The International Music Festival of the Canary Islands (FIMC) reaches its thirty-fourth edition and returns to the stages of Lanzarote and La Graciosa in the months of January and February 2018. There will be six concerts held on both islands, with five different artists and groups, including the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Nordic Voices, Ensemble Praeteritum and the Klengel Quartet. The details of the program were presented today at a press conference held at the Cabildo of Lanzarote, which was attended by the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, Isaac Castellano; the new director of the FIMC Jorge Perdigón; and the Minister of Culture of the Island Corporation, Óscar Pérez.
The first to speak was Isaac Castellano, who stated that "from the Government and the organization of the FIMC we try to raise the level of the groups and artists that tour the islands every year, who, in addition to the enjoyment of the population, will be able to perform in unique spaces of Lanzarote and La Graciosa." "For a little over a month," continued the Minister, "we will move more than half a thousand musicians between the islands, in a certainly laborious operation due to the number of people, instruments, etc., but I trust that it can be developed normally thanks to the experience of a consolidated festival like ours and accustomed to overcoming the difficulties that the island factor brings, all this, of course, thanks to the extraordinary collaboration of the seven island councils."
For his part, Óscar Pérez wanted to encourage the entire population to attend the concerts "and enjoy a special experience, which should not be feared by those who do not know classical music well enough, since it is undoubtedly a great opportunity to have a first contact for non-experts, and a real enjoyment for music lovers."
Likewise, the Minister informed that for the concert of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, the Cabildo of Lanzarote has enabled a free bus service for all those who buy their tickets and request it in advance. All the details can be found in the file of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra concert.
Jorge Perdigón concluded by stating that, although he has only joined 6 weeks ago and found the program already designed, "it is a very interesting and balanced program and that will surely give us brilliant moments for the history of the FIMC."
The program in Lanzarote and La Graciosa
Traditional music and experimentation come together in an extraordinary way in the restless Norwegian formation Nordic Voices, an a cappella vocal group composed of six of the best voices in Northern Europe that will address, with its full range of vocal sounds, a program that intersperses ancient compositions from Northern Europe and contemporary pieces. With them, Lanzarote will welcome the 34th edition of the International Music Festival of the Canary Islands on January 11 at the Convent of Santo Domingo, in Teguise (8:30 p.m.).
Nordic Voices will perform a program entitled Everything's gonna be alright, which includes works from the 16th century (Gabrieli, Marenzio) and current compositions by Scandinavian musicians, including Frank Havroy, baritone of the formation. The group dominates microtonality, that is, the use of musical intervals smaller than a semitone; and also diphonic singing, in which the same singer produces two notes simultaneously, a technique widely used in Central Asia (mainly in Mongolia), but also in Scandinavia.
Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, with pianist Alexei Volodin
The Tenerife Symphony Orchestra will star in another of the great moments of the festival in Lanzarote, under the direction of Guillermo García Calvo and with the stellar participation of the Russian pianist Alexei Volodin, acclaimed for his sensitivity and technical brilliance. It will be in the second concert scheduled on this island, which will take place in the emblematic space of Los Jameos del Agua, in Haría, on Sunday, January 21, at 8:00 p.m.
The program includes the Overture of Russlan and Ludmila, by the father of modern Russian music, Mikhail Glinka, an opera in five acts based on the homonymous poem by Alexander Pushkin. Then they will perform the famous Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra op 18 in C minor by Sergei Rachmaninov. It will continue with the Fanfare for a common man by Aaron Copland. The golden touch will be starred by the Symphonic Dances (West Side Story) by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990).
Four days later, on Thursday, January 25, a concert by Ensemble Praeteritum will be offered, an instrumental ensemble created by violinist Pablo Suárez Calero in 2011, at the Municipal Theater of San Bartolomé, at 8:30 p.m. Formed by several of the best musicians in the country, they present a program dedicated to the clarinet, with Eduardo Raimundo as soloist of the quintets for clarinet and strings by Mozart and Von Weber.
Vienna Chamber Orchestra, with pianist Iván Martín
One of the most prestigious formations in Austria, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, also joins this edition, which will perform on January 31, at 8:30 p.m., at the Teatro Salinero, with Dalibor Karvay at the helm, as director and soloist. Bach stars in part of the program, with the Sonata for solo violin No. 1 and the Concerto for Piano No. 1, which will feature Iván Martín, one of the best Canarian pianists as soloist. In addition, they will perform Nielsen (Small Suite for strings) and the Baltic composer P. Vasks (Concerto for violin 'Distan Light').
They have chosen for their participation in this festival a repertoire that includes the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by J. S. Bach; Small Suite for strings by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen, a contemporary of Mahler, who left an interesting cycle of six Symphonies that constitute juicy contributions to the genre, due to its very defined and distinct personality. And they will close their performance by interpreting an interesting work by the Latvian composer and double bass player Peteris Vasks.
Closing with the Kenglel Quartet in Lanzarote and La Graciosa
The closing concert of the festival on this island, with free access for the public, will be on February 1 at the Church of San Roque, in Tinajo, by the Klengel Quartet, composed of four cellists from the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, specifically by the Polish Jacek Lubliniecki, the Gran Canarian Carlos Rivero, the also Polish Dariusz Rafal Wasiota and the Hungarian Piroska Doughty.
In this concert, which will begin at 8:30 p.m., they will perform works by J. S. Bach, F. Couperin, G. Setaccioli, J. Brahms, P. Tchaikovsky, C. Gardel, A. Gil, J. Strauss, S. Joplin and of course by Julius Klengel, German composer and cellist from whom they take their name.
The next day, February 2, the quartet will travel to La Graciosa to offer a concert in the Church of Virgen del Carmen, in Caleta de Sebo, at 8:30 p.m. In this case, the audition will also be free access for the public.