Tena Manrique: Oratorio Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, Op. 40

Abraham Tena Manrique (b. 1973) is a Spanish composer and pianist. He studied at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona with Antonia Casas Botellé, and subsequently travelled from Spain to New York, working with pianists including Herbert Stessin, John Bloomfield, Peter Basquin and Julie Jordan. These encounters contributed to his development as both a performer and a composer. He has performed with the George Sand Piano Duo and with his sister in Dúo Tena Manrique.

Among his projects is a philosophical and musical exploration of Nietzsche and his music, developed with Professor Gregorio Luri. This led to Parafraseando a Nietzsche, Op. 21, an intimate work shaped by Nietzsche’s thought and presented at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona.

Since 2012, increasing numbers of musicians have performed his works for solo piano, piano four hands, piano and clarinet, and other chamber ensembles. Performances have taken place at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Jávea International Festival in Alicante, the Pere Pruna Civic Centre and the Reial Cercle Artístic in Barcelona, and the Sala Rodrigo at the Palau de la Música in Valencia, as well as in Tarragona, Menorca, Lugo, Palma de Mallorca and Mérida. His music has also been performed in London, Birmingham and Albania. His works are published by Editorial Boileau and Da Vinci Edition.

In 2016, Editorial Boileau published his octet Séneca, commissioned by Sergio Espejo, pianist of the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir (OCNE). The work was premiered by OCNE soloists on 1 March at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, following a recording for RNE’s programme Estudio 206. In 2015, Boileau had published his string quartet Don Quijote, Op. 22a, and the corresponding trio for piano, violin and cello, Op. 22b. A performance by soloists of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC) was planned at the time of the original biography.

In May 2017, he was working on the cantata The Seven Words of Christ on the Cross, commissioned by Sergio Espejo for the OCNE’s Satellite Concerts at the Auditorio Nacional. His work Khárôn was selected by the Catalan Association of Composers (ACC) and the Federation of Iberian Associations of Composers (FAIC), of which he is a member, for the Música d’Ara season. The series received support from the Generalitat de Catalunya’s Department of Culture, the performers’ association AIE, Barcelona’s Institut de Cultura and the SGAE Foundation, with collaborators including Catalunya Ràdio, Radio Clásica, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and ESMUC.

On 9 July 2017, he performed the closing concert of the third Jávea International Classical Music Festival, at the invitation of its founder and director, Nati Ballarín, introducing eight of his piano works. The Reial Cercle Artístic in Barcelona, founded in 1881 and housed in the Palau Pignatelli, was chosen for the presentation of eighteen piano pieces published by Da Vinci Edition in 2017. Its historic concert hall provided the setting for a recital introducing his latest works to Barcelona audiences. A further recital was scheduled for 24 November at the Pere Pruna Civic Centre’s sixth Catalan Composers cycle, with other dates to be announced on the composer’s website. The original biography described plans to record this repertoire in October 2017 at the Auditori Pau Casals in El Vendrell, in collaboration with Da Vinci.

Kiev Portella, pianist and founding member of the Fundació Mompou, has regularly performed his works in Barcelona, Tarragona and Menorca. The George Sand Piano Duo has premiered and performed his music for piano four hands, including The Garden of the Hesperides, Op. 37, dedicated to the ensemble, in Madrid, Lugo, Palma de Mallorca and Mérida.

Raquel del Val premiered the Bagatelle Alborada, Op. 23, in London in February 2017; Jenna Sung premiered the two Preludes, Op. 26, in Birmingham; and Patricia García Gil premiered the seven fantasies The Pilgrim Path, Op. 20, in Huesca. Anthi and Kostaq Vrame performed the Fantasy for piano four hands, Op. 1, in Albania. Luis Becerra premiered Khárôn I, Op. 32, and performed it at venues including the Sala Rodrigo in Valencia. A performance of the same work by Feodor Veselov was announced for 14 December 2017 in the ACC’s concert series, alongside music by composers including Benet Casablancas. Other interpreters of Tena Manrique’s music include Sergio Espejo, Caroline Flud-Mozingo, Henrique Roberto Simões and Miguel Baselga.