Performative Vocal Group
Based on a contemporary ideal of collective artistic creation, Víctor began a young, multidisciplinary project in 2011. Building on his background in singing and vocal work, the project emerged from a need to explore emotions, transmission, and a theatrical understanding of dramaturgy as a guiding thread—a principle that lends coherence and meaning to the artistic process.
In November 2012, the first auditions were held to select the voices. In addition to their vocal abilities, candidates also were assessed on their ability to adapt to different stage environments, their full commitment to the work, their charisma, and their sense of enthusiasm. Four months later, rehearsals began.
Gradually, the work bore fruit, and in less than a year, the group premiered its first project: The Spirit of Christmas, inspired by Charles Dickens' famous novel A Christmas Carol. It was a text-free proposal, whose meaning unfolded through collective movement and physical expression. The music served solely to build tension within the scene; its Christmas lyrics did not contribute to the dramaturgy.
In 2014, ESH was created , the group’s second stage project for female voices, harp and ethnic percussion. The project, conceived as a reflection on the human being and their journey on Earth, presented the challenge of equipping a church with full theatre lighting, making do with limited resources and coping with dozens of hours of rehearsal and work. What initially seemed almost impossible was premiered with difficulty at the end of August in the province of Valladolid and performed again two days later in the Sanctuary of Urkiola, in the Basque Country.
XYK Singers has participated in two editions of the European Night and the International Museum Day in Valladolid, as well as in the city’s Music Day celebrations. In 2015, the group was invited for the first time to join the Laboratorio de las Artes de Valladolid (LAVA) as a resident ensemble, and took part in the 19th and 20th Europa Cantat Festival in Pécs (Hungary) and Tallinn (Estonia) and the 11th Festival International du Chant Choral Nagham in Morocco.
In 2018, one of the group’s most ambitious projects premiered: Suden Aika, with which XYK Singers performed at more than 30 venues, touring internationally through countries such as Estonia and Finland. Two years later, in the midst of the pandemic, the group premiered Circa /chirca/, a project presented within the framework of the International Festival of Theatre and Street Arts of Valladolid.
Suden Aika is a stage project by XYK Singers that brings together collective singing, movement, and dramaturgy to tell a powerful story of abuse and female liberation. Inspired by Nordic traditional texts and the music of Tellu Turkka, the piece follows the symbolic journey of a woman who, after being deceived and oppressed, calls upon the forces of nature to reclaim her freedom and dignity.
With a minimalist, physical, and emotionally driven staging, the project uses the natural voice, improvisation, the body, and dramaturgy as expressive tools.
Suden Aika thus becomes an experience of collective transformation — a song to resilience, self-discovery, and the inner strength of women.
Circa. /chirca/ is a stage piece that explores the construction of identity through the memories and fragments that inhabit us.
Through voice, movement, and performative action, the performers reconstruct the memory of what we were, what we are, and what we might become, engaging in an intimate dialogue with time, transformation, and forgetting.
The piece unfolds as an emotional journey shaped by word, sound, and body, and as a dramaturgical path through the fine arts, infused with humour — seeking to open spaces of resonance between personal and collective experience.
Different artistic disciplines such as dance, circus, and pantomime intertwine in this performance, designed for all audiences.
Víctor Galván is a musicologist and choral conductor and stage director, as well as a singer, pianist and actor. In recent years he has led a series of projects that have helped to redefine the understanding of choral music and bring it closer to younger audiences in an effective and natural way. His proposals intertwine musical interpretation, physical theatre, contemporary dance, and performance, shaping the result into a mixture of performing arts rather than a single discipline. He is committed to building a community of voices through play, research, boundary-crossing, critical thinking and movement, he has directed the Performative Vocal Group XYK Singers since its foundation in 2013, while also performing as a singer with other vocal ensembles in Madrid and Gipuzkoa.
