A whole year to celebrate the 40th Festival of Torroella de Montgrí

Torroella de Montgrí, 22 May

Dear friends,

Since the summer of 1981, when we first dreamt of setting out on the adventure of creating a great festival, the history of music in Torroella de Montgrí has been a series of dreams that have gradually come true. The dream for 2020 was to celebrate our 40th Festival by putting on a splendid programme. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to change our plans, but we don't want to cancel the celebration. For this reason, the anniversary we had planned for the summer of 2020, between 31 July and 21 August, has been transformed into a whole year's festivity, beginning on 23 July, 2020 and lasting until the end of August, 2021.

The starting date for the 40th Torroella de Montgrí Festival will be 23 July, 2020, forty years to the day of the first concert of the very first Festival in 1981. It will be the start of a whole year of events which will culminate in the summer of 2021. We will re-programme a number of the concerts we had planned for this year but which we have had to postpone on account of the restrictions in force due to the pandemic. All these events will be organised according to the health regulations and social distancing requirements in force at the time, thereby guaranteeing the safety of artists, audiences -- if these are permitted this summer -- and everybody in the team of staff that makes the Festival possible.

We have already begun preparing a documentary on the history of the Festival, which will be broadcast on TV3 and La2, and we are looking into the possibility of organising a concert without audience in the Espai Ter concert hall in cooperation with the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals and the RTVE a Catalunya. This concert would be broadcast live on radio and television at the end of July. We are also working on a series of lectures that would be made available by streaming. Details of this summer's events will be announced in the near future.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all those who have contributed to the preparation of this year's Festival programme, now postponed until 2021, and to the transformation of the 40th Festival into a whole year of celebrations which will keep us in contact with our audiences. We are also most grateful to the governmental organisations and our sponsors for their understanding and support, and to all the members of our audiences for their continued fidelity to our concerts.

With undiminished enthusiasm, we are working to adapt our programme to the new circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Our aim is still to programme the best classical music at the Torroella de Montgrí Festival. We will continue to dream as always, but remain fully alert to ensure that our dreams continue to come true.

We hope to see you all again at our concerts as soon as it is possible.

These are difficult times, but with the help of music, we'll pull through!

Keep in good health!