The cycles of life jordi savall biography
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FIRST PUBLISHED 17 APR 2025
Jordi Savall is one of the most distinguished and respected figures in the music world today. Other notable film scores include "All the World's Mornings," "The Bird of Happiness," "Marquise," and two installments of the film "Jeanne la Pucelle."
Today, Jordi Savall continues to perform extensively, often accompanied by his wife and two children, Arianna and Ferran.
Dr Wenzinger, who was in his 60s by then, had done his own research in Paris, but the scores were not on microfiche at the time. That same year, he founded his first ensemble, Hespèrion XX, along with his wife, Lorenzo Alpert, and Hopkinson Smith. The look on his face when he saw the treasures I had brought with me was one of astonishment!’
Wenzinger’s surprise was compounded by Savall’s next gambit: ‘My first question to him was, “Will you allow me to play the viola da gamba not like you, Herr Professor, but in the style and spirit of Marin Marais?”' The distinguished professor, somewhat nonplussed, asked his new pupil to explain himself.
I told him that in my opinion, his hand movements were far too stiff when he was playing this music.’
Surely, this was a step too far? I arrived for my first lesson with my professor, Dr August Wenzinger, one of the founders of the Schola, and an extremely important authority in Early Music. Then, in 2017, he founded the Jove Capella de Catalunya, and in 2020, La Capella Nacional de Catalunya, with the aim of creating a new generation of international singers for La Capella Reial de Catalunya and making both historical and contemporary music accessible to all audiences.
His concert programmes have made music an instrument of mediation to achieve understanding and peace between different and sometimes warring peoples and cultures. Five years later, in 2023, he founded Les Musiciennes du Concert des Nations, an all-female orchestra specializing in Baroque repertoire, inspired by the women’s orchestras of the 18th century, particularly in Italy.With his key participation in Alain Corneau’s film Tous les Matins du Monde (awarded the César Cinema Prize for the best soundtrack), his intense concert activity (about 140 concerts per year), his record releases (6 recordings per year) and the creation in 1998, together with Montserrat Figueras, of his own record label, Alia Vox, Jordi Savall has shown that early music does not have to be elitist, but rather that it appeals to an increasingly wide and diverse audience of all age groups.
Jordi Savall has recorded and released more than 230 discs covering the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music repertories, with a special focus on the Hispanic and Mediterranean musical heritage, receiving many awards and distinctions such as the Midem Classical Award, the International Classical Music Award and the Grammy Award.
Accordingly, guest artists appearing with his ensembles include Arab, Israeli, Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Afghan, Mexican and North American musicians. He taught me as if he was directing an orchestra: “Jordi, here it is not clear what you are intending... And then he suddenly said, “Yes, all right I accept!” From that moment on, he never brought his own instrument into my lessons.
It was here that he met his future wife, the singer Montserrat Figueras. In 2008 Jordi Savall was appointed European Union Ambassador for intercultural dialogue and, together with Montserrat Figueras, was named “Artist for Peace” under the UNESCO “Good Will Ambassadors” programme.
Between 2020 and 2021, to mark Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, he conducted the complete symphonies with Le Concert des Nations and recorded them in 2 CDs entitled Beethoven Révolution.
He is also a philosopher and a polymath, who has championed collaborations between different musical traditions across the globe, emphasising the role that music plays in uniting us as human beings.
Ashutosh Khandekar interviewed Jordi Savall for Continuo Connect.
He has also been nominated for Grammy Awards twice.
In 2008, Savall was appointed as a cultural ambassador for intercultural negotiations by the European Union. Despite the hardships of war, Savall continued his education and began singing in a children's choir at a local school in 1947.
In 1959, Savall enrolled at the Barcelona Conservatory of Music, where he studied cello.
I am essentially an autodidact – I learn by looking, exploring and experimenting.’
In tomorrow’s excerpt, Jordi Savall gives his views on the hotly-debated topic of authenticity in music. The impact they have had in the record market worldwide has been defined as “a miracle” (Fanfare), and volume II has been distinguished with the Schallplattenkritik Prize for the best orchestral record.
Jordi Savall’s prolific musical career has brought him the highest national and international distinctions, including honorary doctorates from the Universities of Evora (Portugal), Barcelona (Catalonia), Louvain (Belgium) and Basel (Switzerland), the order of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France), the Praetorius Music Prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of Lower Saxony, the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Helena Vaz da Silva Award and the prestigious Léonie Sonning Prize, which is considered the Nobel prize of the music world.