Cor de Noies
Artistic team
Buia Reixach i Feixes
Conductor of the Cor de Noies of Orfeó Català
"Conducting the Cor de Noies de l'Orfeó Català is a great privilege for me. It is most gratifying to be at the head of a group of involved, responsible and committed people who give up part of their spare time to pursue a shared project: making music. The Palau gives them a lot, it's true, and they give it back in the form of music experienced deep down, and communicating this to the audiences who come to hear them everywhere. Working with young people – whose feelings are very close to the surface – gives me enormous pleasure, week after week."
Born in Torelló (Barcelona) in 1975, Buia Reixach i Feixes began her musical studies at the Torelló School of Music. She studied singing with Cori Casanova, Myriam Alió and Dolors Aldea. Reixach i Feixes went on to study choral conducting with Josep Vila i Casañas, Mireia Barrera and Xavier Sans, among others. Since 2007, she has conducted the Cor de Noies at Orfeó Català, in addition to conducting choirs at the Manlleu School of Music.
She has conducted a number of choirs with different voices, notably the Coral Infants Alegres de Torelló, Coral Cervià de Torelló, Coral Serpencanta de Manlleu, Cor d’Homes d’Osona, Cor de Pares i Mares de l’Escola Coral de l’Orfeó Català and the Nàiades-Cor de Noies. She has worked on educational projects run by the Orfeó Català Choral School in Bombay (2010) and Cameroon (2011), with the goal of promoting choral singing. Since 2014, she has been the artistic director of the biennial Cantem Junts project in primary schools in the Barcelona region of Osona, which brings together 800 boys and girls in to sing a concert together. Reixach i Feixes is currently the music coordinator and conductor for the choirs singing in El monstre al laberint, a project run by the Gran Teatre del Liceu as part of the LiceuAprèn Educational Service. She is also head of choral singing at Proyecto Viladomat (Manlleu), a social project that works towards integration and equal opportunities.
Maria Mauri
Pianist of the Cor de Noies of Orfeó Català
Born in Vic (1991), Maria Mauri studied piano and conducting at the Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC). She rounded off her education with studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she completed a master's degree specialising in collaborative piano. She has studied with professors Vladislav Bronevetszky and Nelly Ben-Or (piano), Johan Duijck and Josep Vila i Casañas (choral conducting), Salvador Brotons (orchestral conducting), and Pamela Lidiard, Andrew West and Francisco Poyato (lied). Mauri has also studied singing, and one of her great passions is vocal music, which has led her to specialise in the vocal and choral repertoire.
She has accompanied a number of Catalan choirs: Cor Madrigal, conducted by Pere Lluís Biosca; the Cor Jove Nacional de Catalunya, with conductors Lluís Vilamajó, Mireia Barrera and Catherine Simonpietri; Cor Bruckner Barcelona, conducted by Júlia Sesé, and Capella Nacional de Catalunya, with musical direction by Lluís Vilamajó and Jordi Savall, among other ensembles. Mauri has also performed in lied and opera recitals with different singers, including Josep-Ramon Olivé, Enric Martinez-Castignani, Núria Vinyals and Kathryn Smith. She has performed at festivals and cinemas throughout Catalonia, as well as in England and France. She has worked at the Liceu Conservatory as a pianist for vocal repertoire.
She has been awarded numerous prizes and scholarships, including from the Fundació Victoria de los Ángeles, the Guildhall Scholarship Awards and the Anna Riera Scholarship, and was involved in recording the album Pau & Victòria.
She currently combines her work as a pianist at the Orfeó Català Cor de Noies, conducted by Buia Reixach, with her projects as a conductor, singer and teacher. Since 2019, Mauri has been a classical piano teacher at the Taller de Músics School for Higher Music Education, as well as head conductor for the chamber choirs Noctes and ARSinNOVA. On the other hand, she sings in several vocal ensembles, focusing mainly on ancient music and contemporary music, including collaborations with Companyia Musical and Marina Herlop.