Capella De Ministrers

Capella de Ministrers is an early music group formed in 1987 in Valencia, Spain by its director, the Valencian musicologist Carles Magraner (viola da gamba). The primary importance of the group is in the focus on restoring Valencian musical culture. Part of the group's mission is the recovery of Valencian musical heritage, from their first CD of 1989 - Música Barroca Valenciana. This first release was particularly musicologically significant in unearthing unknown villancicos by a swathe of Valencian composers: Juan Cabanilles (1644–1712), Francisco Hernández Pla (d.1722), Joseph Pradas Gallén (1689–1757), Francisco Vicente Cervera (d.1749) and Pere Rabassa (1683–1767). The productions of the group follow the historical context to musical performance and releasing books with CDs, as in the book Music and Poetry for Ausiàs March dedicated to the 15th Century Valencian poet. The Iberian composers promoted by Capella de Ministrers cover a span of 500 years from anonymous medieval pieces such as found in the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, El Cant de la Sibil·la, El Misterio de Elche, etc., through baroque works such as the ensaladas of Joan Brudieu, to better-known composers such as Vicente Martín y Soler. Soler's zarzuela La Madrileña (Madrid 1778) was revived by Magraner in 1996. The group has also promoted a revival in public and academic interest in the Majorcan composer Antonio de Literes by performance of Los Elementos and other works. The ensemble has performed numerous concerts since its foundation and has played in the best music venues in Spain: the Auditorio Nacional de España, the Palau de la Música de Valencia and the Palau de la Música Catalana, Auditorio de León, Teatro de La Maestranza, El Escorial, Centro Conde Duque, Auditorio de Castellón, Teatro Cervantes... It has also participated in numerous festivals, such as the Festival de Música Antiga de Barcelona, Madrid Cultural 1992 (with the recuperation of the opera Los elementos by Antonio Literes), the Festival de Teatro Clásico de Almagro, the Festival de Peralada, the Quinzena Musical Donostiarra, Los Veranos de la Villa (Madrid), the Festival Grec (Barcelona), the Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada and the Festival de Música Religiosa de Cuenca, Serenates a la Universitat (Valencia), Festival Are More (Vigo), Festival Medieval de Elche, International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam, etc. The group has also performed outside Spain, particularly in France, Belgium, Rumania, Portugal, Holland, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Morocco, England, Poland, Tunisia, Chile, Portugal, Greece, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Mexico, Finland, Austria, Cuba, Croazia, China, Algeria, Sweden, Norway, Japan, etc.