Leonora Milà Romeu (

Vilanova i la Geltrú Vilanova i la Geltrú () is the capital city of Garraf ''comarca'', in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Historically, it is the result of the aggregation of the medieval center of La Geltrú with the center built outside the medieval w ...

, 1942) is a Catalan pianist and composer.

Biography

The pianist and composer Leonora Milà was born in

(Barcelona) in 1942, into a family with close ties to the world of music. Her father, Josep Milà, was a cellist in the Orquestra

Pau Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Gran Teatre del Liceu Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

de Barcelona. A disciple of pedagogue Maria Canals, Leonora Milà was dubbed a "child prodigy" in the wake of two concerts she performed in the

Palau de la Música Catalana Palau de la Música Catalana (, ) is a concert hall in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed in the Catalan ''modernisme, modernista'' style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for Orfeó Català, a ...

in 1949. Whilst just six years old, she interpreted a piece that she herself had composed, along with

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's concerto KV488 for piano and orchestra, accompanied by the Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona. She started her international career at the age of 12, when she performed piano works by

Enric Granados Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enrique Granados in Spanish or ''Enric Granados'' in Catalan, was a Spanish composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Catal ...

and

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was a Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20t ...

on a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

London television programme. She returned a year later, in 1955, to interpret composer Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain in the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

, performing alongside a

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

conducted by Rudolph Dunbar. Winner of the 1966 Maria Canals International Music Competition (Barcelona) and finalist of the Concorso Internazionale Viotti (Vercelli, Italy), Leonora Milà has managed to combine, throughout her professional career, her abilities as both a performer and composer. Lengthy tours across Europe, the United States and Asia led her to become the first Spanish artist to perform in the People's Republic of China (1979), to record an album with the China National Symphony Orchestra (1988) and to become the first female composer to premiere a ballet in St. Petersburg. The ballet in question was

Tirant lo Blanc ''Tirant lo Blanch'' (; modern spelling: ''Tirant lo Blanc''), in English ''Tirant the White'', is a chivalric romance written by the Valencian knight Joanot Martorell, finished posthumously by his friend Martí Joan de Galba and published in ...

, a chivalric novel written by Joanot Martorell in the 15th century, subsequently scored by Leonora Milà and transformed into a two-hour ballet by Russian dancer and choreographer Yuri Petukhov. For her efforts, Milà was awarded the International Catalan Culture Prize in Valencia (1995). Later on, in 1996, Tirant lo Blanc was premiered in the

Gran Teatre del Liceu Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

by the St. Petersburg State Ballet company. Motion picture director Antoni Ribas was in charge of filming the ballet, later aired on Televisión Española and released to the public on DVD. While Leonora Milà boasts a considerable written catalogue comprising over 100 scores, her four concertos for piano and orchestra shine forth; as do the popular Habaneras piano recordings, the songs for voice and piano based on texts by poets the likes of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

Salvador Espriu Salvador Espriu i Castelló (; 10 July 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a Catalan poet from Spain. Biography Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia, Spain. He was the son of an attorney. He spent his childhood between his home t ...

and

Joan Maragall Joan Maragall i Gorina (; 10 October 1860 – 20 December 1911) was a Catalan poet, journalist and translator, the foremost member of the movement in literature. His manuscripts are preserved in the Joan Maragall Archive of Barcelona. Li ...

and two short ballets entitled ''The Flight of Painter Lee'' and ''Drame à trois'', both recorded for the St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra of the Mussorgsky Theatre. Leonora Milà has released over thirty albums as both a soloist and accompanied by internationally renowned orchestras. Her repertoire includes compositions by master European composers such as

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

and

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

. She has received particular acclaim for her rendition of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier by J. S. Bach, deemed referential by the specialised press, as well as piano interpretations of the classic Spanish composers

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era who also had a significant influence on his con ...

and

Joaquín Turina Joaquín Turina Pérez (9 December 188214 January 1949) was a Spanish composer of classical music.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' online (2014)"Joaquín Turina"/ref> Biography Turina was born in Seville. He studied in Seville as well as in Madri ...

