News

The Addams Family musical reaches the Auditorio de Tenerife at Christmas time. The show will be put on nine times at the Cabildo de Tenerife’s cultural centre. The first two performances are at 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm on Saturday, the 28th. The last performance of this terrifically funny show is on 4 January.

In the world of The Addams Family being sad means being happy, foolishness is sensible, feeling pain equals joy, being imprudent is prudent and death and suffering are the stuff dreams are made of.  However, this peculiar family is about to face one of the spookiest nightmares common to every parent: the children are growing up.

For hundreds of years, Gómez and Morticia have tried to keep the genuine, special and unique Addams values, but however much they wish to go on living in that harmony, something quite unexpected is going to happen: their macabre and dear daughter Wednesday has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a sweet, loving, and intelligent boy from a “normal”, respectable Ohio family. No one does really approve of the couple but to make matters even worse, Wednesday has invited the Beinekes to dinner.

Welcome to an ill-fated, ominous, and hilarious evening at the Addams’s, where the best-kept secrets will be revealed, relationships, love affairs and friendships will be under scrutiny and the whole of the Addams family -ancestors included- will be forced to face the one single terrible thing they have managed to avoid for generations: change.

Tickets can be bought via the usual sale channels of Auditorio de Tenerife: 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.

The cast includes Carmen Conesa, Lydia Fairén, Xavi Mira in the role of Gómez; Frank Capdet, who plays uncle Fester; Meritxell Duró is the grandmother; Alejandro Mesa, in the role of Pugsley; Fabio Arrante is Lucas Beineke; Eva María Cortés plays Alice Beineke; Andrés Navarro as Malcom Beineke, and Javier Canales is butler Lurch.

The show, that puts on stage the characters created by illustrator Charles Addams, is directed by Esteve Ferrer and produced by LETSGO (who has also produced titles like Dirty Dancing, The Hole, The Hole 2 and The Hole Zero) with their characteristic special effects.

The comedy, based on Brickmann and Elice’s libretto, includes music by Andrew Lippa. Touring started at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre in Chicago in 2009 and went on to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway in 2010, where it was hugely successful.

Known through the 1960s TV adaptation, The Addams Family hit the big screen in 1991 and since then there have been many film adaptations of this peculiar family.

In Spain, the musical premiered on 5 October 2017 at Teatro Calderón in Madrid with a top national cast and a staging to match this great family. Since then, they have toured across mainland Spain and have even returned to Madrid before travelling to the Canaries at Christmas 2019 and early 2020.

The Auditorio de Tenerife is putting on a concert by Lina and Raül Refree, two musicians who give fado an electronic touch. On 29 March at 7:30 pm the Sala de Cámara of the Cabildo’s cultural centre will welcome the Portuguese singer and the Barcelona producer, who has worked with artists like Rosalía and Amaia Romero.

Lina and Raül Refree build an intense, moving, very special musical relationship. Raül Refree -one of the most innovative European producers- was impressed by Lina’s voice when he heard her sing at the Club de Fado in Lisbon. Lina -a fado singer with a classical training, two records with Sony Music and an expert in Amália Rodrigues- selected some of the diva’s fado classics and they immediately got down to work in a joint project.

Refree framed Lina’s voice in analogical clouds with brilliant arrangements and a completely novel approach, that is, adding an electronic touch to fado, which underlines its universal scope. The result can be enjoyed at the Auditorio de Tenerife next March, with Refree at the acoustic piano plus Lina’s voice in addition to their synthesizers.

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

The Auditorio de Tenerife presents Pan-Hispanic Creative Music, a new chamber music series. It includes three concerts - Camerística, Pianísimo and Lírica, to take place at the Sala de Cámara of this Cabildo de Tenerife cultural centre. The programme focuses on Spanish-speaking composers from different countries and from the 19th century to the present, including Canarian authors. The artists who have been invited to play this unusual repertoire are cellist Ángel García Jermann, soprano Rosina Herrera and the pianists Jesús Gómez Madrigal, Javier Laso and Nauzet Mederos.

The first concert, Camerística, is taking place at 7:30 pm on 25 January and it features  García Jermann and Gómez Madrigal who will play compositions by Reynaldo Hahn (1874, Caracas-1947, Paris), Manuel Bonnin (1898-1993, Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and Alberto Ginastera (1916, Buenos Aires-1983, Geneva).

Pianísimo, the second concert, is on at 12:00 noon on 6 February. Pianist Javier Laso will perform works by Federico Mompou (1893-1987, Barcelona), Frédéric Chopin (1810, Poland-1849, Paris), Manuel de Falla (1876, Cádiz- 1946, Argentina), Alberto Ginastera (1916, Buenos Aires-1983, Geneva) and Teobaldo Power (1848, Santa Cruz de Tenerife-1884, Madrid).

The last concert of this new chamber music series, Lírica, is on 14 March. It starts at 7:30 pm and includes the voice of Rosina Herrera along with pianist Nauzet Mederos, who will be performing scores by Ernesto Halffter (1905-1989, Madrid), Antón G. Abril (1933, Teruel), Blanca Báez (1920, Canary Islands), Luis Cobiella (1925-2013, La Palma), Isaac Albéniz (1860, Spain-1909, France), Lothar Siemens (1941-2017, Gran Canaria), Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000, Argentina) and Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959, Rio de Janeiro).

