RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
In 2022/2023 La Rioja Festival began its project to promote and support talent, and launched residency programs. In this fourth edition Francisco Coll will be our resident composer, with five scheduled pieces, a lecture and an exhibition of his artworks.
One of the main cornerstones of the Cuerdas en Común Association is the support of the classical guitar through the development of its repertoire. To this end, a newly created work is commissioned to a composer in each edition of La Rioja Festival. This year, Francisco Coll's arrangement of Aire for string quartet and guitar will be premiered.
The previous edition featured a composer, Laura Vega, and a musical ensemble in residence, Agarita.
This is a way to support talented artists so that they can continue to grow artistically and professionally, with multiple concerts, networking opportunities and international visibility.
Composer in Residence 2025
FRANCISCO COLL GARCÍA
Composer-conductor Francisco Coll has found advocates in the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, LA Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Ensemble Modern. His music has been heard at festivals from Aldeburgh, Aix and Aspen to the BBC Proms, Verbier and Tanglewood; his work is performed by leading instrumentalists, including Kirill Gerstein, Javier Perianes, Pekka Kuusisto, Sol Gabetta, Augustin Hadelich, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sean Shibe, and Cuarteto Casals.
Born in Valencia in 1985, Coll studied at the Valencia and Madrid Conservatoires before moving to London to work privately with Thomas Adès (as his only pupil to-date) and with Richard Baker at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Coll’s concert opener Hidd’n Blue was premiered in 2012 by the London Symphony Orchestra and has since been taken up by the SWR Sinfonieorchester, Münchner Philharmoniker, and the Cincinnati Symphony. His 2014 chamber opera Café Kafka, to a text by Meredith Oakes, was premiered to great acclaim by Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and has since been produced at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts; it receives its Czech premiere in a concert staging from NeoKlasik Orchestra in September 2024 at Prague's Café Louvre.
In 2016 Coll made his BBC Proms debut with the Four Iberian Miniatures for violin and chamber orchestra, conducted by Thomas Adès. The same year Mural was premiered by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, who has become one of Coll’s strongest supporters. Turia, a concerto for guitar and seven players was premiered in 2017 by Jacob Kellerman and Norrbotten NEO conducted by Christian Karlsen; a version for guitar and chamber orchestra received its first performance in 2021 at the Uppsala International Guitar Festival.
In 2018-19 Coll was Composer-in-Residence with Camerata Bern, a position that culminated in the premiere of the Double Concerto Les Plaisirs Illuminés with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Sol Gabetta as soloists and the composer himself conducting. A Violin Concerto for Kopatchinskaja, commissioned by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, London Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, the NTR ZaterdagMatinee and Bamberger Symphoniker, was premiered in February 2020. His Cello Concerto premiered with Sol Gabetta in 2022 with the Philharmonie de Paris, conducted by the composer, and recieved its UK premiere at the 2024 BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tianyi Lu.
Plaisirs Illuminés, released on Alpha in 2021, features his double concerto for Kopatchinskaja and Gabetta, with Coll conducting Camerata Bern – in 2022 it won the BBC Music Magazine concerto prize. A portrait disc of his orchestral works, with Gustavo Gimeno conducting, was released on Pentatone in 2021.
In 2019 he became the first composer to receive an International Classical Music Award (ICMA). In 2022 he was awarded two more: the Orchestra award and the Contemporary Music prize for the orchestral portrait disc. Coll conducted his own music at the ICMA awards ceremony that year.
From 2018-2020 Coll was Composer-in-Residence with the Orquesta de València. In 2022 he conducted them in his new 11-minute orchestral work Lilith; 2022 also saw the Toronto Symphony Orchestra give the premiere of his latest orchestral work Elysian, and the premiere of Coll’s Piano Trio for Trio Isimsiz. Coll’s Cello Concerto for Sol Gabetta premiered with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in November 2022, conducted by the composer. In 2024 the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Gustavo Gimeno premiered Ciudad sin sueño¸ a new work for piano and orchestra for Javier Perianes, which made its North American debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
2024 sees Coll continue his multi-season role as Artistic Partner to the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, as both composer and conductor, which began in autumn 2022. The 24/25 season also sees Kirill Gerstein premiere and tour Coll's Two Waltzes Towards Civilization, as well as the Spanish premiere of Ciudad sin sueño. Coll's next stage work is based on Ibsen's An Enemy of the People.
