Agenda for May 23, Concert Tour 2006. C.W. Post Department of Music

Agenda for May 23

A map of today's travels

From the Tour Itinerary

7:30 a.m.	Breakfast at hotel
8:00 a.m.	Board coach and depart Barcelona. Cross the border into France and then turn west toward the grand Pyrenees Mountains. This is the region of France know as the Roussillon (historically part of Catalonia - now Spain). The area offers a rich architectural heritage ranging from Roman to Romanesque, quiet villages and beautiful landscape
12:00 p.m.	Arrive in the quaint village of Villefranche de Conflent
Afternoon	Independent lunch Reboard coach and transfer the short distance to Prades. This was the temporary home (when exiled from his native Catalonia) of the world famous cellist Pau Casals. The famous Pau Casals Festival is held here each summer Check into hotel
5:00 p.m.	Walk together to the Church of Saint Pierre. Time for rehearsal and set up
6:30 p.m.	Performance: The Long Island University Choir, Madrigal Singers and Merriweather Consort will give a performance this evening at the Church of Saint Pierre in Prades. Concert organized by "Les Amies de Paul Casals" and "Samedis Musicaux de Prades."
7:45 p.m.	Reception following the performance offered by the Town of Prades Walk together to restaurant
9:00 p.m.	Dinner

Links

Notes

Barcelona is 3839 miles (6177 km) (3336 nautical miles) from New York, NY
Villefranche-de-Conflent is located, as its name indicates it, in the middle of Conflent, in the south of France. The city was known since its origin for fiscal advantages, that's why its name means in French "free town". It is well known as the starting point for the Yellow train
After the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), when General Francisco Franco took power, Pablo Casals announced he would never return to Spain while Franco was in charge. He settled in Prades, France, and gave occasional concerts until 1946, when, to take a stand against tyrants such as Franco, Casals vowed never to perform again.
However, encouraged by friends, Casals resumed playing in 1950, participating in the Prades Festival organized to honor Bach. At the end of the festival and every concert he gave after that, Casals played "Song of the Birds," a Catalonian folk song, to protest the continued oppression in Spain. In 1956 he settled in Puerto Rico and started the Casals Festival, which led to the creation of a symphony orchestra and a music school on the island. Casals never returned to Spain.
Casals also continued to refuse to perform in countries that officially recognized the Franco government. Until his death in 1973, Casals made only one exception—in 1961 he performed at the White House for U.S. President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), a man he greatly admired. In 1971, at the age of ninety-five, he performed his "Hymn of the United Nations" before the United Nations General Assembly. Casals sought to inspire harmony among people, with both his cello and his silence. (ww.notablebiographies.com/Ca-Ch/Casals-Pablo.html)
The Prades Festival established by Pablo Casals was eventually renamed the Pablo Casals Festival
In 1956 Casals left Prades and settled in San Juan, Puerto Rico where the Festival Casals was established in 1957
It was in 1950 in the Church of St. Pierre, where the tour will perform tonight, that Pablo Casals broke his vow not to play again in public until Franco's government had been removed from power in Spain. Read more from a 1950 TIME magazine article, reprinted in a 1983 issue

Department of Music
C.W. Post Campus
Long Island University
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY 11548
(516) 299-2474
music@cwpost.liu.edu
C. Culver, Chairman

Concert Tour 2006. Spain and France

Agenda for May 23

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