The singer Maria del Mar Bonet, the economist José Honrubia, and the Sociedad Filarmónica de Valencia will be awarded the Universitat de València’s medal. That is what has unanimously been decided at the Governing Council’s meeting of the institution. The awarding ceremony will take place during next 2012/2013 academic year.
Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdeguer (Palma de Mallorca, 1947) began her career right in the midst of the Franco regime, when she took part in ‘La Nova Cançó’ movement. It was a protest song cultural movement that was born in the 1960s and 1970s and had obvious French roots (Brassens, Jacques Brel, etc.). ‘La Nova Canço was promoted by a group of yound songwriters who disseminated a message of social and cultural fight against the Franco dictatorship.
When the democracy was finally established, many of these songwriters abandoned their artistic careers. But Maria del Mar continued studying about traditional music outside Spain, in Greece and Tunisia, for instance.
For more than 45 years, Maria del Mar Bonet has promoted and spread the Mediterranean traditional music and heritage (like Cant de la Sibil.la).
José Honrubia López promoted the activities within the Universitat de València’s Departamento de Estructura Económica, where he began to work in 1969/1970 academic year. He has spent all his professional career (more than 43 years) at the university: Politic Sciences faculty, Information Sciences faculty (both at Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Economy faculty at Universitat de València, and agriculturists faculty at Universitat Politècnica de València.
As for the research field, he is a pioneer in studying the Valencian economy. Since he wrote his doctoral thesis on the Valencian Community agrarian structure, he has published 29 books and book chapters, as well as many papers. He has also signed research agreements with research centres and the public administration. It is important to point out the first input-output tables for the Valencian economy, created by Prevasa, the company attached to Caja de Ahorros de Valencia.
Sociedad Filarmónica de Valencia was founded in 1912 with the goal of presenting a steady musical programme to the Valencian city. The list of artists, chamber groups, and philharmonic orchestra is endless: Artur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, George Piatigorsky, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Marian Anderson, Josef Szigeti, Claudio Arrau, la Orquesta Filarmónica de Berlín, Montserrat Caballé, Renata Scotto, Ileana Cotrubas, Samuel Ramey, Hermann Prey, Marilyn Horne, Victoria de los Ángeles, Christa Ludwig, Frederica von Stade, Ofelia Sala, Ivo Pogorelich, Joaquín Achúcarro, Daniel Barenboim, Katrin Scholz, L. Angelov, V. Vassilev, or J. Bárta, among many others.
Moreover, throughout a hundred years, Sociedad Filarmónica de Valencia has always aimed at promoting the professional careers of Spanish musicians like José Iturbi.
Universitat wishes to award this prize to Sociedad Filarmónica because of its non-profit, autonomous nature which is born from civil society: its members are Valencian citizens who pay their membership fees to fund the activities; the governing board is chosen by taking a vote and it manages all the activities.
The UV’s Governing Council has also stressed the close relationship that Sociedad Filarmónica de Valencia has had with Universitat de València since the musical institution was created. Since 1999 and thanks to an agreement signed between the Sociedad Filarmónica and the Trust for Musical Activities, the music groups of Universitat de València have been able to play at the Sociedad.
Last update: 30 de july de 2012 10:27.
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