Ibiza to Host Spanish Premiere of Miquel À. Roig-Francolí's Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados

October 06, 2026

A work by Ibiza-born composer Miquel À. Roig-Francolí will receive its Spanish premiere this Friday, October 9, when his Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados is performed at Espai Cultural Can Ventosa.

The piece, written for soprano and piano and based on five poems by Spanish poet Antonio Colinas, will form part of a monographic chamber-music concert dedicated to Roig-Francolí's work.

The concert, titled Sonates i Cançons: Música de Cambra de Miquel À. Roig-Francolí, begins at 20:30.

Three Works by an Ibiza-Born Composer

The programme brings together three compositions from different periods of Roig-Francolí's career.

The concert will open with his Sonata for Cello and Piano, written in 1984.

It will then move to Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados, composed in 2011 for soprano and piano and based on poems by Antonio Colinas.

The evening will conclude with Songs of Light and Darkness, another 2011 composition written for violin, cello and piano.

All three works have previously been performed and recorded internationally. The composer has also presented a monographic programme of his music at Carnegie Hall in New York.

A First Performance in Spain

The highlight of Friday's programme will be Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados.

The 12-minute work was composed in 2011 and received its documented premiere in Cincinnati, Ohio, in January 2013, performed by soprano Abigail Santos and pianist Hyo Jung Song. It has since been performed internationally.

The Ibiza performance will be the first documented performance of the work in Spain.

Soprano Irantzu Bartolomé Bilbao and pianist María José Perete will perform the five-song cycle at Can Ventosa.

The work sets five poems by Antonio Colinas, whose long connection with Ibiza also gives the programme a particular local dimension.

Music Inspired by Antonio Colinas

Roig-Francolí has described Colinas's poetry as particularly compatible with his own musical interests.

The composer has highlighted the poet's attention to form and detail, his relationship with tradition, irregular rhythms and metres, and his interest in meditation, light and the infinite.

The five songs were created closely around the poems, with the composer responding to their changing rhythms, meanings and atmospheres.

The result is a work that brings voice and piano together around Colinas's highly visual and expressive poetry.

A Mediterranean Musical Language

The two instrumental works surrounding the song cycle come from different stages of Roig-Francolí's career but share elements of the musical language he associates with the Mediterranean.

He has described this approach through qualities including light, clarity and energy.

His music combines a strong emphasis on melody, harmony and counterpoint with influences from postmodernism and neo-Romanticism.

The opening Sonata for Cello and Piano, written in the 1980s, belongs to an important period in the composer's development.

Who Is Performing?

The concert will bring together soprano Irantzu Bartolomé Bilbao and the members of Trio Iboshim:

  • Irantzu Bartolomé Bilbao, soprano

  • Cristina Prats Costa, violin

  • Mónica Marí, cello

  • María José Perete, piano

The official Ajuntament d'Eivissa programme confirms the performers and the concert's date, time and location.

Miquel À. Roig-Francolí's International Career

Born in Ibiza in 1953, Roig-Francolí has built an international career as a composer, music theorist, musicologist and educator.

He lives in the United States, where he is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music.

His compositions have been performed in Spain and internationally, including in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Italy, France, Colombia, Greece, Brazil, Switzerland and Canada.

His music has been presented at venues including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Teatro Real and Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Palau de la Música Catalana and L'Auditori in Barcelona.

His work as a musicologist has also focused strongly on Renaissance music and theory. He has published extensively in specialist journals and is the author of the university textbooks Harmony in Context and Understanding Post-Tonal Music.

Recognised in Ibiza

Roig-Francolí's connection with his home island has continued throughout his career.

His music has previously been performed by the Orquestra Ciutat d'Eivissa, and he has received major honours from institutions in the Balearic Islands.

In 2025, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the City of Eivissa, adding to the Gold Medal of the Consell Insular d'Eivissa that he received in 2014.

Friday's concert therefore represents more than a national premiere. It also brings one of Ibiza's internationally recognised composers back to his home city for an evening devoted entirely to his chamber music.

Concert Details

Sonates i Cançons: Música de Cambra de Miquel À. Roig-Francolí

Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
Time: 20:30
Venue: Espai Cultural Can Ventosa, Ibiza Town
Programme: Sonata for Cello and Piano, Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados and Songs of Light and Darkness
Performers: Irantzu Bartolomé Bilbao and Trio Iboshim
Tickets: €10

The Ajuntament d'Eivissa's official ticketing platform confirms the concert and lists tickets at €10.

For Ibiza audiences, the evening offers the opportunity to hear a significant work by an internationally recognised island-born composer performed in his home city for the first time in Spain.

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