Auditorio de Tenerife and Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Música (Atadem) [Tenerife Friends of Music Association] present this new series with the aim of spreading unusual music on the Island. This idea led to the setting up of Pan-Hispanic Creative, coordinated by Conrado Álvarez and with Rosario Álvarez as artistic director. Ms. Álvarez explained that they will approach “music by Canarian composers and Latin American music, as very little of their huge piano, singing or chamber repertoires is known here. In this continent, after the different Independence movements of its territories, composers developed a language exclusive to their particular region”.

“We’ll show the audience some of this fresh, colourful creations. We are aware of this rich heritage and compare it with some of our own compositions, which are the result of the thoughts and work of both past and present authors. They have helped to develop native musical creation, which has led to our achieving a relevant national position”, Rosario Álvarez revealed.

Tickets for the three concerts can be purchased at Auditorio de Tenerife’s box office from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm Monday to Saturday except holidays; via www.auditoriodetenerife.com or by phone on 902 317 327.

Christmas Oratorio is Sinfónica de Tenerife’s sixth concert in the 2019-2020 season, which is taking place at 7:30 pm on Friday, the 20th in Auditorio de Tenerife, under the baton of its principal conductor Antonio Méndez. Part of the same programme will be played at La Laguna Cathedral on Thursday the 19th at 8:00 pm, as it is included in the events of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of San Cristóbal de La Laguna Diocese.

For their new concert -this is the first time this work is included in their repertoire- the Sinfónica de Tenerife appeals to recollection, reflection and joy, as suggested by Johann Sebastian Bach in the score of his Christmas Oratorio BWV 248. The soloists are soprano Marta Bauzà, contralto Mireia Pintó, tenor Juan Antonio Sanabria and baritone Fernando Campero, along with choirmaster Xavier Puig, who will conduct Palau de la Música Catalana’s Cor de Cambra.

The first part of the programme includes Cantata I: Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage and Cantata II: Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend. The second part comprises Cantata III: Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen and Cantata VI: Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben.

The Christmas Oratorio is a religious composition written in 1734 and is socially, culturally and religiously significant in Europe, especially in Germany -Bach’s native country- where it is recurrently performed at this time of the year. The work shows technique, resources and creativity providing a wide musical display that has been a source of inspiration for later composers.

Bach created a work divided in six parts to cover the liturgy of Christmas, the New Year and the Epiphany. The global result comes from the unity of action contained in the text, the presence of recitatives taken from the Scriptures and a stressed personification, with the performance of real drama roles.

This oratorio was composed using a common technique at the time known as parody or self-borrowing, in which at least 13 of the 64 numbers are from previous cantatas by Bach for different events, both liturgical and secular.

Rejoice, sing happily and celebrate these wonderful days is the title of the first part, that starts with an energetic choir that appeals to joy and hope. The music of this first choir was originally for the birthday of the Princess of Saxony (BWV 214,1). This explains its natural joy, combined with the solemnity of trumpets and timpani.  The ternary beat contributes to convey the expression of joy and celebration in the musical rhetoric.

Meant for Christmas Day, the second cantata starts with a symphony, a genre that designated the overture before dramatic or vocal works. One of its noteworthy features is its rhythm, characteristic of pastoral and rural music, reinforced by the tonality of G major in a musical dialogue between angels, represented by strings and flutes, and shepherds, depicted in the sound of four oboes.

The third part is a cantata that recovers the festive atmosphere of the beginning as the first cycle of Christmas celebrations come to an end, both in terms of time and liturgy and in terms of music. This fragment contains one of the few passages purposefully composed for this work: an aria where the contralto, violin and continuo delicately reflect on a prayer that invites to recollection.

The concert concludes with the sixth cantata, about the Epiphany. This is an epilogue to Christmas celebrations that deals with the Magi and brings back the happiness and rejoicing of the first and third cantatas.

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

The Auditorio de Tenerife welcomes at 8:00 pm on Sunday, the 22^nd the Spirit of New Orleans Gospel Choir. This gospel concert by the US group will perform the best songs in their repertoire including Hallelujah, Oh Happy Day, Glory, Glory and Stand By Me at the Sala Sinfónica of the Cabildo’s venue.

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 and on Sunday two hours before the show starts; or via www.auditoriodetenerife.com  or calling 902 317 327.

The Spirit of New Orleans Gospel Choir is a larger version that the Joyful Gospel Singers (JGS) have set up for their 2019 European tour. The historical essence of the city -the 9th Ward- is where the members of JGS were born physically and professionally. That’s why wherever they go they bring with them the music of their city, their second line rhythm, their funky pulse, their R&B sound, everything that defines gospel from the Joyful and New Orleans, Louisiana.

They started their career in the mid-1990s. Their first CD, Take Me, Use Me, was recorded in 1995 with New Orleans emblematic label Rampart Street Music, which also produced their latest release to date, 9th Ward Revival, songs shrouded in nostalgia that are dedicated to the world before Katrina.

The list of great artists JGS has worked with is endless and it includes some of the greatest like Yolanda Adams, Thelma Houston, Bryan Adams, Earth Wind & Fire, Kirk Franklin, New Orleans blues diva Marva Wright and the German pop band PUR.

They usually feature at gigs in Germany, Italy and Spain. They have sung at the Monterrey Jazz Festival and are a classic at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. This Little Light of Mine, Down by The Riverside, Amazing Grace and The Old Rugged Cross are some other songs they sing in their concerts.

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.