José María Vitier from Havana-Barcelona: love of a big city

September 29, 2021

When María del Mar Bonet sang Amor in a square in the Barcelona neighborhood of Nou Barris last Sunday, the composer of the music, at the piano, must have evoked once again in a very special way the poet, his father Cintio Vitier, to whom all of Cuba paid honors the day before for the centenary of his birth.

Lofty and intense poetry is what he expresses: If you could see on what shores I have loved you / and in what star you hide invincible, / what accents of my voice have you chosen, / how far does the impossible plunge you / from my dream to yours melodious / like a clear wave that floods me. Words dedicated to Fina, the girl who soon became wife and mother of Sergio and José María Vitier, the latter the protagonist of the moving event that put the final point on the celebration of the Mercè, a traditional Barcelona celebration, this time dedicated to the Cuban capital.

Elevated clamor from a voice like that of María del Mar, in which José María perceives at once futurity and ancient Mediterranean resonances, like those he deployed when interpreting, adapting them to his extraordinary vocal qualities, Ave María por Cuba, where strings, piano and batá drums cross, the Virgin of Mercedes and Obatalá, Latin and Yoruba language, Western heritage and African lineage.

Yanni Minujos, one of the concert's promoters from Barcelona, called attention to the accuracy of what Silvia Rodríguez Rivero said when introducing the evening to an audience that exceeded the limited capacity due to current health measures: "Music of genuine lyricism, full and unprejudiced, capable of surprising us, not only for the emotion contained in the melodic beauty of his works, but also for the use of resources akin to contemporaneity."

José María called upon Marcos Madrigal to tackle the world premiere of the third movement (Vitral) of Habana Concerto, a piece for piano and symphonic orchestra that had been commissioned to him by the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores for the 500 years of our capital and whose complete first performance is still pending.

Colleague Jordi Bianciotto summarized the event thus: "Out of Havana come music with African roots and evocative of European salons, reflections of country son and contemporary audacities, and from all these sources, and some more, the universe of José María Vitier is nourished, a creator whose piano marked the climax of this Mercè in fluid alliance with the young Orquesta Sinfónica Vozes and the special collaboration of María del Mar Bonet. A session of high caliber in Parc Central de Nou Barris, with music weaving the thread of history and serving a cause greater than itself. Full to the hundreds of seats in the park and attendance by mayor Ada Colau."