The most recent commission of the Deià Festival was for the celebration of the 20th anniverseray of the festival in 1998.

We had been following the career of Mallorcan composer Bartomeu Artigues for sometime. After hearing the performance of his marimba concerto with the Palma Orchestra, we approached him to compose a special piece.

We wanted the piece to be related in some way to the Mallorca cultural history, and originally thought of something from the writings of the famous medieval philosopher Ramon Llull. That work based on l'Amic and l'Amat, to be written by Michael Watts of England, for one reason and another did not come together. But when Stephanie Shepard, co-founder of the Festival, mentioned Joan Mascaró´s elegant translations from the Sanskrit, Tomeu Artigues immediately liked the idea and wrote The Song of Creation for narrator, soprano, string quartet and piano.
The work was premiered in Son Marroig on 1 August 1998, and presented again in the Encontres de Compositors in 1999. The first performance was with Joanna Llabrés, soprano, Stephanie Shepard, narrator, with the Ophelia String Quartet and Victoria Cortés at the piano.

The music for this work is available from Alma Concerts or the composer.

Bartomeu Artigues Mesquida nasqué a Mallorca, 1957. Va fer estudis superiors de guitarra amb Miquel Janer i sobretot amb Gabriel Estarellas. Els seus mestres de composició han estat Egicio Petrovich, Xavier Carbonell, Carles Guinovart i David Padrós.<7p>