Four performances for educational centres and one for spectators with their families, the latter sold out
The Auditorio de Tenerife is hosting this week the educational programme El carnaval de los animales canarios (The Carnival of the Canarian Animals) interpreted by Ensemble Resonancias in the venue’s Chamber Hall. The programme includes two performances for students on Thursday (27 March) and two more on Friday (28 March), with shows starting both days at 10 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. In addition to the four performances, there will be a fifth for spectators with their families on Friday at 6 p.m., although tickets for this show sold out six weeks ago.
The turnout for the student-oriented performances is expected to total 1,560 spectators comprised of schoolchildren from the island’s eight municipalities Arona, Granadilla, La Laguna, La Matanza, La Orotava, Los Realejos, Santa Cruz and Tacoronte. The fifth show for the general public is expected to draw 400 spectators among children and adults.
The Carnival of the Canarian Animals is a musical and educational show inspired by Camille Saint-Saëns’ original composition, adapted to feature both real and mythical animals from the Canary Islands.
One of the aims of this educational and informative show is to awaken the responsibility to look after the natural environment that we share. The idea behind Ensemble Resonancias is to create music dedicated to Canarian animals as a tribute to nature.
The ensemble is comprised of David Ballesteros, violin and conductor; Raquel Martorell Dorta, flute; Andrea Chico Díaz, clarinet; Javier Lanis, piano; Ernesto González Alemán, piano; Marie Cooper Auber, violin; Santiago Medina Gutiérrez, viola; Laura de Armas, cello; José Manuel Vinagre Hernández, double bass, and Verónica Cagigao, percussion.
Canarian composers Celia Rivero and Sergio Rodríguez wrote the score for a series of animals that will accompany the ensemble in a musical journey through the region’s natural spaces. Thus, they will review the experiences of the native dogs (‘Presa Canario’ mastiff and the ‘Podenco’ hunting dog), some of our most representative birds (Canary, Blue Chaffinch, Laurel Pigeon, Long-eared Owl, Barn Owl, Canarian Forest Bat and Cory’s Shearwate), and they will dive into the local fortunate sea where they will encounter the blue whale, fin whale, sand smelt, jellyfish, grouper, and sardine.
Alongside the giant lizard of El Hierro and that of La Gomera, the musicians will crawl on the ground and climb the walls with the Canary gecko. They will also delve into the ‘Jameos del Agua’, a unique volcanic tunnel in Lanzarote, home to the endemic blind albino crabs of Lanzarote, and they will take flight alongside the monarch and tiger butterflies. They will majestically stroll in the company of the Canarian camel and witness the grandeur of the extinct animals like the giant tortoise of Tenerife and the giant rat. All without forgetting parts of the mythology, such as the dog-like demons ‘Guacanchas’ and the ‘Ladon’, a dragon with one hundred heads.
The family-oriented programming of the Auditorio de Tenerife is to continue on 26 and 27 April with Manuel de Falla’s El retablo de maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Show), which is based on an episode from Miguel de Cervantes’ classic novel Don Quixote. This Spanish-language opera is to be interpreted by the theatrical, musical and puppet artists Etcétera, a company directed and founded by Enrique Lanz, whose grandfather Hermenegildo Lanz was the creator of the set design and puppetry of the debut production, in which the poet Federico García Lorca also collaborated. The shows scheduled for April are a coproduction involving Etcétera, the Teatro Real of Madrid and the Granada Music and Dance Festival, and are to feature huge puppets of up to eight meters in height. The tickets can be purchased at a single price of €10 and €5 euros for audiences under 30 years.