International Music and Dance Festival

International Music and Dance Festival

Granada, from June 24 to July 12, 2011

International Festival of Music and Dance is a living instrument of cultural activities, educational, tourism and socio-economic, whose common denominator is emotion.

This year, the Festival wants to celebrate the Millennium of the Foundation of the Kingdom of Granada, which will take place in 2013, recalling and projecting the culture of Granada in the most important monuments of the city as the Alhambra and the Generalife.
But the program also makes referrals to other events:

• The premiere of the opera “Ainadamar”, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the death of Federico García Lorca.
• The staging of the eighteenth century opera “Solimano” on a release.
• The premieres of “Negro-Goya” by the National Ballet of Spain and of "Federico según Lorca" by Eva Yerbabuena Ballet Flamenco.
• The release of five piano pieces included in the recitals devoted to Franz Liszt as part of the international MusMA (Music Masters on Air).
• The cycle of activities in memory of the polyphonist Tomás Luis de Victoria (1568-1611).
• The Ballet and Orquestra del Teatro Stanislavsky de Moscú  under the Spain-Russia Dual Year 2011.
• Víctor Ullate participation in the Festival.
• The show mixing of the group Accademia del Piacere and the singer Arcángel.
• The shows of Estrella Morente and Rocío Molina with flamenco and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
• The music of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) in charge of  Forma Antiqva.
• Concerts by the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada in the theatre of the Generalife.
• Concerts in the Palace of Carlos V by the Orquestra of la Comunitat Valenciana y Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana with Zubin Mehta, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Choir &Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Berlin with Daniel Barenboim, qwho concludes the cycle dedicated to the integral of the symphonies A. Bruckner, a landmark of symphonic music in Andalusia and Spain.
• The KotorArt Trío.
• The International Courses of Manuel de Falla (interpretation and vocal music and historical research, photography, contemporary composition and performance, master classes in dance, creative and social scene, musical analysis).
• THe Festival extension, Fex.
• The shows aimed at younger people.

The 2011 edition also wants to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Santander International Festival, with whom shared part of the program. In short, a very attractive, plural, active and current program.

Beginnings

The Festival has its origins in the symphony concerts since 1883 were held at the Carlos V Palace in the activities organized to mark the celebrations of the feast of Corpus Christi. It was an opportunity to meet and enjoy live music.

The celebration of the Cante Jondo Competition, organized by Federico Garcia Lorca, Manuel de Falla and other intellectuals and artists of the moment as Andres Segovia, Fernando de los Rios, Zuloaga, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, Turina or Rusiñol, in 1922, was great significance and impact.

The first festival emerged in 1952 with the name "First Festival of Spanish Music and Dance", organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Information and Tourism of Spain.

The following year assumed its current name, celebrating the II International Festival of Music and Dance in Granada, opening the theater of the Generalife cypress gardens, built to host the Spanish dance and ballet festival.

The International Festival of Music and Dance is one of the most important cultural events and attractions of Granada, being held in settings as unique as the palaces of the Alhambra and the most emblematic monuments of the city and with the presence of the great interpreters the time, along with innovative young artist’s bets, future teachers of the future.

Sample above, remember that have visited the festival Artur Rubinstein, Victoria de los Angeles, or Andres Segovia in the most beautiful Arabian gardens of the Alhambra, Carl Schuricht, Herbert von Karajan and Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Palacio de Carlos V, and Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dancing in the gardens of the Generalife, to name some prominent examples ... but can also boast of having hosted the Festival early figures such as Teresa Berganza, Lorin Maazel, Martha Argerich, Antonio el Bailador, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jessye Norman, Montserrat Caballé and Joaquin Achucarro, among others.

The Festival today

The Festival is divided into three basic core activities:

• The festival, which takes place in the Alhambra and other monumental places of the city traditionally based on classical music, opera, ballet and Spanish dance, flamenco and interesting forays into ancient and contemporary music.
• The Manuel de Falla International Courses.
• The FEX or extension of concerts, shows and other free activities in the city and municipalities of the province, and that container is a flexible and versatile of all kinds of cultural events.

Granada Festival is chaired by Her Majesty the Queen of Spain and now has the institutional participation of the Ministry of Culture, Government of Andalusia, the City of Granada, the Diputación de Granada, Granada University and the Board the Alhambra and Generalife and with the help of many sponsors and partners.

 Granada becomes the universal Capital of Music and Dance.

Come to the festival, Come to Granada.