Savall Jordi, *1 August 1941 Igualada (near Barcelona), Spanish gambist and conductor.
From 1947 to 1955, he was a member of the children’s choir in Igualada. From 1959, he studied cello at the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Barcelona, receiving his diploma in 1965. Between 1968 and 1970, he studied viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel under A. Wenzinger, whose duties he took over in 1973. From 1970, he recorded the most important solo compositions for viola da gamba. He gained worldwide recognition for his performances of little-known works from the Iberian Peninsula. In 1974, he founded the ensemble Hespèrion XX (together with his wife M. Figueras, L. Alpert and H. Smith), then La Capella Reial de Catalunya in 1987 and Le Concert de Nations in 1989. Savall conducts his source research with the musicians of these ensembles, giving over 100 concerts a year. He performs at the most important early music festivals in Europe, the United States, South America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. He visited Poland several times, including Kraków and Jarosław in 2004. His extensive repertoire includes works from the Middle Ages to the present day (A. Pärt), and he is particularly renowned as an expert on Spanish and French music. Savall’s work is documented in numerous recordings made for labels such as Auvidis Astrée (now part of the Naïve catalogue), Virgin, Erato, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Fontalis, Archiv Produktion and EMI. In 1998, Savall founded his own label, Alia Vox, whose productions are renowned for their high editorial standards. Among the most outstanding are recordings of works by J.B.J. Cabanilles, H. Marín, A. Holborne and thematic albums (Ostinato, La Folia). Savall has received many awards for his research and performance activities, including the title of Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres [Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters] in 1988, the Medalla d’Honor del Parlament de Catalunya [Medal of Honour of the Parliament of Catalonia] in 2003 and an honorary doctorate from the Université Catholique de Louvain. Savall recorded the soundtrack for the acclaimed film Tous les matins du monde [“All the Mornings of the World”], directed by A. Corneau (1991), contributing to the popularisation of early music.
