Coming Soon: Habaneras Festival of Catalonia in Vila-seca

The I Habanera Day 2025 – Habaneras Festival of Catalonia will be held on September 28, featuring performances by Cuban and Catalan musicians, as well as a theoretical symposium in the gardens of Vila-seca Castle.

The concerts and the Cantada de Habaneras will open with Cuban pianist Cecilio Tieles Ferrer, performing La Felicita by Ulpiano Estrada and La niña hermosa and Ayes del alma, both by his fellow countryman Manuel Saumell.

Next, Habanera de tres divertimentos by Xavier Montsalvatge will be performed, with Jordi López Roig at the piano, followed by La Habanera by Ernesto Lecuona.

The Caelestis Quartet will perform Habanera salada and Salió de Jamaica, both by Ricardo Lafuente, as well as Allí en mi Cuba by Xavier Montsalvatge. Other guest performers, including pianist Marc Torres and singer Alba Fortuny, will treat the audience to pieces such as Mi niña by Garme Guetary (published in 1895), La rubia de los lunares by Sebastián Yradier, and, from the collection Cinco canciones negras by Xavier Montsalvatge, Cuba dentro de un piano and Canción de cuna para dormir un negrito.

According to Radio Enciclopedia, musicians from Habana Vieja Habaneras will perform Al oído by Josep Bastons and Carles Casanovas, Allí en La Habana by Osvaldo Farrés, Madre quiero ser pescador by Antònia Vilàs, the internationally renowned Veinte años by María Teresa Vera and Guillermina Aramburú, and Vestida de noche by Cástor Pérez.

Finally, from Jacaranda Habaneras, the audience will hear Marinero de tierra adentro by J. Bastons and N. Oliver; Volveré and Llora guitarra, both by J. Lluís Ortega Monasterio; El capitán by Antoni Mas and Carles Casanovas; Lobo de mar by Ramon Carreras; and El hechizo de Calella by J. M. Roglan and Ruth Domingo, among others.

Theoretical Symposium

The conference session will be moderated by Maica Vidal Rull, President of the Catalan-Ibero-American Cultural Association (ACC-i). The first presentation, led by Dr. Cecilio Tieles Ferrer, Honorary President of the Association, will explore the Catalan presence within the Habanera tradition in Cuba.

Musicologist Gerard Moreno Sabaté will then analyze The Habanera in the Music School as a Multidisciplinary Pedagogical Tool. Afterwards, Pere Domènech Santos, patron of the Ernest Moratón Habaneras Foundation and ACC-i Habanera board member, will present The Habanera in Catalonia and Spain: Proposals for Consolidation.

The symposium will conclude with a study presented by Enric Frigola Viñas, President of the Ernest Morató Foundation, titled The Goals of the Ernest Morató Habaneras Foundation Thirty Years On.

About ACC-i

The Catalan-Ibero-American Cultural Association (ACC-i), in collaboration with the Vila-seca Town Hall, is committed to promoting Catalan and Ibero-American popular culture, with a special focus on habaneras.

This partnership has led to numerous regional events. For a decade, it organized the Habaneras and Boleros Festivals of the Costa Dorada in Vila-seca and La Pinar, featuring Cuban artists. Internationally, the association has honored Catalan composers in Havana and participated in music series in Cuba.

Since 2017, ACC-i has worked with the International Meetings “Discovering the Habanera” in Havana. New initiatives include promoting habaneras among children and youth, with projects such as the Children’s Cantadeta “Marinero de tierra adentro” involving schools from the Conca de Barberà—a project that has recently been introduced in Cuba.

Thanks to these efforts and institutional support, ACC-i will host the I Habanera Day 2025 – Habaneras Festival of Catalonia in Vila-seca.

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez