Marina Rodríguez Brià is a pianist, researcher and musical
communicator. She was born in Sant Vicenç de Castellet (Barcelona) and studied at
the Conservatori Superior Municipal de Música of Barcelona
(with Carmen Vilà), the Conservatoire National de Musique, Danse et Art
Dramatique of Perpignan (with María Lluïsa Colom), and at the Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona, and holds a master's degree in Music and in French Philology.
She has broadened her studies with different international
courses (Badura-Skoda, Pascal Rogé, Pierre Hantaï, Claude Helffer, Malcolm
Frager, José María Pinzolas) and has been awarded several prizes in piano,
chamber music, and poetry contests.
She has performed in concert halls such as the Staatsoper Unter den
Linden (Berlin State Opera), the Laeiszhalle in
Hamburg, The Sage auditorium in Gateshead (England), the Nikolaisaal in
Potsdam, L’Auditori in Barcelona, the Opera in Stuttgart, Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Palau de la
Música of Barcelona and Valencia, the Aalto Opera in
Essen, Casa da Musica in Oporto, Teatro Gran Rex in
Buenos Aires, Teatro Universidad de Chile in Santiago de
Chile, Instituto Cervantes and Fundación March in
Madrid, Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, Würth Museum (Germany), Teatro Libero in Palermo (Italy), and at the international festivals of Grafenegg (Austria), Düsseldorf,
Expo-Hannover, Ludwigsburg Festspiele, Floriade 2002 (Holland), Festival Chopin in Valldemossa, Festival Isaac Albéniz in Camprodón, Festival de Flamenco de Jerez, the Gaudí 2nd World Congress in Barcelona, and the International Geelvinck Fortepiano
Festival (Holland), among many others.
She has collaborated with the
following orchestras: Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona (OBC), Filharmonia
de Cambra, Orquestra del Teatre Lliure, Orquestra de
cambra catalana, and Orquestra de cambra de la Simfònica Europea.
Together with Joan Josep Gutiérrez, she forms a piano duet including music
from the 18th to the 21th century, with performances at numerous concert series
and national and international festivals in Spain, Germany, and Colombia.
Together with baritone Jerzy Artysz, she has performed at different festivals
with a repertoire of Polish and German lied.
Marina Rodríguez-Brià is highly experienced in the
repertoire of Spanish piano music through the art of dance. Her performances as
a soloist with great artists of Spanish dance and flamenco have enriched her
performances and provided them with a special air. She
worked with one of the last master composers of Spanish dance music for the
Barcelona stages: Joan Flotats. She has published two articles about him and has performed his music. From 1999 to 2005, she was part of the live show El Secret de la
Castanyola with the Flamenco dancers and castanets virtuosos José de Udaeta and Belén Cabanes, being noteworthy
their performances at prestigious opera theatres and halls in Germany,
Netherlands, Italy, and Spain.
She has created several live shows such as Girasons (comissioned
by L’Auditori of Barcelona and selected at Festival
Teatralia), Le vaisseau-piano ou la Reine des Fictions,
and L’habitació de les joguines and several commented concerts.
She has recorded on several occasions for Radio Nacional, Catalunya
Ràdio, Catalunya Música, TV3, Canal 33, TV1, TV2, Südwest
Rundfunk, RAI, and Radio France. She has published thirteen albums with works of Russian composers, Romantic dances for piano
duet, Spanish music for piano solo, and a monographic album of Albéniz, among
others.
Marina
Rodríguez became interested in the pianos of the 18th and 19th centuries and the
fascinating history of that moment in general through the study of music and
the trajectory of Muzio Clementi. She begun this research in 1998 preparing a CD
with his music recorded at the Music Museum of Barcelona. She has recorded two albums with works
by this author, the latest one —Clementi on a Clementi & Co. square
piano. Ultramarina Creations, Barcelona, 2015— being performed
on an original Clementi & Company pianoforte of 1824.
She has given the
lecture “Clementi, músic i constructor” at the Music Museum of Barcelona
within the series Els instruments musicals en estudi (2016).
