Antoni

Composer, conductor and pedagogue. He studied piano with Joan B. Pujol and harmony and composition with Gabriel Balart. In 1876, at the age of 17, he composed the Athalia symphony and premiered it at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Two years later, he premiered La tempestat and fragments of his opera Constanza at the same theatre. Between 1878 and 1885, he lived in Paris where he premiered the symphonic poem El triomf de Venus (1882) with remarkable critical success. In 1886 and 1900 he conducted Liceu's Lenten concerts featuring compositions by Berlioz, Wagner and Beethoven. In addition, he invited Richard Strauss to his concerts and collaborated with Orfeó Català. He promoted the works of Catalan composers such as Pedrell, Albéniz, Granados and Millet. In 1892 he founded the Societat Societat Catalana de Concerts and the Concerts Nicolau and, between 1896 and 1930, he was the director of Barcelona’s Escola Municipal de Música. His compositional activity focused mainly on choir music with compositions as successful as La mort de l'escolà (1900), with lyrics by Jacint Verdaguer.