Musician portrait: Adrienne Auclair

Portrait session on a hot July afternoon. Adrienne is spending a few days at home and every morning we enjoy her cello practice. We even had the good fortune to hear a wonderful duet with my son Biel on the violin.

Adrienne Auclair began playing the cello at the age of 7 and singing at the Maîtrise de l'Opéra de Tours. In 2011, she joins Raphaël Pidoux's class at the CRR of Paris. At the same time, she received instruction from Hélène Dautry, Sébastien Hurtaud, Yovan Markovitch, Marc Coppey, François Salque... She obtains her DEM at the CRR of Paris in 2014. In December 2014, she won the first prize in the Violoncellenseine competition. In the same time, she is admitted to the CNSMD of Lyon in the class of Anne Gastinel and Edouard Sapey Triomphe. It was there that she met the violinist Houcheng Kian, with whom she founded the Orphée duo. Together, they won first prize at the Leopold Bellan International Competition in April 2016. In July 2016, she took part in the Music in D festival academy where she performed as a soloist in Brahms' double concerto. In May 2017, she won the "best talent" prize at the Auvergne/Rhône-Alpes classical talent competition, which enabled her to perform as a soloist in the Saint-Saëns concerto with the orchestra of "la fabrique opéra". She also studied the sonata repertoire with pianists Vincent Forestier and Adrien Irankhah. In June 2020 she obtained her master's degree at the Lyon CNSMD with honours.

New portrait for BCN valors afegits: David de las Heras

David welcomes me in the studio he shares with other artists in Torrent de las Flors street, in the Gracia district of Barcelona. Observing his work space, one can guess that he is organized, perfectionist and meticulous: everything that is required by the impeccable technique of his illustrations, which he sketches with acrylic to finish them in oil, a quite unusual procedure in illustration. With a slow and gentle voice, he tells me about the artist's honesty, about his career as a painter, about how one day, tired of a certain hypocrisy that reigns in the art market, he moved away from official channels to continue creating his most personal work, which makes him happier and allows him to survive emotionally. At the same time, he earns his living by making illustrations, especially for the publishing sector. And I have to say that both his personal and commercial work is of exceptional quality, and faithfully reflects the discreet sincerity of its author.
David de las Heras has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country, and graduated from the Illustration cycle at the Escola Massana in Barcelona. His work as a painter has been exhibited in different European countries as well as in galleries in many cities around the country. As an illustrator he has published several books, together with the texts of Arianna Squilloni or recently illustrating the book of the writer Julio Llamazares Atllas de la España imaginaria. He has also specialized in book covers, among all of them the cover he made for Instrumental by the pianist James Rhodes and the cover awarded as the best of 2015 in the Junceda awards for the book Kalimán en Jericó by Àngel Burgas. His work has also been published in newspapers such as El País, in the cultural supplement of ABC, and on several covers of El País Semanal.

David de las Heras web site

Portrait: Axelle Tahiri

Yesterday I did a portrait session with the talented French violist Axelle Tahiri who is spending a few days' holiday with us.

Confinement times. L'air

While I'm confined, I'm making small introspective videos about the space around me. I hope you’ll like them.

confinement times. Tous les silences

While I'm confined, I'm making small introspective videos about the space around me. I hope you’ll like them.

Confinment times. Saisir l'espace

While I'm confined, I'm making small introspective videos about the space around me. I hope you’ll like them.

Confinment times. Jeux de lumières

While I'm confined, I'm making small introspective videos about the space around me. I hope you’ll like them.

Confinment times. Fundació Vila Casas interviews Toni Ricart

While the exhibitions of the Fundació Vila Casas continue in the dark due to the confinement, they are brought home to you hoping to see the light again soon.

Over the next few days you will be able to share the opinions of some of the artists, curators or people directly related to each of the current exhibitions at the Foundation's spaces. This series of interviews begins with Toni Ricart Giró, nephew and manager of the artistic legacy of Marcel Giró i Palmira Puig, protagonists of the exhibition Saudades de Sao Paulo that was inaugurated at the Palau Solterra Museum last February.

New photo book: Medi Terraneum

I’ve just published Medi Terraneum, a collection of pictures of our dear sea.
A work dedicated to the memory of all those who died in the Mediterranean Sea and with great gratitude to all those who continue to save lives there.

Daniel Gamper, philosopher.

With Daniel we always end up laughing. Being a philosopher, it's a remarkable quality. I tell him, while I'm shooting, that in each photo I'm stealing small pieces of his soul, and he reminds me that the soul is indivisible.

Daniel Gamper is director of the Philosophy Department and professor of moral and political philosophy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has concentrated his research in the field of political philosophy, specifically in theories of democracy, politics and religion. He has published numerous articles on the role of religions in democratic societies, the limits of liberalism and the concept of tolerance. He has translated works by authors such as Nietzsche, Scheler and Habermas and regularly contributes to the written press, such as the magazine Metròpolis and the newspapers ARA and La Vanguardia. His latest work, Las mejores palabras, has been awarded the Anagrama Essay Prize 2019.