The Tenerife International Film Music Festival (Fimucité), which runs until next weekend and is sponsored by Cabildo de Tenerife, the Government of the Canary Islands, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife Town Council offers, in its final stages, three great symphonic concerts at Auditorio de Tenerife. The details regarding the closing events of the festival were revealed at a press conference by the councillor for Culture of the Cabildo, Concepción Rivero; the councillor for Culture of Santa Cruz City Council, Matilde Zambudio; Fimucité director, Diego Navarro; composers Christopher Young and Harry Manfredini, plus conductor Christian Schumann.

In Concepción Rivero’s opinion “it’s an honour for Tenerife to enjoy exceptional artists like those brought by Fimucité”. “This project should not just have a leading role in Tenerife but in the whole of the Canaries”, she stated. The councillor for Santa Cruz, Matilde Zambudio, said that “after 13 years running Fimucité has little to prove” and she praised its creativity as “every year it brings to the island the best composers in the world, serving as an example to our young people”.

Diego Navarro was happy about the success of the first festival concerts which, for the second year in a row, is travelling to Gran Canaria. The conductor and composer said that at Fimucité “we must cling on to our community, make them share in the festival; that’s why some of our activities are implemented from an educational and social perspective”.

Christopher Young, one of the great horror soundtrack composers in Hollywood, said he felt “incredibly blessed to be back in Tenerife and on top it, get Fimucité’s Antón García Abril honorary award that celebrates music made to frighten, something unthinkable in Los Angeles”.

For his part, Harry Manfredini explained that “it’s very gratifying to share with the audience our music being played live”. “This is my first time in Tenerife and I’m amazed at the landscapes and the wonderful people I’m meeting”, the composer added.

Finally, Christian Schumann, who was at Fimucité conducting Space Opera in 2016, said he was grateful for being on the island and stated that “there are very few places in the world that hold festivals with guests like these”. The conductor thanked “all those who help fund Fimucité” and promised the audience “to get goose bumps for two hours”.

All the guests taking part in the 13th Fimucité are already on the island. Apart from Young, Manfredini, and Schumann, composers Randy Edelman, Osvaldo Montes and Matthijs Kieboom, in addition to Vince DiCola among other professionals of the film music industry are taking part in the festival this year both in concerts and in the parallel activities.

At 8:00 pm tomorrow, [Thursday, the 26th] the concert Randy Edelman: A Close Relationship is taking place at Teatro Guimerá featuring the author himself, one of the most renowned Hollywood composers at present and author of the soundtracks of Dragonheart, The Last of the Mohicans, Kindergarten Cop, and TV series like McGyver. Edelman will go over his musical career in a touching, intimate concert where he’ll be accompanied by a string septet.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Auditorio de Tenerife will host three concerts that have generated great expectation among film music fans both on the islands and worldwide.

The leitmotiv of the number 13 Fimucité is the music written for horror films. Disturbing, atmospheric, frightening, alarming, dramatic… the best classic scores of the genre will be played at Auditorio de Tenerife on Friday and Saturday.

So, the concert Mis terrores favoritos [My favourite fears] is being held at 8:00 pm on Friday, the 27th, a tour of the best horror film music. The selection of soundtracks includes seven world premieres led by the German orchestra conductor Christian Schumann with Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Tenerife Film Choir directed by Juan Ramón Vinagre and the Coro Polifónico de la Universidad de La Laguna. The repertoire includes pieces penned by some of the festival guests like Harry Manfredini, author of the iconic soundtrack for Friday the 13th, or Christopher Young, who composed the music for films like Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Drag me to Hell, will also receive the Fimucité - Antón García Abril honorary award.

This concert opens with the award-giving ceremony of the II Premios de la Música para el Audiovisual Español [2nd Spanish Film Music Awards] granted by Asociación de Compositores de Música para Audiovisual (Musimagen). The winning scores in different sections will be announced during the event, which includes a suite played with a selection of the three soundtracks by the candidates to the award for “Best Orchestral Score”: La gran aventura de los Lunnis y el Libro mágico, by Vanessa Garde; The photographer of Mauthausen, by Diego Navarro, and El Reino, by Juan Bardem.

On the other hand, on Saturday, Fimucité is bringing back to life Bram Stoker’s Drácula (1992), in a spectacular live-to-picture concert devoted to Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece and its unique soundtrack by Polish composer Wojciech Kilar, who passed away in 2013. In recognition of his career devoted to composing classical and film music, and of his work that includes major scores like the music for Roman Polanski’s The Pianist (2002) -César Award for best music for film-, the Festival will be posthumously recognising the composer with the Fimucité - Antón García Abril Award.

Fimucité, in coproduction with Krakow FMF and the collaboration of Sony Pictures and Robert Townson Productions, has created this project, which consists of the film being screened while Diego Navarro conducts the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (OST) and Tenerife Film Choir, playing the soundtrack in synchrony with the images. This is the second time a show of this kind is put on in the Canary Islands. The first time was last year at Fimucité, when the science fiction classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind was screened while the music was played live.

The finishing touch for this 13th Fimucité comes on Sunday, the 29th in the shape of the concert “Champions of the Silver Screen”. For the first time, the traditional concert by the FIMUCITÉ Symphony Youth Orchestra, whose members are students of the Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias, to be held in Auditorio de Tenerife. Conducted by José Antonio Cubas, they will be playing a popular repertoire of music for sports films including the best soundtracks of the genre. The concert features five world premieres plus the presence on stage of composer and conductor Randy Edelman, who will lead the interpretation of his music for Dragon, the Bruce Lee Story, Angels and the NBC sports signature tune. For his part, Vince DiCola will perform his music for Rocky IV, including the song Hearts of fire, to be sung by soloist Marc Quee.

During the closing ceremony of the Festival, the winners will be announced and given their awards under the official competition section Fimucinema. Espacio La Granja, located in Casa de la Cultura in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is hosting until Friday, the 27th the screening of six documentaries, six feature films and 25 short films.

Under their educational section, Tenerife International Film Music Festival includes attractive morning concerts aimed at school children. These are taking place tomorrow, Thursday, the 26th and on Friday, the 27th at the Auditorio Antonio Lecuona in the Conservatorio de Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Thanks to the collaboration of Asociación Canaria del Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo (Apanate), students of Aulas Enclave, at different schools in Tenerife, with Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo (TEA) [Autism Spectrum Disorders] will also be attending these concerts.

On the other hand, Fimucité is also offering two activities with Auditorio de Tenerife’s “Escuela del Espectador”. The first one is taking place today, Wednesday the 25th at 6:00 pm under the motto “Mis Terrores favoritos” [My favourite fears]. Chaired by the film music expert Dan Goldwasser, it includes the presence of Christopher Young and Harry Manfredini. The second event takes places on Thursday, the 26th again at 6:00 pm. It focuses on “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, and it is also chaired by Dan Goldwasser with the participation of Diego Navarro and the record producer Robert Townson.

Fimucité 13, directed by the composer and conductor Diego Navarro, is sponsored by Cabildo de Tenerife, the Government of the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, Audi Canarias, Teleférico del Teide, and the collaboration of Fundación SGAE, among other entities.