At the University of Barcelona she has given the courses “Un viatge musical amb
Clementi” (2016) and “El naixement del piano romàntic” (2019) within the course
series Gaudir UB and has coordinated two summer courses in
relation with this topic within the series Els Juliols at the
same university.
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| Centre d'Interpretació del Romanticisme Manuel de Cabanyes |
In 2017, she was invited to the United States to participate in the
conference of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America, playing the
opening concert and giving the lecture-recital “Fernando Sor in London. His
Relationship with the London Piano School” including works by F. Sor and
Clementi.
She is a
founding member of the Muzio Clementi Association of Barcelona, with whom she
carries out activities related to the composer and to the culture and pianos of
the 18th and 19th centuries. They are carrying out a search project on
Clementi and Collard & Collard pianos in Catalonia.
Currently, she plays the Clementi & Friends recital, that includes
unusual works such as the sonata of Marianna Auenbrugger, as well as pieces by
J.B. Cramer, Field, or Dussek.
Together with the dancer and castanets player Belén Cabanes, she performs
the recital Big and small Percussions: Piano and Castanets.
With Montserrat Gascón, in 2018 they premiered the recital Voices
of Wood and Crystal with a fortepiano and a crystal flute, both
original instruments from the 19th century.
She has published her poetry book Soc una projecció pòstuma at
Ultramarina Creations (2018).
In 2019 she has been invited at the Geelvinck International Fortepiano Festival in
Holland, where she has given several solo piano recitals and a lecture-recital
at the Sixth International Geelvinck Fortepiano Symposium. She premiered "5 Preludes" by Joan Josep Gutiérrez in Kasteel Hackford.
In February 2020 the Music Museum of Barcelona and the Muzio Clementi Association of Barcelona had organized the Clementi Days with several activities and an exhibition: “Muzio Clementi, The Father of the Pianoforte. Confluences with Beethoven”. Marina Rodríguez was the curator. Among other events they have invited Dr. David Rowland - editor of "The Correspondence of Muzio Clementi" - to give a lecture. She is currently giving the recital “Beethoven and the Musicians of London” accompanied by an exhibition.
In 2022 has participated in the LXVII Anglo-Catalan Society Annual Conference with a lecture on Fernando Sor and his ballet Cendrillon on the 200th anniversary of its premiere in London. She was the curator of the Ferran Sor Exhibition at the Rocamora Foundation in Barcelona for the Commemoration of the same Bicentenary.
In March 2022 she played at the presentation recital of the 1847 Collard & Collard grand piano at the University of Barcelona restored by the Muzio Clementi Association of Barcelona. In the same year she participated in the I Jornades de Patrimoni Musical, organized by the University of Barcelona and the CSIC (Superior Council of Scientific Investigations).
Currently, together with the mezzo-soprano Marta Rodrigo she is performing the "Charlotte to Werther. Early Romantic Music in London" recital, which includes unusual works by Fernando Sor, Muzio Clementi, Ludwig Berger and Felix Mendelssohn.
Also dedicated to research, she writes articles for specialized publications such as the Revista Catalana de Musicologia (the Journal of the Catalan Society of Musicology), Harpsichord and Fortepiano (UK), Revista Musical Catalana or Thematic visits to the Manuel de Cabanyes Romantic Interpretation Center.
Her article "The Intellectual Circle of Muzio Clementi in London: A Contribution to his Biography" has been published in The Keats & Shelley Review (Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group), 2023.
In 2023, as an illustrator, she has published several works for the company "Brotons & Mercadal, Edicions Musicals" and for the magazine "Crisopeya, Revista de Arte y Literatura".
She has recently performed at the Gottfried-von-Einem-Saal in Villach (Austria) with Belén Cabanes. She has participated in the Anglo-Catalan Society Annual Conference in 2023 with a paper on literature.
Photos:
Lauracarinthia by Stefanie Kleindopp. Gottfried-von-Einem-Saal. Villach (Austria),
2023.
