Festival Opens with Major Tribute to Spanish Composer
The Orchestra and Choir of Spanish Radio and Television (RTVE) will open the 42nd edition of the Canary Islands Music Festival with two concerts in Gran Canaria and Tenerife paying homage to composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), commemorating the 150th anniversary of his birth. The International Festival of the Canary Islands, a key date in Spain’s classical music calendar, raises the curtain this Thursday in Gran Canaria and on Friday in Tenerife, with maestro Christoph König leading the performance of two of Falla’s most celebrated works: ‘Nights in the Gardens of Spain’ and ‘La vida breve’.
Concert Details and Star-Studded Line-Up
The opening concerts will take place at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and on Friday 9 January at the Auditorio de Tenerife, both at 7:30pm Canary Island time. The RTVE Symphony Orchestra and Choir, with nearly 140 performers on stage under the baton of their principal conductor, Christoph König, will feature a roster of soloists headlined by Canarian pianist Iván Martín.
At a press conference, Martín stated that this is an unmissable event for connoisseurs and music lovers, featuring pieces by Falla that have always marked very particular and special moments in his own career. According to the Gran Canaria-born pianist, Falla’s works combine genius and an extraordinary ability to unite European tradition and Spanish folk music, with the immense complexity of striking a balance between Impressionism and the European vision of music at that time.
Celebrating Falla’s Unique Musical Legacy
“This concert will show a love for flamenco and ‘racial music’, with that aroma of Impressionist music and the personal dream of the composer from Cádiz, who uses an evocative piano that goes far beyond its time, as if he were ahead of his era, in a concert that is never easy, and where less is more,” Martín added. He expressed that Falla is rich in detail, even overwhelming the performer with nuances to achieve one of the composer’s hallmarks: his ability to empathise with the audience.
Manuel Ventero, the managing director of the RTVE Symphony Orchestra and Choir, highlighted that the ensemble prides itself on being one of Europe’s first musical formations linked to radio and television. He expressed gratitude to the Canary Islands Festival for “such a warm and professional welcome.” He noted that Falla is one of the great geniuses of world classical music and composition, and this tribute will approach his diverse “Spanish programme” with its characteristic representation of the Generation of ’27 and the flamenco culture of the south.
A Prestigious Start to an Extensive Programme
Samuel Ramos, the artistic coordinator of the Canary Islands Music Festival, emphasised that this is the best possible start to this edition, commemorating 150 years since the birth of one of Spain’s most celebrated composers, who was capable of integrating incredible sonic syntheses, personalising them, and transforming them into his own language. “Opening with Manuel de Falla is a luxury,” he said.
This sentiment was echoed by the regional government’s Vice-Minister of Culture, Horacio Umpiérrez, who applauded the presence of Canarian artists in this concert, which opens a festival edition featuring 61 concerts across eight islands. He detailed that the concert begins with ‘Nights in the Gardens of Spain’, an Impressionist piece for piano and orchestra structured in three movements, with Gran Canarian pianist Iván Martín as soloist.
The second part of the concerts will bring the dramatic force of ‘La vida breve’ to the stage in a concert version. This is one of Falla’s most legendary operas, with which the composer won the short opera competition of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid when he was just 25 years old. The vocal cast features notable Canarian singers, including sopranos Raquel Lojendio and María Alba Cruz, mezzo-soprano Cristina Faus, tenors Airam Hernández and Juan Antonio Sanabria, baritone Fernando Campero, and bass Rubén Amoretti. The performance will also include the participation of Sevillian flamenco singer Esperanza Fernández.
The Vice-Minister also noted that in this first week, the islands will host the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, one of the top five in the world. The orchestra is visiting the festival with a double programme in both capital city auditoriums, under the direction of Paavo Järvi.
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