News

Quantum Ensemble presents Textures, a programme that includes works by composers George Enescu, Paul Dukas and Gabriel Fauré. The concert of this group resident at Auditorio de Tenerife is taking place on Thursday, the 19th at 7:30 pm at the Sala de Cámara, where they will be joined by the German string and piano ensemble Fauré Quartett and Cristo Barrios, clarinet plus pianist Gustavo Díaz-Jerez, who are both founding members of Quantum Ensemble.

An hour before the concert the Sala de Cámara will also house a pre-concert talk to explain the context of the Textures programme. It will be by Víctor Durà-Vilà, lecturer at the University of Leeds. Admission is free.

The concert starts with George Enescu’s Quartet nº 1 and closes with Quartet nº 1 by Gabriel Fauré, who taught him composition at Paris Conservatoire. Between these two works Quantum Ensemble commissioned Pablo Díaz to arrange for violin, clarinet, viola, cello and piano four hands, one of the most popular compositions of the French repertoire, namely, Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

The Fauré Quartett is one of the leading piano quartets in the world. Its members are Erika Geldsetzer, violin; Sascha Frömbling, viola; Konstantin Heidrich, cello; and Dirk Mommertz, piano. With a groundbreaking approach, they are discovering new fields in chamber music, while performing compositions outside the general repertoire.

They are also greatly admired for their experiments, like the Rhapsody in School programme, with which they have manage to fire the children with enthusiasm for chamber music. In 2006 they signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon and have recorded works by Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and pop songs by Peter Gabriel and Steely Dan.

Tickets can be bought through Auditorio de Tenerife’s usual sale channels: at the box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm, Monday to Saturday except on holidays; via www.auditoriodetenerife.com  or calling 902 317 327.

Quantum Ensemble’s first activity this week is taking place today at 1:00 pm at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias, where Dirk Mommertz, chamber music teacher at Munich Conservatoire and member of the Fauré Quartett, will give a master class for the students.

Their outreach activity is taking place on Wednesday, the 18th at 5:00 pm in the Sala de Cámara with the collaboration of Obra Social “la Caixa” volunteers. The following day at the same venue, there will be an educational session at 11:00 am for about a hundred users of the Centro Público de Educación de Personas Adultas (CEPA) of Santa Cruz de Tenerife [Adult Education Centre] and the Centro Sociosanitario of the town of Güímar [Public Health Centre].

The Festival de Música Antigua de Tenerife (Fimante) [Tenerife Early Music Festival] has scheduled two admission-free concerts this weekend. The concerts are part of the programme Christmas Baroque Music (Barocke Weihnachtsmusik) by the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife. The first one is taking place on Saturday, the 14th at 7.00 pm in the  Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Merced de El Médano, in Granadilla de Abona, and the second one is on Sunday, the 15th at 5:00 pm in the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, in Buenavista del Norte.

The ensemble resident at Auditorio de Tenerife will play the German Baroque music repertoire they premiered on Thursday, the 12th at the Sala de Cámara of this Cabildo’s cultural venue.  The event was attended by 300 people and it featured Zaragoza-born Alfonso Sebastián as harpsichord and guest conductor in addition to the voice of the prestigious British soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, (DBE).

In addition to Kirkby and Sebastián, the orchestra also includes Adrián Linares, Baroque violin and leader of the orchestra; Lorena Padrón and Laura Díaz, violins I; Sergio Suárez, Leo Rossi and Giovanni Déniz, violins II; Iván Sáez and Melchor García, violas; Fernando Santiago, Baroque cello; Juan Carlos Baeza, violone; Juan Carlos de Mulder, theorbo; and Hugo Rodríguez, bassoon.

The Barroca is performing works of the vocal catalogue of the so-called German Baroque music. The best biblical, religious or spiritual texts were used to create the corpus of cantatas and oratorios exalting the Joyful episodes, extoling the Glorious and acclaiming the Painful.  They are each a case of high creative sharpness as you will listen for yourself in this selection.

The Cantata is one of the best representatives of the sound laboratory of the Baroque. As opposed to the Sonata, whose instrumental flow is full of tonal arguments and skilful discourse -especially in the violin scales- the Cantata developed, in all the possible vocal tessituras and with the help of colourist accompaniment, a new way of understanding texts and poetry, which was unheard of in the History of Music.

