Montserrat Figueras is an outstanding performer in a vast vocal repertoire which spans the Mediaeval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Born in Barcelona into a family of music-lovers, she performed while still very young with Enric Gispert and Ars Musicae, studying singing with Jordi Albareda as well as dramatic interpretation. In 1966, she began studying early singing techniques, from the troubadours to the Baroque, developing a highly individual approach which draws directly on original sources, both historical and traditional, unfettered by the influences of the post-Romantic school. Her artistic and personal union with Jordi Savall, which has proved so fruitful in the couple’s multiple teaching, research and creative activities, dates from 1967. The mutually reciprocal, lasting impact of this collaboration on both their lives is particularly evident in the development of an innovative style of interpretation, characterised by great fidelity to the historical sources combined with an extraordinary creative and expressive power, that has exerted a decisive influence on the whole historical music movement. In 1968, Figueras pursued her musical training in Basel (Switzerland) under Kurt Widmer, Andrea von Rahm and Thomas Binkley at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Musikakedemie. In the 1970s, Montserrat Figueras rose to eminence as one of a generation of musicians who realised that vocal music before 1800 required a new technical and stylistic approach capable of restoring to the beauty and emotion of the voice, that most human of all forms of expression, the necessary balance between singing and declamation, with an emphasis on the poetic and spiritual dimension of the text. Between 1974 and 1989, Figueras was co-founder of the ensembles Hespèrion XX, La capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. Both in conjunction with these ensembles and as a soloist, she has been instrumental in the rediscovery of a musical heritage as eclectic as it is exceptional. She has thus magically brought to life such unjustly neglected music as the ancient Song of the Sibyl, the lullabies included in her recent recording Ninna Nanna, Misteri d’Elx and Isabel I, not forgetting her legendary performances of Trobayritz, Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, Sephardic Ballads, Golden Age Cancioneros, Tonos Humanos of the Hispanic Baroque, and monographic programmes devoted to Milan, Mudarra, Narváez, Guerrero, Victoria, Marín, Merula, Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Caccini, Charpentier, Mozart (Requiem), Sor and also the operas of Monteverdi (L’Orfeo) and Martín y Soler (Il Burbero di buon cuore and Una cosa rara).
Montserrat Figueras regularly performs at the major European, American and Asian music festivals. Her CD recordings, which number more than 60, have received numerous awards and distinctions, including “Grand Prix de l’Académie du Disque Français”, “Edison Klasik”, “Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque” and “Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cross”, nominations (2001 and 2002) for the “Grammy Award”; in 2003 she was awarded the distinction of “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government.
Antoine Ballard |
