Cor Mitjans
Artistic team
Glòria Fernàndez
Conductor of the Cor Mitjans of Orfeó Català
"Being the director of the Cor Mitjans de l'Orfeó Català is very satisfying as the singers pass their vitality on to you. The kids are so energetic and creative that every class is like opening a book - you never know what surprises are waiting for you on the next page."
Glòria Fernèndez Blanco studied singing at the conservatories in Tarragona and Vila-seca with Mercè Obiols and Charo García, completing the middle level with a distinction. She graduated from the higher level in choral conducting at ESMUC with Pierre Cao and Johan Duijck. She worked as a qualified teacher of the Jaques-Dalcroze music teaching method at the Institut Joan Llongueres in Barcelona.
She currently sings in the Arsys Bourgogne choir, directed by Pierre Cao, and La Capella Reial de Catalunya, directed by Jordi Savall. She has conducted choirs including Els Rossinyols from Tarragona, Geriona from Girona, Cor Aura at the Escola de Música of the Palau and Mos Cantars from Tarragona. She is currently director of the Cor Novaura. She has worked on educational projects for the Escola Coral of the Orfeó Català to foster choral singing, in Bombay in summer 2010, and Cameroon in September 2011, as well as being involved in the Clavé XXI community project since 2011.
Since September 2007 she has been the director of the Cor Mitjans of the Orfeó Català.
Laia Armengol
Pianist of the Choirs Mitjans and Petits of Orfeó Català
"Playing a part in these children's education is one of the most gratifying jobs I have ever done. Playing with them and experiencing the music all together is indescribable."
Born in Barcelona in 1981, Laia Armengol began her musical training at the age of 6 in the Escola Coral de l'Orfeó Català. She studied piano with Àngel Soler and Diana Baker. In 2002 she graduated from the Conservatori Superior de Música de Barcelona and moved to London to attend classes with Yonty Solomon and Douglas Finch at the Trinity College of Music in London, where she did a postgraduate course as an accompanying pianist and a master's degree in solo performance. She has also been advised by Miquel Farré, Mark Hastings, Francisco Poyato, Josep Colom, Eugene Asti, Roger Vignoles and George Hadjinikos, among others.
She has earned recognition as a soloist and a chamber musician in several competitions, including the Leonard Smith and Felicity Young Duo Competition and the John Halford Piano Competition, among others.
As a soloist and accompanying pianist she has performed in Spain and England. She is currently a performer of chamber music and a pianist accompanying solo singers and choirs.
She has recorded the CD La Fragua de Luna for flute and piano for Columna Música, in the "Young Performers" series through Juventudes Musicales de España and recently he has recorded the record Músicas Electricos with Morphosis Ensemble (Ins Records), ensemble specialized in contemporary music.
She has been working as a piano accompanist in the Escola Coral de l'Orfeó Català education project to foster choral singing in Yaoundé (Cameroon).
On the teaching side she has worked at the Conservatori Municipal de Música in Barcelona, at the Escola Municipal de Música Can Ponsic and currently does so at the Escola Coral de l'Orfeó Català and IEA Oriol Martorell.