At the same time as Opera and Oratorio, from its very beginnings in the 17th century, it gradually enriched the repertoire across Europe, until it reached its height in the early 18th century, reaching the late Baroque with the beautiful and bold compositions of D. Buxthuede, G. P. Telemann and J.S. Bach. The artistic director of the ensemble, Conrado Álvarez, revealed that “the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife has programmed examples of these skills to celebrate Christmas”. In addition to vocal skills, this programme also includes instrumental practice of Rosenmüller’s, Muffat’s and J.C.F. Fischer’s workshop.

This weekend the Auditorio de Tenerife welcomes the twelfth  encuentro de bandas de música juveniles de la isla to take place at the Sala de Cámara on Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th at 11:30 am. Eight bands, made up by tens of young Canarian musicians, are taking part in the event, which includes two guest groups from the islands of El Hierro and La Gomera. Admission to this event is free of charge.

The event has been organised by the Federación Tinerfeña de Bandas de Música [Tenerife Music Bands Federation], and it starts on Saturday with the beginners’ band Banda de Iniciación José Mesa Cabrera of the Agrupación Musical Cruz Santa de los Realejos, conducted by Sofía González Batista. They will first play the Obertura Ludiciana, by Javier Pinto Bañuls, to then go on with Queen in concert, arranged by Jay Bocook, and finally José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad.

It will then be the turn for the band of the Asociación Musical San Marcos Evangelista’s academy, from Tegueste. Led by Javier Pérez Hernández, the musicians will perform J. O´Reilly’s Foxboro March; Colonel Bogey, by K. Alford arranged by M. Williams; R. Ford’s Dark Adventure, and Mission Impossible Theme, by L. Shifrin, arranged by P. Lavender.

The youth band of the Asociación Musical Educando José León Medrano from El Puerto de la Cruz will go onstage next to start with Señorita, by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello arranged by Iván Rodríguez. The group, under the baton of Iván Yeray Rodríguez Martín, will then play John Williams in Concert, arranged by Paul Lavender, and Jingle Bell Rock, arranged by Frank Bernaerts.

Paulino Martí’s paso doble Recordando a un amigo, is the first song to be played by the members of the Banda Juvenil del Patronato Insular de Música de El Hierro, one of the guest bands, which also closes the first day. Led by Francisco José Buenrostro Tur, they will then perform A day at the Museum, by James Curnom; Miguel A. Ibiza Zaragozá’s Kitten & Puppy, and will end with Víctor López’s arrangement of Fiesta Tropicale.

The band of the Patronato artístico musical de Fasnia’s academy opens the event on Sunday with Jurassic Park and Somewhere in my memory, both by John Williams. Conducted by Gustavo Adolfo Regalado Llanos, who authored all the arrangements in this repertoire, they will then play Rockin’ around the Chritsmas Tree, by Johnny Marks, Michael Jackson Hit Mix and Johnnie Vinson.

Conductor Taida María Gil Conde leads the youth band of San Sebastián de Tejina that is playing next. Their programme starts with Antonio Campillo’s Mi primer Pasodoble, goes on with West Hills Overture, by John O'Reilly, and finally Henry Mancini’s Moon River.

Next comes the Banda Miguel Reyes de Güímar, conducted by Francisco Javier Pérez Reyes. The programme includes Aires del Terruño, by Miguel Castillo; Frank Erickson’s Air for band; How to train your dragon, arranged by Sean O´Loughlin, and Medley Boleros I, arranged by José Molina Comino.

The event ends with the youth band of Asociación Musical Los Órganos de Vallehermoso, from La Gomera, the second guest band this year. Led by Gonzalo Lemus Bravo the musicians will play the following repertoire: George Gershwin’s Suene la banda; Highlights from Carmen, by Georges Bizet arranged by Mark William; Giusseppe  Verdi’s La  Donna é Mobile; What a wonderful world, by G. D. Weiss and B. Thiele; and Al Poeta, by Gonzalo Lemus Bravo.