2024 Residences
Agarita
La Rioja Festival Resident Artist 2024
As part of its residency, Agarita will be one of the ensembles participating in La Rioja Festival with a special concert in a winery. Furthermore, we will have performances by its members in different concerts of the Festival, in collaboration with the remaining artists. They will bring music to the youth with special concerts for schools within the Sin Fronteras (Without Borders) program and will hold lectures that will be open to the public.
Members
Sarah Silver Manzke, violin
Marisa Bushman, viola
Ignacio Gallego, cello
Daniel Anastasio, piano
An innovative chamber ensemble dedicated to producing bold, collaborative musical events, Agarita offers a new way to experience classical and contemporary music. Founded by Daniel Anastasio (piano), Marisa Bushman (viola), Ignacio Gallego (cello) and Sarah Silver Manzke (violin), Agarita nourishes the local community through artistic collaborations, education, community engagement, and free, adventurous programming. With concise, eclectic performances that are “splendid – unified, spirited, and well prepared” (Greenberg, Incident Light), the young chamber group offers a new, open-armed experience for listeners.
Rooted in San Antonio, Texas, Agarita works intimately with local artists of various genres to weave cross-artistic narratives for each concert. One program with lighting artist Chuck Drew turned the Granary at historic Mission San Jose into a kaleidoscope of color set to music; another with PharmTable chef Elizabeth Johnson paired musical selections with dishes for the audience; another with the educational arts institution SAY Sí wove students’ spoken word into the program. Other partnerships and collaborations have included the McNay and San Antonio Art Museums, bass singer Cameron Beauchamp from the Grammy Award-winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth, poet Laura Van Prooyen, sculptor Danville Chadbourne, members of the Escher String Quartet, jazz pianist Aaron Prado, writer and Guggenheim fellow Oscar Casares, San Antonio poet laureate Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, the Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival, glassblower Gini Garcia, composer Nadia Botello (for a concert experienced inside of a pool), Clementine restaurant, the City of San Antonio, Opera San Antonio, and more. These concerts have taken place in 41 unique venues across all 10 San Antonio districts, all free of charge, making the music accessible to the whole of the San Antonio community.
In its 5th year, Agarita continues to expand its scope, reach, and impact. Between large-scale community concerts, outdoor shows with its portable concert stage the Humble Hall, and its new educational program Agarita Inspires!, Agarita is giving 46+ concerts across the year, including 30 educational programs for more than 15,000 young students— all free of charge.
As a nonprofit organization, Agarita believes that the arts should be accessible to everyone in its community. Agarita presents free public concerts, performs at local schools, and offers opportunities for other artists through its collaborations. Follow Agarita’s upcoming projects and future performances at www.agarita.org
Laura Vega
La Rioja Festival Resident Composer 2024
As part of her residency, Laura Vega has composed a piece for guitar that will be premiered at La Rioja Festival. In addition, we will listen to her works in most of this edition's concerts.
Born in Gran Canaria (Spain) in 1978, she begins her musical studies at age four, studying with Francisco Brito at the Music School of her native town. Later she is accepted into the Conservatorio Superior de Música of Las Palmas, receiving composition lessons from Daniel Roca and Xavier Zoghbi. After graduating in piano, oboe and music theory, she pursues studies with José Luis de Delás in the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, Spain) and with José Mª Sánchez Verdú in the Music School Soto Mesa (Madrid, Spain). In 2016 she completed her doctoral studies at the University of La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain).
Between her orchestral woks it stands out the Concerto for oboe and two orchestal groupes (commissioned by Autor Foundation, SGAE and AEOS), Imágenes de una isla for orchestra and gomero whistle (commissioned by the Council of La Gomera), the concerto for piano and orchestra, In Paradisum (commisioned by the 26th Canary Islands International Music Festival), Pater noster for choir and string orchestra, honorable mention from the 4th Sacred Music International Competition, Angel of Light, double concerto for percussion, string orchestra and harp (commissioned by SGAE Foundation and AEOS), Galdosiana for symphonic orchestra (commisioned by the Canary Islands Youth Orchestra and Spanish National Orchestra) and finally Light, Love and Ecstasy, concerto for guitar and orchestra (comissioned by the 39th Canary Islands International Music Festival).
Her catalog has over seventy works. From 2008 to 2011 she was chairwoman of the Las Palmas Composers Association (PROMUSCAN). From 2011 she has been member of the Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts. Between 2003 and 2021 she is teaching harmony and composition in the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias. She is currently a teacher in the Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
