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."
After graduating in choir conducting from the Catalonia College of Music, Glòria Fernàndez Blanco worked for many years as a professional singer for a number of different groups, including Arsys Bourgogne, conducted by Pierre Cao, and La Capella Reial de Catalunya, under the baton of Jordi Savall.
She has conducted several mixed, children’s and women’s choirs over the last twenty-five years, and has directed the Orfeó Català Cor Mitjans choir since September 2007.
Fernàndez has worked on projects run by the Choral School at the Orfeó Català to promote choral singing in Bombay and Cameroon. She also worked on the social outreach project Palau Vincles, since its inception in 2011 until 2023, as choir director, among others the Youth Choir.
At the same time, she has an interest in the body and voice from a broader, overarching perspective. As a result, she has studied the Jaques-Dalcroze music teaching method, contemporary dance, integrative body psychotherapy, and vocal music therapy, among other disciplines.
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 currently works at the Barcelona Municipal Conservatory of Music, and at the IEA Oriol Martorell in charge of the Higher Training Course in Choral Conducting Techniques and promoting the Oriol Martorell Chamber Choir, working as pianist and assistant conductor (dir. Daniel Antolí).