Ópera de Tenerife presents Der Diktator and Der Kaiser von Atlantis, a double programme in concert version to be performed on Saturday, the 14th at 7:30 pm in Auditorio de Tenerife’s Sala Sinfónica. This event consists of two operas that were written by Austrian composers in the first half of the 20th century. Through sarcasm they deal with the issue of totalitarian power.

Maestro Pedro Halffter, who is making his debut with Ópera de Tenerife, will be the musical director of this production by Sinfónica de Tenerife. The show features the voices of Bruno Taddia, baritone; Melody Louledjian, soprano; César Arrieta, tenor; Carmen Acosta, soprano; Nicolò Donini, bass; David Astorga, tenor; Francisco Crespo, bass; and Laura Verrecchia, mezzo soprano.

When Ernst Krenek composed Der Diktator (The Dictator) in 1928 fascism already ruled in Italy and it would soon reach Germany. This tragic opera in one act with music and libretto in German by Ernst Krenek, premiered at Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden on 6 May 1928. This short work with a tremendous rhythm and composed in a melodic style, portrays the irresistible attraction of populist power, represented by a character who many thought to be inspired by Mussolini.

Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis) is a one-act opera with music by Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann and libretto in German by poet Peter Kien. It was composed in 1943 while at Theresienstadt concentration camp in the Czech Republic, where they were both taken because of their Jewish origin.   The work, which has certain elements of Viennese Expressionism, is about a tyrant -satirical portrait of Hitler- who is leading humanity to a cruel massacre, pushing Death himself to go on strike.  Ullmann died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Der Kaiser von Atlantis was premiered in Amsterdam in 1975.

Maestro Halffter has been artistic director at Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, principal guest conductor at the Nürnberger Symphoniker and principal conductor of the Bayreuth Festival Youth Orchestra. Other orchestras he has led include London Philharmonia Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie and the main Spanish orchestras.

Tickets can be purchased at Auditorio de Tenerife box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm, Monday to Saturday except holidays; calling 902 317 327 or clicking here

The Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife is giving at 7:30 pm on 12 December the concert Baroque Christmas Music (Barocke Weihnachtsmusik) at Auditorio de Tenerife’s Sala de Cámara. The ensemble resident at the Auditorio de Tenerife brings a programme of German Baroque music with Zaragoza-born Alfonso Sebastián as harpsichord and guest conductor plus the voice of British soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, (DBE).

The Barroca is performing works of the vocal catalogue of the so-called German Baroque music. The best biblical, religious or spiritual texts were used to create the corpus of cantatas and oratorios exalting the Joyful episodes, extoling the Glorious and acclaiming the Painful.  They are each a case of high creative sharpness as you will listen for yourself in this selection.

In addition to Kirkby and Sebastián, the orchestra also includes Adrián Linares, Baroque violin and leader of the orchestra; Lorena Padrón and Laura Díaz, violins I; Sergio Suárez, Leo Rossi and Giovanni Déniz, violins II; Iván Sáez and Melchor García, violas; Fernando Santiago, Baroque cello; Juan Carlos Baeza, violone; Juan Carlos de Mulder, theorbo; and Hugo Rodríguez, bassoon.

Tickets can be bought through Auditorio de Tenerife’s usual sale channels: at the box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm, Monday to Saturday except holidays; via www.auditoriodetenerife.com  or calling 902 317 327.

At 11:00 am that morning, Auditorio de Tenerife’s Educational Area will give a concert with  400 schoolchildren from the third to the fifth year of Primary school and Aula Enclave for students with special educational needs. This is a special music session of this Orquesta Barroca’s programme that will be attended by children from five different schools in Arona, Güímar, La Laguna and La Orotava.

The Cantata is one of the best representatives of the sound laboratory of the Baroque. As opposed to the Sonata, whose instrumental flow is full of tonal arguments and skilful discourse -especially in the violin scales- the Cantata developed, in all the possible vocal tessituras and with the help of colourist accompaniment, a new way of understanding texts and poetry, which was unheard of in the History of Music.

