Josep Soler i Sarda composer

Josep Soler Sardà was born in Vilafranca del Penedès (Barcelona) on 25 March 1935. He studied in his hometown with Rosa Lara. In the early 1960s he travelled to Paris (France), where he received advice from René Leibowitz. His main teacher was Cristòfor Taltabull, a disciple of Max Reger, with whom he worked from 1960 to 1964.

Josep Soler's oeuvre exceeds one hundred scores, with a strong presence of the human voice, without forgetting his extensive dedication to chamber music, piano and organ, as well as to the symphonic genre and religious music.

Josep Soler's operatic dedication has been permanent, much more intense than the usual one of his generational colleagues. He has composed a total of nine operas, of which only Oedipus and Jocasta (1972), an opera/oratorio in two acts, has been performed, although the premiere of Murillo (1989), an opera in one act, was planned for 1992.

He has also published numerous essays, translations and works on different subjects, especially on the very fact of musical creation.

He was a teacher at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Barcelona and is currently director of the Professional Conservatory of Music in Badalona (Barcelona).
(Barcelona).

As his main teacher, he has been able to guide a large number of young Catalan composers in a praiseworthy and unanimously recognised teaching.

Without wishing to be exhaustive, we mention here Albert Sardà, Juan José Olives, Benet Casablancas, Miquel Roger, Albert Llanas, María Teresa Pelegrí and Agustí Charles.

He is a member of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Saint George and was awarded the prizes of the Monte Carlo Opera (1964), Ciutat de Barcelona (1962 and 1978) and the 13th Óscar Esplá Composition Prize (1982). He is the only composer in the world whose facet as a writer competes with his musical production; his latest book, J.S. Bach, una estructura del dolor (Madrid, 2004), offers us one of the most particular visions written in recent times about this composer.