Jordi Savall is one of the most versatile musical personalities of his generation. For more than fifty years he has been a devoted researcher of early music, which he interprets and performs both as a viola da gamba player and as a conductor. His performances, and his work as a teacher, researcher and instigator of projects, have contributed significantly to the reappraisal of early music. With Montserrat Figueras he founded Hespèrion XXI (1974), La Capella Reial de Catalunya (1987) and Le Concert des Nations (1989). With these ensembles he has created and explored a musical universe of early music worldwide.
Through his participation in Alain Corneau’s film Tous les matins du monde (for which he won a César Award for Best Music), his intensive concert activities and his numerous recordings — including for his own label ALIA VOX, which he founded with Montserrat Figueras in 1998 — Jordi Savall has proved that early music does not have to be elitist, and can always speak to a wide, diverse audience of all ages.
Jordi Savall has made more than 230 recordings, and has won numerous awards including several Midem Classical Awards and International Classical Music Awards and a Grammy. To mark the 250th birthday of Beethoven, Jordi Savall recorded the complete cycle of the composer’s symphonies with Le Concert des Nations, released on two albums under the title Beethoven Révolution. The second album won the 2022 German Record Critics’ Award.
Through Jordi Savall’s concert programmes, music has become a means by which peace and understanding can be established between peoples and cultures. For this reason, Jordi Savall was named European Union Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue in 2008, and, together with Montserrat Figueras, ‘Artist for Peace’ in UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassadors Programme.
Jordi Savall’s musical achievements have been recognized in numerous international awards, among them many honorary doctorates, the title of Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, the Praetorius Music Prize (in the category ‘International Music Prize for Peace’) from Lower Saxony’s Ministry of Science and Culture and the Gold Medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2012 he won Denmark’s Léonie Sonning Music Prize. He is an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
