Corals Infantils i el premi de composició “Orfeó Manresà” de l’any 2003. L’any 2004 li és encarregada una cantata per a cor i orquestra per a celebrar el XX aniversari de l’Escola Municipal de Música de Tarragona i l’estrena ell mateix l’any 2005. Ha estat professor de direcció a diversos cursos com els de la FCEC a Catalunya o els de la Federación Aragonesa de Coros a Aragó, entre d’altres.

Ha dirigit el Cor Mos Cantars de Tarragona de l’any 1995 fins al 2001 i el Jove Cor de Tarragona entre els anys 1997 i 2003. Durant els anys 2003 i 2004 va assumir la sotsdirecció de l’Orfeó Català i del Coro de la orquestra Ciudad de Granada. En els anys 2007 i 2008 es fa càrrec de la Cobla Marinada de Badalona.

Durant el curs 2005-2006 estudia direcció d’orquestra a la Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst a Viena, amb els professors U. Lajovich i S. Pironkoff.

Actualment, dirigeix el Cor St. Esteve de Vila-seca i les orquestres del Conservatori de Cervera. Des del juliol de 2008 és el director titular de Lieder Càmera.

Josep Vila i Casañas, The artistic conductor

Born in Sabadell in 1966, he began to study music at the Sabadell Municipal Music Conservatoire, where he trained with Glòria Peig i Sabater to become a pianist.

He later went on studying harmony, counterpoint, fugue and composition with Benet Casablancas and Josep Soler in the Badalona Conservatoire and orchestral conducting with Salvador Mas at the Barcelona Conservatoire. At the same time, he worked on choral conducting with Manuel Cabero, Pierre Cao and Laszlo Heltay, among others, on several stages in Spain and abroad. Between 1995 and 1996, he studied in Sweden with the conductor Eric Ericson. He has studied singing with Myriam Alió, Gudrun Bruna, Margarida Lladó, Lambert Climent, Mercè Baiget and José Javier Viudes.

He has taught choral conducting in Barcelona, Lleida, Palma de Mallorca, Murcia, Ljubljana and Budapest. Nowadays, he is teacher of choral conducting at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMuC).

As a composer, he specialises in music for voices and instruments and has been awarded the Reus Prize for Composition for Children’s Choirs for three times.

He has conducted several vocal groups, including the Cardedeuenca Choir, the Fine Arts Youth Choir, and the Veus Blanques Choir of the Badalona Conservatoire. Between 1991 and 1995, he was the principal conductor of the Coral Càrmina choir in Barcelona. He has worked as a guest conductor with the El Vallès Symphonic Orchestra, the Chapel of Santa Maria del Mar, the Franz Liszt Academy Choir in Budapest, the Donostiarra Choir, the Spanish National Choir and the Spanish Radio and Television Choir.

He has been the conductor of the Orfeó Català choir since 1998. In January 1990, he founds the Lieder Càmera in Sabadell and takes the musical leadership.

Glòria Coma, the assistant

Born in Santa Maria d'Oló and studied music at the Sabadell Municipal Music Conservatory, graduating in bass and piano. She has combined these studies with a university degree in Arts (The History of Art) from the UAB (the autonomous University of Barcelona) and CAP Certification specialising in music from the UPC (the Polytechnic University of Catalonia). She is studying theatre at the Theatre Institute in Terrassa.

Since 1995, she has studied Choir direction on courses organised by the Catalan Federation of Choral Entities under Mireia Barrera and Josep Vila, also undertaking master classes with directors such as Pierre Cao, Lászlo Heltay, Manel Valdivieso, Lluis Vila and Johann Düyck.

She has also undertaken the Valle de Ricote Direction Course organised by the Múrcia Choral Federation under Harry Christophers and has participated in children's choral administration courses in Catalonia with the Israeli Moran children's Choir and the Tapiola Choir from Finland.

She is studying song under the baritone Xavier Comorera and is receiving classes at national and international level under singers such as Kurt Widmer, Mark Padmore, M. Lawson, Atsuko Kudo, Nancy Argenta and Marybeth Dayme.

As a bass-player, she has taken part in various traditional music and orchestral groups, especially with the Youth Symphonic Orchestra in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

She has directed various choral groups: The Sant Esteve Choir, which obtained first prize in the 10th Generalitat de Catalunya Choral Show also participating in various recordings; The Guineu Music School Youth Choir, which obtained second prize in the 9th Children's and Youth Habaneras (Traditional song) Exhibition held in Torrevieja; Adult choirs in Castellar del Vallès, Matadepera and Barcelona.

In the season of 2000 to 2001, she collaborated as assistant to Mireia Barrera in the preparation of child soloists for the opera Billy Bud for the Gran Teatre del Liceu’s season, and in autumn 2004, undertook the pedagogic direction for choir and song at the Choeur d'Enfants et de Jeunes du Benin in Cotonou.

She has sung with the Leider Chamber since 1999, and has been the Sub Choral Director from September 2005 to 2008.