Òscar’s new piano miniature, commissioned by Paloma O’Shea, will be premiered by Felix Kehr during the XXV Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander
On 20 July 2026, pianist Felix Kehr will give the world premiere of Òscar’s new solo piano work Campanes al Vespre at Centro Botín, Santander.
Commissioned by Paloma O’Shea, the piece will be presented as part of the XXV Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander, in a concert dedicated to György Kurtág on the occasion of his 100th birthday. The programme brings together music by Schubert, Kurtág and Ligeti, alongside Colomina i Bosch’s new work and Platja i nit. Albà, the second piece from his piano cycle Imatges.
Written in 2026, Campanes al Vespre is shaped by Òscar’s long-standing fascination with the sound and symbolism of bells. Drawing on recurring gestures, the piece transforms bell-like resonances into a meditation on Madrid in the late winter evenings, when the city’s acoustic world takes on a particularly reflective quality.
Through resonance, register and carefully spaced chords, the piano writing creates a sound world that is at once tender, urgent and contemplative. The decay of sound becomes an expressive force in its own right, opening acoustic spaces for the listener to inhabit, connected by thresholds of dissolution and remembrance.
The work follows the tradition of intimate, evocative piano miniatures explored by Mediterranean composers such as Manuel Palau, Xavier Montsalvatge and, particularly, Frederic Mompou, where spacing, silence and poetic gesture create, with great economy, a deep and rich emotional universe.
The recital will be preceded by a brief introduction by Luis Fernando Pérez and Márta Gulyás, artistic co-directors of the Encuentro, together with Òscar. They will present the figure of György Kurtág and discuss his connection with the other composers featured in the programme.
More information:
Centro Botín
https://www.centrobotin.org/actividad/encuentro-musica-y-academia-homenaje-a-gyorgy-kurtag-en-su-100-o-cumpleanos/
