Music in hospitals and prisons in Barcelona
The myth of Orpheus is one of the most ancient and symbolic of all Hellenic mythology. Orpheus is the musician par excellence and it is explained that he knew how to play such captivating melodies that the wild beasts followed him, the trees and the plants leaned towards him and the fiercest men were completely calm. Among all the music that surrounds us, where is the marvellous music that once was capable, in Orpheu’s hands, of taming the beasts and turning the most brutal men into sensitive beings? Has today’s music lost its power? Now more than ever, our “Orpheu’s Dream” is to believe in the power of music, the most fragile and spiritual of all the arts, and in the capacity it can have to help human beings to regain harmony in their lives and peace in their hearts, making them more sensitive and more caring.
For this reason, we are convinced of the responsibility and the strength that each and every one of us can have in order to contribute, through music, to recover and renew this humanist spirit that is so essential to our civilisation and enrich it with the contributions of other civilisations further afield. It is truly Culture, understood in all its aesthetic, spiritual and universal dimensions, that allows each of us to revitalise ourselves in the past in order to participate better in the creation of a fairer and more humane future.
The Fundació Centre Internacional de Música Antiga wishes to bring music closer to the inmates of hospitals and medical and geriatric centres in the city of Barcelona, and also to the inmates of Barcelona’s prisons. Thus, music is the protagonist of a dialogue between musicians from different cultures and the patients or inmates, and music becomes and acts as a hopeful and human element. The series of concerts is organised in different venues in the city of Barcelona, with the participation of musicians from different countries and cultural traditions who regularly take part in the productions of the maestro Jordi Savall. In this way, we not only bring music closer to the people who need it most, but also to different musical traditions with period instruments. We hope, therefore, that this experience can bring emotion and beauty where it is most needed.