At the same time as Opera and Oratorio, from its very beginnings in the 17th century, it gradually enriched the repertoire across Europe, until it reached its height in the early 18th century, reaching the late Baroque with the beautiful and bold compositions of D. Buxthuede, G. P. Telemann and Bach. The artistic director of the ensemble, Conrado Álvarez, revealed that “the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife has programmed examples of these skills to celebrate Christmas”. In addition to vocal skills, this programme also includes instrumental practice of Rosenmüller’s, Muffat’s and Fischer’s workshop.

As part of the Festival de Música Antigua de Tenerife (Fimante) [Tenerife Early Music Festival] this same programme will be played in two further concerts: on Saturday, the 14th at 7:00 pm in Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Merced in El Médano (Granadilla de Abona); and on Sunday, the 15^th at 5:00 pm in the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, in Buenavista del Norte.

Auditorio de Tenerife’s Escuela Coral and Coro Juvenil are getting together on Sunday, the 8th at 6:00 pm to give a concert to celebrate the World Choral Day, which is already sold out. The programme is made up by compositions representing love, happiness, culture, hope and fraternity. It ends with Peter Hope’s arrangement of the popular Canarian song Una sobre el mismo mar, by Benito Cabrera, performed by a great choir that includes all the students of the Escuela.

This year the Escuela Coral de Tenerife joins the Coro Juvenil, who in 2018 read the proclamation in different languages. They have managed to bring together three times more choral singers than in its first two years, reaching more than 300 choralists. This is the first engagement in the history of the Escuela apart from their usual end of the year concert.

“We hope the concert is festive” said Roxana Schmunk, director of both projects who, with the help of some of the Escuela teachers, has put a lot of work into preparing this concert since the start of the season. This is the “perfect opportunity to get together all these choral singers, children, young people, adults, in a special concert that endorses choral singing as an instrument of peace and hope”, the director said.

This initiative, with 72 countries joining in this year, was set up by the International Federation for Choral Music in 1990 to commemorate the end of the First World War. Choirs from around the world take part in it and are invited to hold an event that includes reading their proclamation, appealing to the union represented by singing as opposed to the harshness of war.

The Festival de Música Antigua de Tenerife (Fimante) [Tenerife Early Music Festival], included in the Nova Ars Organorum cycle, has scheduled for 12:00 noon on Sunday the 8^th the concert Distinct and Distant Kinds of Music. Basque musician Óscar Candendo, principal organist of the El Buen Pastor Parish in San Sebastián, who studied organ in Spain, France and Germany, will play the repertoire at the organ in Auditorio de Tenerife’s Sala Sinfónica. The versatility and design of this organ are unique in the world.

This is one of the two occasion offered by Fimante every year, since it started in 2018, to experience listening to the organ in the Auditorio. The instrument was built by the prestigious organ maker Albert Blancafort and his team. It is a 21st century piece whose 3,835 pipes are fitted in the walls of the auditorium and are controlled through the console placed on the stage, which is played by the organist.

This repertoire is distant and distinct in space and time and aims at showing the countless possibilities offered by this great instrument through a journey that runs from Baroque Central Europe (Bach with his Fugue BWV 575, a work of youth) to mid-20^th century Spain.

The musical journey also passes through Victorian London, where the great virtuoso William Thomas Best (1826-1897), provides a finished transcription of Handel’s minuet in his opera Berenice, to then go on to end of the century Munich with Herr Professor Rheinberger, and finally take a leap across the Atlantic to listen to the most touching, popular composition by US Samuel Barber, the Adagio for strings op. 11.

Rosario Álvarez, artistic director of this organ cycle, revealed that at the end of the repertoire “we’ll come back to Europe to conclude with a particularly dear composition for Spanish organists: the Tryptic of the Good Shepherd, an unquestioned landmark in the organ repertoire of our country”.

Tickets can be purchased through Auditorio de Tenerife’s usual sale channels: at the box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm, Monday to Saturday except holidays; via www.auditoriodetenerife.com  or calling 902 317 327. On Sunday the box office will open two hours before the concert starts.

Lava is performing their new double programme at Teatro Pérez Galdós at 8:00 pm on Thursday, the 5th. The dance company will put onstage two original creations that were premiered at Auditorio de Tenerife’s Sala Sinfónica last Sunday. They are the work of two choreographers of international scope: Yalacha, by Korean Dongkyu Kim and Hush, by Israeli Roy Assaf.

