Granada International Festival of Music & Dance 2008
There can surely be few better settings in which to listen to high quality
music than some of Granada’s emblematic, renowned venues. Consequently, the
annual International Festival of Music and Dance provides a perfect experience
for lovers of music, dance and Granada to truly indulge themselves.
This year’s festival, the 57th, consists of 49 major events, from the 20th June
right through until the 6th July, with performances being in the King Carlos V
Palace, the open-air theatre in the Generalife Gardens, in El Patio de los
Arrayanes in the heart of the Alhambra and various other of Granada’s historic
churches and buildings.
The Festival can trace its beginnings back to 1883 when a series of symphonic
concerts were held in the King Carlos V Palace during the Corpus Christi
celebrations. Later, in 1922, the Cante Jondo contest for Flamenco singers took
place in Plaza de los Aljibes Square in the Alhambra, with such notable figures
as Lorca and Falle amongst the intellectuals and artists attending. The festival
started to grow in an unofficial manner until, in 1955, it came under the
auspices of the European Association of Festivals and since that time it has
developed into the major festival that it has now become – with appearances by
such illustrious names as Arthur Rubinstein, Andrés Segovia, Herbert von
Karajan, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev and many, many more.
The event now encompasses many differing styles and genres in its headline
concerts but, equally as important for the thousands of visitors to the city are
the late nights of Flamenco music and, indeed, music from all around the world,
that can be unofficially listened to in the areas around El Albaicín and El
Sacromonte, amongst others. The whole of Granada comes alive with the sound of
not only typically Spanish guitars, castanets and flamenco dancers but also with
the music brought to the city by its many visitors.
Because 2008 marks the 200th anniversary of the Spanish Revolution, many of
the concerts reflect this theme, with either music from the period or
contemporary impressions of the time. For example, the prestigious Uri Caine
Ensemble will be performing a concert based on their interpretation of Goya’s
Los Desastres de la Guerra on the first Saturday, the 21st June. The following
day, at the Monastery of San Jerónimo there is a programme of religious music
from the time given by El Concierto Español.
Other notable highlights include Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle
Berlin performing 3 different Bruckner symphonies – numbers 7, 8 and 9 – on the
4th, 5thand 6th of July at the Palacio de Carlos V; Elisabeth Leonskaja playing
a selection of Beethoven piano sonatas on 2nd July; as well as Les Musiciens du
Louvre , the Petersen Quartet, the young Lithuanian violinist Julian Rachlin and
the Trío Kandinsky. In addition, there will be, for the first time ever in
Granada, a complete performance of the Gershwins´ Porgy and Bess with Kevin
Short, Indira Mahajan and Daniel Washington. As you can see, this is one of the
major events of the European cultural calendar.
From the perspective of Dance, the Festival will be featuring some of the most
vibrant contemporary companies – such as the Cullberg Ballet Company from
Sweden, the Staatsballett Berlin, the constantly innovative Indian choreographer
and dancer Astad Deboo and Granada’s very own Eva Yerbabuena. In addition, the
production that stole all the headlines at Malaga’s festival last year, Flamenco
XXI: opera, café y puro, will no doubt do the same here.
Tickets for most of the concerts sell out very quickly- supply cannot hope to
meet demand – but, if you are unlucky and can’t obtain tickets for the major
venues then you can still get in to one of the 6 Café Conciertos in the Teatro
del Hotel in the Alhambra Palace featuring La Familia García or Pequeñas
Fantasías de Salón. You can purchase tickets for these at just 6 euros each one
hour before a performance at the Hotel Reception Desk – and you get your first
drink free! There are also some free concerts where the seats are available on a
‘first come, first served’ basis in Hospital Real, Monasterio de San Jerónimo,
Santa Iglesia Catedral and Corral del Carbón. Even the children aren’t forgotten
– well, this is Spain, after all – as there are special concerts in El Festival
de los Pequeños – again priced at 6 euros per ticket.
If you can make it to Granada for the Festival then you’ll undoubtedly be
enchanted by the atmosphere the city adapts at this special time of the year.
Granada is a magical city every day, but, from the 20th June until the 6th July,
lovers of music and dance wouldn’t really want to be anywhere else in the entire
world.
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