, earning her unanimous public recognition. Leonora Milà's works are published and distributed by International Music Company (New York) and DINSC Publicacions Musicals (Barcelona).

Selected discography

*Piano concertos (Maurice Ravel. 1973) *Manuel de Falla tribute (1976) *Carnaval (Robert Schumann. 1978) *Piano Works (C. Debussy, L. Milà. 1981) *Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (J. S. Bach. 1983) *Spanish music for piano and orchestra (Falla, Milà, Turina i Guridi. 1986) *Spanish Music (Falla, Turina, Guridi, Milà. 1986) *Triple Concerto (L. van Beethoven. 1990) *Tirant lo Blanc Ballet (L. Milà. 1992) *Habaneras for piano (L. Milà. 1992) *Piano works (Manuel de Falla i Enric Granados. 1994) *Inventionen und Sinfonien (J. S. Bach. 1996) *Music for two choreographies (L. Milà. 2000) *Milà plays Falla (Manuel de Falla. 2009) *Piano Works (Schumann & Mendelssohn. 2013)

Orchestras and groups

*Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra *Orchestre de la Suisse Romande *Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra *Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo *Orquesta Sinfónica de Radiotelevisión Española * Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya *Manila Symphony Orchestra *Saint Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra of Mussorgsky Theatre *Central Philharmonic of China (China National Symphony Orchestra) *China National Chamber Orchestra *Paderewski Philharmonic Orchestra *Staatsorchester Braunschweig *Perth Symphony Orchestra *Dundee Philharmonic Orchestra *North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra *Gävleborgs Symfoniorkester *Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Lódzkiej *Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Rybnicka *Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Poznańskiej *Camerata Eduard Toldrà *The Arctic Chamber Orchestra of Alaska *Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra Pablo Sarasate *The Slovak State Philharmonic Kosice *Orchestre Du Domaine Musical *Berliner Streichquintett * Quartet de Barcelona

Conductors

Eduard Toldrà Eduard Toldrà Soler (; Vilanova i la Geltrú 7 April 1895 – Barcelona, 31 May 1962) was a Spanish Catalan composer and conductor. Toldrà played an important role in the Culture of Barcelona. In 1944 he founded the Barcelona Symphony Orch ...

*Jacques Bodmer *Jonas Alber *Rudolph Dunbar *Li Delun *

Moshe Atzmon Moshe Atzmon (; born 30 July 1931) is an Israeli conductor. He was born Móse Grószberger in Budapest, and at the age of thirteen he emigrated with his family to Tel Aviv, Israel. He started his musical career on the horn before going to Londo ...

*Pierre Colombo *Bela de Csillery *Renard Czajkowski *

Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez (17 September 1949 – 4 August 2024) was a Spanish conductor and composer. He was known for memorizing all of the players' parts and conducting without looking at the score. He held international leading chief c ...

*Han Zhongjie *Joan Pich Santasusana * John Pritchard *Alun Francis *En Shao *Gordon Wright *Brian Wright *Radomil Eliska *Urs Voegelin *Salvador Brotons

Bibliography

*Albert Mallofré: "''Retrat de Leonora Milà''" (2002). Published for th
Ajuntament de Vilanova i la Geltrú

Links

* Official website o
Leonora Milà
* Official website o
Catalan Composers Association
* Website o
CatClàssica
* Website of El far blau produccions SL. Independent Catalan production company responsible of "Leonora Milà. The Intuitively Talented" (documentary). {{DEFAULTSORT:Mila Romeu, Leonora 1942 births Composers for piano Composers from Catalonia Spanish classical pianists Living people Spanish women classical composers People from Vilanova i la Geltrú Spanish women classical pianists 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Spanish musicians 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century classical composers 21st-century Spanish musicians 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers 20th-century Spanish women pianists 20th-century Spanish pianists 21st-century Spanish women pianists 21st-century Spanish pianists