Twenty years of music in Sant Josep

Joan Esteban Sandoval Díaz

Joan Esteban Sandoval Díaz, born in Barcelona in 2011, began playing the piano as a self-taught musician during the pandemic, quickly distinguishing himself through his natural aptitude and his command of a demanding repertoire. After studying at the Llinars del Vallès Municipal School of Music, he joined the Escolania de Montserrat, where he studied piano with Vicenç Prunés and organ with Mercè Sanchis. He has given recitals in Barcelona, Granollers, Montserrat, Almería, Monzón and Lithuania, and has performed internationally with the Escolania. He has received guidance from distinguished pianists and organists, including Montserrat Torrent, Guido Iotti and Wolfgang Zerer.

His talent has been recognised in several international competitions. Recent distinctions include first prize at the EPTA competition (2025) and several awards at the Music without Limits competition in Lithuania (2026). His performance of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor has garnered thousands of views on YouTube. He is currently continuing his piano and organ studies at the Josep Maria Ruera Conservatory in Granollers.

The organist: Rafel Riera Riera

Rafel Riera Riera, born in Petra (Mallorca) in 1978, began his musical studies as a blavet at the Lluc Sanctuary, under the guidance of Father Jaume Palou (MSSCC). After studying piano, he specialised in organ with the renowned organist Montserrat Torrent. He furthered his training at the National Regional Conservatory of Toulouse (Occitania), studying with Michel Bouvard and Jan Willem Jansen, where he was awarded the first prize upon completing his studies.

Since 1999, he has been the principal organist at the Lluc Sanctuary. He has performed at numerous festivals and concert series, both in Mallorca and internationally, including the Toulouse International Organ Festival, the Antoni Martorell International Organ Festival, the Igualada Organ Festival and the summer concerts at Copenhagen Cathedral. He has also collaborated with the University Choir of the Balearic Islands. He currently combines his work as an organist with concert performances and teaching.

Cantúria Cor de Cambra

Cantúria Cor de Cambra was founded in Palma in September 2024 under the direction of Ricard Terradas. The ensemble is composed of singers with solid vocal training and experience across a range of musical fields. Most of its members have a background in music education, solo singing and choral music.

The ensemble aims to perform a broad and varied repertoire to the highest artistic standards, through rigorous interpretative work and with a particular emphasis on contemporary choral music. Since its inception, it has performed Renaissance choral works, Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Ars Musicae Baroque Orchestra, contemporary arrangements of popular songs a cappella, and Johann Sebastian Bach’s four Pentecost cantatas, with the Orquestra Acadèmia 1830 under the direction of Fernando Marina. It has also taken part in the 18th Antoni Martorell International Organ Week, where it performed Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, Op. 9.

Programme

Solo organ

• Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain, Op. 7 — Maurice Duruflé

Choir a cappella

• Ubi caritas — Maurice Duruflé

Choir and organ

• Requiem, Op. 9 — Maurice Duruflé

Petit Cor

Petit Cor is a chamber choir founded in Ibiza in October 2007 by Amparo Esteve and Juan Francisco Ballesteros, who served as its first conductor. Established as an association in 2008, it promotes choral music through concerts, educational workshops and exchanges with other ensembles. Since 2020, under the direction of Jordi Martí Company, it has combined the performance of sacred and contemporary music with the recovery and dissemination of Ibiza’s musical heritage. Its repertoire spans diverse periods and styles, with particular focus on the island’s culture and traditions.

One of its notable projects is Música Nostra, dedicated to traditional Ibizan songs, featuring arrangements by Vicent Tur Palau which was recorded and released in 2023. The choir also promotes contemporary choral composition linked to Ibizan poetry, with works such as Sensació d’Eivissa, by Josep Ollé i Sabaté, and Ball pagès, by Josu Elberdin, both based on poems by Marià Villangómez.

Petit Cor has performed in the Balearic Islands and mainland Spain and is a member of the Federation of Choirs and Heritage.

Programme

Maundy Thursday

• The Lord Bless You and Keep You — John Rutter
• Ave Verum Corpus — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Good Friday

• Locus Iste — Anton Bruckner
• Kyrie from the Mass in C major — Joan Cantó i Francès
• Nigra Sum — Pau Casals i Defilló
• Pie Jesu — Andrew Lloyd Webber

Easter Sunday

• Ave Virgo Sanctissima — Josep Ollé i Sabaté
• Exultate in Seven — Andrew Collin Beck
• Gloria — Carole Stephenson

Thomas Ospital

Thomas Ospital, originally from the Basque Country, has been the principal organist of the grand organ at Saint Eustache Church in Paris since 2015. From 2016 to 2019, he was the first organist-in-residence at the Maison de la Radio. His concert career has taken him to venues throughout France and around the world, with particular distinction in improvisation and live accompaniment for silent films. Trained at the conservatories of Bayonne and Paris, he won five first prizes and has been awarded top honors in several international competitions. He has recorded works by Franz Liszt and Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as improvisations and contemporary compositions.

Committed to music education, he has been a professor of keyboard harmony at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris since 2017, where he has also taught organ alongside Olivier Latry since 2021. In parallel, he conducts masterclasses in performance and improvisation worldwide.

The Escolania de Montserrat

The Escolania de Montserrat is one of the oldest musical institutions in Europe. Documented since the 13th century, it is associated with the Benedictine monastery and Marian shrine of Montserrat, where the choirboys take part in the liturgical life of the sanctuary through singing and music. Over the centuries, it has contributed to the development of the Montserrat Musical School, which has produced distinguished composers and performers.

Under the direction of Father Ireneu Segarra (1953–1997), the Escolania gained international recognition through recordings, tours and festival appearances. Today, under the direction of Pau Jorquera, it comprises around forty boys aged between nine and fourteen from Catalonia. Its primary mission is to accompany the sanctuary’s daily prayers and promote sacred music, both from Montserrat’s musical heritage and by composers from around the world. Through their singing, the choirboys convey peace and beauty, connecting with audiences from diverse cultures.

Mercè Sanchis i Bros, organ

A graduate with advanced qualifications in Piano, Organ, Chamber Music and Harpsichord from the Barcelona Conservatory of Music, she has combined teaching with an extensive concert career as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist to professional choirs. She has collaborated with leading orchestras and choral ensembles, including the Orfeó Català and the Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana, and has worked with internationally renowned conductors. She has served as principal pianist and organist at several musical institutions. Since August 2009, she has been the organist of the Escolania de Montserrat, with which she has recorded several albums.

Pau Jorquera Bordonau, conductor

A choral conductor, he trained at the Catalonia College of Music, where he studied with Johan Duijck, Josep Vila Casañas and Mireia Barrera. He also studied singing, piano and composition, and graduated in Primary Education, specialising in Music Education, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is the founder and conductor of the Bach Collegium Barcelona, conductor of the Escolania and the Schola Cantorum of Montserrat, and co-founder of the Bachcelona Festival. A specialist in early and sacred music, he also directs a master’s programme dedicated to researching and recovering the heritage of liturgical music.