Both creators were invited by the company’s artistic director, Daniel Abreu (Premio Nacional de Danza 2014), to work with the dancers who currently make up Lava’s dance troupe: Emiliana Battista Marino, Fabiana Mangialardi, Virgina Martín, Paula Parra, Alicia Pirez and Amanda Rubio, who were selected through public notice. These pieces have been expressly created for the group resident at Auditorio de Tenerife.

This programme, which is now travelling to Gran Canaria with tickets on sale on www.teatroperezgaldos.es, displays the versatility and strength of creation for international dance. Israel and South Korea are the countries currently leading the international arena of contemporary dance thanks to their great creativity and command.

Daniel Abreu explains that "turning to these places led us to Roy Assaf’s talent, with his peculiar use of body gestures and the deep, clear message conveyed; on the other hand, Dongkyu Kim is accurate regarding the body and shows quality in movement; his works convey strength, impetus and an interesting questioning of everything human".

Roy Assaf’s advice is that “while seeing Hush I encourage you to ignore the unswerving temptation of seeking for the plot; refuse the stubborn need to understand, trust your instinct -being honest and sincere about it- and follow your tender heart, that has a great capacity for imagination”.

Dongkyu Kim, who has worked on the island with his assistants Nara Yoon and Jiho Jang, also a composer, says that “we all make our own sound”. That’s why in Yalacha “sound doesn’t come from the mouth but from life: I live my own life and I make my own sound through the sound of others but, what sound do you make? he wonders. The piece is part of the Jisoo Gook Laboratory Dance Project.

Bartok and the violin is the title of Sinfónica de Tenerife’s next concert to be held on Friday the 6th at 7:30 pm in the Auditorio de Tenerife. It features British conductor Alexander Shelley -in his first time on the island- and Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma as guest soloist.

On its fifth season concert, the Sinfónica de Tenerife will deal with love and indifference, or the world of dreams by means of pirates and sacred woods, with sound strokes that range from colourist musical impressionism to Neoclassicism. The programme includes Suite nº 1 and 2, for small orchestra by Igor Stravinsky; Violin concerto nº 1, op. posth., BB 48a/Sz36 by Béla Bartok, and Daphnis et Chloe: Suites nº 1 and 2 by Maurice Ravel.

Alexander Shelley studied cello and conducting in Germany and attracted the attention of the general public when he was unanimously awarded the first prize at the Leeds Conductors Competition in 2015. That year he took over Pinchas Zukerman as musical director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada and became first assistant conductor at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he conducted a series of concerts at Cadogan Hall and toured national and internationally.

The guest soloist is Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma, one of the most impressive and captivating musical personalities at present, according to the critics. Lamsma started to study violin when she was 5 years old and later travelled to the United Kingdom to train at the Yehudi Menuhin School and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, of which she is associate since 2019, as designated by the Honorary Awards Committee.  

In her performances, Simone plays a 1718 “Mlynarski” Stradivarius thanks to the generous loan of an anonymous benefactor. In the last seasons she has given more than 60 violin concertos, playing with the best orchestras in the world. Her recent performances include her debut with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Gürzenich Orchester, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra or Houston Symphony.

Stravinsky, Bartok and Ravel, the three authors the Sinfónica de Tenerife revisits in this concert, lived in one of the most artistically fruitful periods in western civilization, although they were greatly affected by the political situation in their respective countries and the great world wars. In the midst of this social and geopolitical unrest, the avant-garde drive of the three composers led them to introduce revolutionary compositional innovations in the musical language of the time, thus answering the many aesthetic issues that had been raised in the previous century.

Igor Stravinsky’s Suite nº 1 and 2, for small orchestra will open this Sinfónica de Tenerife event. A composition written while in exile in Switzerland and France that starts with a cryptic introduction “Andante”, of an acid and dissonant lyricism, that gives way to three national dances. In the ingenious Suite nº 2, of a more robust timbre, the author proposes a chromatic “March” with the winds leading the melody; the famous, histrionic  “Waltz” without strings, with the flute and the piccolo in the lead; a densely textured circus “Polka” that plays with the contrasting dialogue between brasses and woods to conclude in a final, dizzy “Galop”.

