The year 2025 marks a double anniversary in the figure of the clockmaker and composer from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Juli Garreta y Arboix, commemorating 150 years since his birth and 100 years since his death. With him, the Palau de la Música Catalana launches a project to champion Catalan composers.

He was admired by his contemporaries, from Eduard Toldrà to Pau Casals, and even by Igor Stravinsky, who exclaimed, "More Garreta!", after listening to his music in Barcelona. Considered by many as the "Catalan Richard Strauss," Juli Garreta's life is far from what one might imagine in a composer of his caliber.

Garreta is the antithesis of the self-aggrandizing composer, to the point of ignoring and even rejecting the numerous invitations he received to travel outside of Catalonia to showcase his talent and become a reference point for Catalan music. Garreta perfectly embodies the archetype of the anti-hero. He wanted to go unnoticed, attaching no importance to his gifts as a composer, his creativity, or the accolades offered to him. He wanted to live the everyday life of his native Sant Feliu de Guíxols and draw inspiration from it. And so he did, in a short but intense compositional and life journey, until the age of fifty.