Arcángel and Dorantes champion
the presentation of Seville’s 2008 Bienal de Flamenco
in Madrid
The festival announces that Enrique Morente
will close the fifteenth edition
S.C./ Flamenco-world.com, June 19th, 2008
All
about Bienal de Sevilla 2008: program, tickets, news
Three months before Manolo Sanlúcar
is to open the event at the emblematic Plaza de San Francisco,
Seville’s Bienal de Flamenco officially presents
its fifteenth edition at the Teatro María Guerrero
in Madrid. The ceremony was championed by cantaor Arcángel
- who will premiere the show ‘De dónde venimos,
a dónde vamos’, already completely sold out
- and pianist Dorantes,
with a condensed recital. The festival took advantage
of the occasion to announce that in the closing gala “Enrique
Morente will be a special star”.
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Arcángel
(Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Madrid’s Teatro María Guerrero,
headquarters of the Centro Dramático Nacional (National
Drama Center), opened its luxurious doors to flamenco.
There, before the politicians and entities involved in
its organization, the fifteenth edition of Seville’s
Bienal de Flamenco was officially presented. Following
the speeches, live art came in by the hand of Arcángel
and Dorantes. They had little time, but they synthesized
their proposals in a carefully selected bunch of cantes
by the former - accompanied on toque by José
Quevedo ‘Bolita’- and piano scores by
the latter. A juicy appetizer of what is scheduled to
be offered from September 10th to October 11th by the
‘macrofestival’ which is, after a quarter
of a century of existence, one of the most important showcases
of live art on Spain’s cultural scene.
Not in vain, the leader of the ceremony,
presenter Teo Sánchez from Radio Nacional de España
- a national network, which, by the way, will re-broadcast
the concerts -, dared to compare it in his comical speech
with famous biennials such as Venice’s or Berlin’s.
He wasn’t very far off track then, as Bienal de
Sevilla’s director Domingo González recalled,
“for a month, all the stages of a city are opened
exclusively for flamenco”. In total, over fifty
shows will be performed, nearly half of which are premieres.
And to enjoy them, the organization calculates that some
six thousand visitors from all over the world will attend.
The director highlighted the inaugural
gala on September 10th, a show directed by Isidro Sanlúcar
which will star both the life and work of Manolo
Sanlúcar. And as a lure, it will have an outdoor
stage at Plaza de San Francisco as its setting, which
will make it possible to see unique scenes such as the
special collaboration of “Cristina Hoyos dancing
with La Giralda in the background”. He also emphasized
the closing gala on October 11th at the Teatro Maestranza,
which he doesn’t want to reveal a lot about yet,
but he did announce that “Enrique
Morente will be a special star”.
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the image to enlarge |
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| Dorantes
and Arcángel (Photo Daniel Muñoz) |
Of the fifty thousand tickets
on sale, there are already four shows hanging out
the “sold out” sign: ‘Alcántara
Manuel’ by Mayte
Martín; ‘De dónde venimos, a dónde
vamos’ by Arcángel; and the two performances
of ‘Carmen’ by Sara
Baras. But there are still dozens of options with
tickets available to sample flamenco in Seville throughout
a bill whose priority is “the diversity of the offer,
which favors creation and respect for the maestros”.
José Mercé, María Pagés, Diego
Carrasco, Isabel Bayón, Son de la Frontera, Rafaela
Carrasco, Juan de Juan, La Macanita, Estrella
Morente & Dulce Pontes, Cañizares... are
just some of the artists to attend the event, the most
relevant one on the flamenco circuit. One month of live
music and dance, with a daring poster by photographer
Ruvén Afanador, for which González made
a wish: “For everything to come about with rhythm
and harmony”.