Together with Zoltan Kodaly, Béla Bartok is regarded as one of the pioneers in scientific ethnomusicology research on Eastern Europe folklore. In 1908 they both embarked on a journey across rural Hungary and Romania in order to gather, among others, Magyar songs, whose influence was to remain forever in their compositions. Although he wrote the Violin concerto nº 1, op. posth., BB 48a/Sz36 in the same year, it remained unknown until after his death in 1945. Bartok dedicated this composition to the young violinist Stefi Geyer with whom he was in love. The composer’s bliss is perfectly portrayed in the Andante sostenuto.

The programme ends with Daphnis et Chloe: Suites nº 1 and 2 by Maurice Ravel, a choreographic symphony that aims at portraying the author’s neoclassical view of Antiquity. The score follows a very strict tonal plan by means of a small number of motifs whose development guarantee symphonic homogeneity in a work that is based on the pastoral novel by the Greek poet Longus, Daphnis and Chloe. It starts with an ethereal “Nocturn”, which gets its disturbing atmosphere from the string tremolos and the use of wind machines. It is followed by the “Interlude”, with evocative harmonies, and concludes with the frenzied “War Dance” by Bryaxis’s pirates, who kidnapped Chloe.

The second suite opens with one of the best-known passages of the score, the bright “Dawn” on a fainted Daphnis outside the cave of the nymphs. The water that runs among the rocks flows in flutes, clarinets and harps; the sun rises in the orchestra’s deepest instruments; the violin and the piccolo imitate the birds singing at dawn over a winding accompaniment that flows into a great central orchestral climax focused on the musical theme of love. In the “Pantomime”, the lovers evoke in their dance -helped by wind and wood instruments plus a relevant solo flute- the love of Syrinx and Pan, the god who saved Chloe. Finally, the frantic, orgiastic “General Dance” is a bacchanalian with an unbridled 5/4 time and exuberant orchestration.

Tickets for this subscription concert can be purchased at the box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm Monday to Saturday; by phone on 902 317 327; or via the internet on www.sinfonicadetenerife.es and www.auditoriodetenerife.com.

Auditorio de Tenerife is putting on a jazz concert by Mikael Godée & Eve Beuvens Quartet (MEQ) this weekend. In the show, which is on at 8:00 pm on Saturday, the 30th at Sala de Cámara, the saxophonist and the pianist are presenting their new work with their band.

The ensemble is led by the Grammy-winner Swedish musician and the Belgian pianist. Their sound is characteristically elegant and melodic. The piano and soprano saxophone Will be accompanied by drummer Johan Birgenius, and double bass Magnus Bergström.

Mikael Godée and Eve Beuvens met a long time ago on the Myspace platform. Nine years later and after tens of concerts they are releasing their second record as a quartet: Looking Forward.

From the very beginning the two musicians naturally took to each other. They added bass player Magnus Bergström and Johan Birgenius at the drums, one of the best-liked rhythmic sections in Sweden, to set up the MEQ quartet.

The repertoire, surprisingly homogenous, consists of original themes by Godée and Beuvens. Through mutual trust shared by the four of them, they take on risks that make the music flow very naturally.  

Although their music draws on Nordic lyricism, it is also energetic, unique and warm: a stroll through a forest full of surprising colours in the Distant North.

Tickets are on sale via Auditorio de Tenerife’s usual channels: at the box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm Monday to Saturday, except on holidays; via www.auditoriodetenerife.com  or calling 902 317 327.

Ópera de Tenerife is taking Der Diktator and Der Kaiser von Atlantis, a double programme in concert version, to nine municipalities of the island through the programme Ópera en Ruta [Itinerant Opera]. In sixty-minute talks the audiences will learn about the main features of these two operas.

There will be a total of nine talks to be held in the afternoon at different venues of the island’s Public Library network. The talks, that started in La Orotava, will be held in Candelaria on Friday, the 29th, at the Biblioteca Pública de Garachico on 2 December, at Biblioteca Adrián Alemán de Armas, in La Laguna on the 3rd; at Biblioteca Pública del Estado de Santa Cruz on the 4th; at Biblioteca Municipal de la Villa de Adeje on the 5th; at Biblioteca de Tabaiba on the 9th; at Biblioteca Municipal de Santa Úrsula on the 10th and finally, at  Biblioteca Tomás de Iriarte in Puerto de la Cruz on 11 December.

