Torrebesses | June 26, 2023 | 6:37 p.m.

Eleven towns will be the stars of the 12th Garrigues Guitar Festival Memorial Emili Pujol. The opening act will be carried out by the town of Soleràs, which is opening the event for the first time and will be at the Church of l’Assumpció on Saturday, July 1, presenting Músicas y Re-creaciones, a Dos Guitar show formed by Elisabeth Roma and David Aparicio that come together in classical and jazz arrangements.

La Granadella and Bellaguarda will host concerts by the guitar duo Rubio-Them and the Trio Quetzal from Mexico in the churches of Santa Maria de Gràcia and Sant Antoni Abat. In mid-July we will savor the pairing of the Mas Blanch i Jové winery to the rhythm of traditional melodies with a jazz standard by the duo Diode in the Vinya dels Artistes de la Pobla de Cérvoles.

In Torrebesses the usual participation of the guitar tricycle will return, a town in the Segrià region of Venice where the maestro Emili Pujol lived from his summer home Mas Janet. The first of the concerts, on July 14, will be given by the winner of the last edition of the Llobet Contest in Barcelona, Airam de Vera from the Canary Islands at the Sant Salvador Church; where the Catalan Bruna Escolà and the Mexican Christopher Avilez will perform as the second and third concert, on August 4 and 25 respectively.

The concert intensity will continue in the Terrall Gardens of les Borges Blanques with the guitar and cello duo ZKDuo, on Friday 21. And without rest and on a decisive weekend, on July 22 and 23 in the churches of Sant Joan Baptista in Vinaixa and Sant Jaume de Arbeca will resound the guitars of Carles Herraiz and the Arbonés-Caselles duet formed by the imposing voice of the soprano Marta Arbonés accompanied on the guitar by Rosario Caselles.

Closing the month of July, the Rock Ensemble of the Moors of Cogul, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will host the show of the Ensemble XXI, The Magic of the Handpan, accompanied by the Israeli musician Ravid Goldschmidt, virtuoso of this instrument of melodic and captivating percussion. The color and rhythm of the music will change the next day with the Cuban son that the Javier Olondo Quartet will show us, coming directly from New Orleans to Vinya els Vilars, who, as every year, present us with their spectacular wine pairing.

In August the strings will resound again in the church of Sant Miquel of Granyena de les Garrigues with the cello and guitar of the Duo Fasols and castles of La Floresta and Espluga Calba, centuries of history will listen to Italian baroque music by the Astrolabi trio and world rhythms by Moure & Durán.

Emili Pujol Universe, project of European impulse

After three years of adverse situations, the municipality of Torrebesses will once again be the center of the Emili Pujol Universe. The proposal aims to become a breeding ground for creation, production, exhibition and artistic competition related to the figure and work of the master Emili Pujol, the central axis of which is the instrument of the guitar, developed in a rural and experimental environment, and as an element backbone nature and its ecosystem.

Univers Pujol is financed by European Next Generation funds to expand and diversify the cultural offer in non-urban areas of the Generalitat de Catalunya, a state framework promoted by the Ministry of Culture and Sports. It is also included in the “Territorial Culture Ecosystem” project for the sectoral articulation of the Culture and Ruralities program of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.