Mariona Sagarra

Voice, piano and poetry are the tenets of her work. She lays a solid musical foundation allowing her to pursue her artistic career by researching new possibilities of voice expression. She looks into and puts forth different ways to apply voice to the musical realm. Either through electroacoustic, multiple elements or simply by means of vocal polyphonies.Through her role as a singer, she explores other life paths that lead her to act as a performer. Her robust musical knowledge also makes it possible for her to develop a wide range of teaching activities.As a solo singer, she publishes two albums: - Frec a Frec [Close By] (2000). Catalan contemporary poetry turned into jazzy and Mediterranean forms by composers such as Jorge Sarraute, Francesc Capella and herself. - Dies Diferents [Different Days] (2003). Musical collection of places, people, popular songs and vocal tracks, poetry and chants from afar.She has sung on a myriad stages and a number of festivals, including GREC Festival (Barcelona), Barcelona Auditorium, Sala Clamores (Madrid), Sala del Arte (Toledo), L’Espai de Dansa i Música de la Generalitat (Barcelona), Festival de Peralada, Maestranza (Sevilla), Palacio de Festivales (Santander), etc.She has been invited to several international music festivals: Toronto: National Gallery, Quebec (Canada), Essex (England), Amsterdam: Ijesbraker, Maastrich, Breda (the Netherlands), Beirut (Lebanon), Bayonne, Lyon, Perpignan (France). On January 2006, she has been invited by the north american artist Meredith Monk to sing at the New York’s theater, Carnegie Hall (USA).Always open to cooperating with other musicians and especially with artists coming from the dance, poetry, drama or plastic arts fields, she has been on a stage all along. She has sung together with Maria del Mar Bonet, Carles Santos, Agustí Fernández, Xavier “Liba” Villavecchia, Joan Saura, Xavier Maristany, Josep M. Balanyà, Gabriel Brncic, Francesc Capella, Manel Camp, Eduardo Reck Miranda, Walter Thompson, Beñat Achiary, Jean Jacques Lemêtre, Carme Canela, Paca Rodrigo, etc. And she has also performed and played hand in hand with Angel Pawlowsky, Lluís Pascual, Yago Pericot, Comediants, Mont Plans, Sol Picó, Constanza Brncic Frederic Amat, Joan Baixas, Oriol Broggi, etc.She just presented her last musical project MARAM TRIO (psalterium, hurdy gurdy and voice) at the international festivals Torroella de Montgrí, Mercat Música Viva de Vic i LEM. Next abril 2007 she has sing at the TEATRE NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA (National Theater of Catalonia) in Barcelona performing her new production TEMPERAMENTS and in may she has been invited to compose and sing in a very big international project in Lyon with Saint Fons Female Choir and the soloists Helen Chadwick, Soraya Mahdaoui, Antonella Talamonti and Christele Rifaux (conducter): LES VOIX LA!. Next September she presents SUCK: Music Iran-Catalonia.She develops her teaching career through seminars, courses, and workshops specializing in the human voice. And with that goal in mind she has been invited to teach classes in Lyon (France), Madrid, Bayonne Conservatoire and she has recently cooperated with Meredith Monk in a workshop in New York (USA).Sagarra is an active inhabitant of music in all of its myriad forms. She has recently finished the symphonic score of her work entitled “MIRAQUEBÉ” which was performed by the symphonic big band (50 musiciens) , Barcelona Municipal Band, as commissioned by the LEM International Festival in Barcelona. And “ASGADRUP” (Per aquí) chamber music for The Barcelona Brass Quintet Metall.She was conducting and leading a weekly radio show called VOX POPULI addressing the world of the voice on Catalunya Música, National radio station.Outstanding in her education is her piano, musical language, harmony, counterpoint and XX century composition training. She pursues Singing Studies with Maria del Carmen Bustamante at the Liceu Conservatoire and with Lucia Meewsen in Haarlem (the Netherlands). Over a period of three years she complements that background at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and attends classes at the Guildhall School in London.