This double programme brings together two operas that were composed by Austrian authors in the first half of the 20th century. Through the use of sarcasm, they tackle the issue of totalitarian power. When Ernst Krenek composed Der Diktator in 1928 fascism already ruled in Italy and it was to reach Germany soon. Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis was composed in 1943 at a concentration camp.

Der Diktator [The dictator] is a tragic opera in one act with music and libretto in German by the composer and was premiered at Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden on 6 May 1928. This short work with a tremendous rhythm and composed in a melodic style that resembles Puccini’s, portrays the irresistible attraction of populist power, represented by a character who many thought to be inspired by Mussolini.

Der Kaiser von Atlantis [The Emperor of Atlantis] is a one-act opera by Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann and libretto in German by Peter Kien. It was composed while in prison at Theresienstadt concentration camp, where they were both jailed for being Jewish. In fact, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, a surrealist legend of a tyrant that is leading humanity to a cruel massacre, pushing Death himself to go on strike, was composed with all the characteristics the Nazis considered as ‘degenerate music’ (atonality, jazz...). When the camp authorities realized the figure of Emperor Overall was a not very veiled parody of Adolf Hitler, they forbade its premiere. Ullmann was deported to Auschwitz in 1944 where he was killed in the gas chamber.

In addition to the learning experience, Ópera en Ruta will also seek to undo some myths about the world of opera such as its supposed elitism or language barriers in performances; dress code and Auditorio de Tenerife’s ticket sale channels will also be dealt with.

Ópera en Ruta is part of the communication strategy of Ópera de Tenerife and Auditorio de Tenerife for the new 2019-2020 season. In addition to spreading opera, it also adds to the economic drive of this Tenerife project, which encourages the local cultural industry.

At 7:00 pm on Sunday in Auditorio de Tenerife’s Sala Sinfónica, the Festival de Artes Escénicas Telón Tenerife presents the premiere of the new double programme by Lava Compañía de Danza, that includes two original creations by choreographers of international scope: Hush, by Israeli Roy Assaf, and Yalacha, by Korean Dongkyu Kim.

Both creators were invited by the company’s artistic director, Daniel Abreu (Premio Nacional de Danza 2014), to work with the dancers who currently make up Lava’s dance troupe: Emiliana Battista Marino, Fabiana Mangialardi, Virgina Martín, Paula Parra, Alicia Pirez and Amanda Rubio, who were selected through public notice. These pieces have been expressly created for the group resident at Auditorio de Tenerife.

Tickets can be purchased at Auditorio de Tenerife’s box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm Monday to Saturday except on holidays; via the websites www.auditoriodetenerife.com and www.telontenerife.com or calling 902 317 327. On the day of the show, the box office will be opened two hours before the event starts.

This programme displays the versatility and strength of creation for international dance. Israel and South Korea are the countries currently leading the international arena of contemporary dance thanks to their great creativity and command. Daniel Abreu explains that "turning to these places led us to Roy Assaf’s talent, with his peculiar use of body gestures and the deep clear message conveyed; on the other hand, Dongkyu Kim, who is accurate regarding the body and shows quality in movement; his works convey strength, impetus and an interesting questioning of everything human".

Roy Assaf’s advice is that “while seeing Hush I encourage you to ignore the unswerving temptation of seeking for the plot; refuse the stubborn need to understand, trust your instinct -being honest and sincere about it- and follow your tender heart, that has a great capacity for imagination”.

Dongkyu Kim, who has worked on the island with his assistants Nara Yoon and Jiho Jang, also a composer, says that “we all make our own sound”. That’s why in Yalacha “sound doesn’t come from the mouth but from life: I live my own life and I make my own sound through the sound of others but, what sound do you make? he wonders. The piece is part of the Jisoo Gook Laboratory Dance Project.

All the information about circus, theatre, dance and family shows of the Telón programme, tickets and discounts available in each venue can be checked on www.telontenerife.com and on their social networks.