The musician and conductor Joan Company receives the National award for choral music

PalmaThe chapel master of the Cathedral of Mallorca, Joan Company Florit, has been awarded the National Choral Music Prize, a recognition that annually distinguishes the trajectory of a person or entity within the world of choral music. The jury agreed on the award unanimously after analyzing the proposals submitted by choral federations, groups, and individuals linked to this field.

Born in Sant Joan in 1954, Company has been the director of the Capella de la Seu since 2022. The jury highlighted his career as a musician, musicologist, and choir conductor and defined him as an "essential" figure for understanding the development of choral music in Spain over the last fifty years.

The award, which reaches its second edition this year, will be presented on Saturday, November 7, within the framework of the XXVI edition of the National Choral Singing Grand Prix festival, which will take place in Cocentaina, Alicante.

A trajectory initiated in Mallorca

Joan Company's connection with choral music began very early. While studying at the University of Barcelona, where he graduated in Philosophy and Letters, specializing in Geography and History, in 1978, he founded two groups that would mark his career.

In 1975, he created the Sant Joan Choir, which he directed until 1980. Two years later, in 1977, he founded the University of the Balearic Islands Choir (UIB Choir), a group he directed from its creation until 2023.

His career also includes the direction of the Galicia Symphony Orchestra Choir, which he took on in 1998 and maintained until 2022. Currently, in addition to the Capella de la Seu, he directs the Cap Rocat Festival Choir in Mallorca.

An award promoted by five festivals

The National Choral Music Award is granted by the Gran Premi Nacional de Cant Coral Cultural Association, which is made up of five long-standing festivals within Spanish choral music.

It includes the Ejea de los Caballeros Choral Contest, in Zaragoza; the San Vicente de la Barquera Choral Song Contest, in Cantabria; the Antonio José National Choral Competition of Burgos; the City of Granada Choral Contest, and the Fira de Tots Sants Choral Contest of Cocentaina, in Alicante.

With this award, the association annually recognizes a career linked to choral music and, in this second edition, has focused on the figure of Joan Company and his contribution to the development and dissemination of this genre.