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The event is part of the amateur performing arts programme of the Auditorio de Tenerife

 

Tomorrow (Friday 22nd), the Amateur Theatre programme of the Auditorio de Tenerife programmes the play Cuando Alicia llegue (When Alicia Arrives), by the theatre association Puro Teatro, directed by Goyo Bonilla. The performance starts at 8.00 p.m. in the Civic Centre of Bajamar, municipality of La Laguna. Recommended for an adult audience, entry to the work is free until full capacity is reached.

The plot of this play focuses on Ninoska, the owner of a cabaret acquired in circumstances that, for international security reasons, must not be revealed. She allows strange and extravagant characters into her show who recount their experiences inside and outside the cabaret. Although the Russian lady, as her employees call her, complains about the lack of professionalism of her artists, in reality, she is delighted because they fill her venue for a meagre salary. Cuando Alicia llegue (When Alicia arrives) is what can be read on the entrance sign although nobody knows the origin of this name.

The cast that brings this cabaret comedy to life is made up of members of the theatre association Puro Teatro: Lidia Dorta, Salomé Torres, María de Viana, Estrella Carmenati, Begoña Pagarza, Jesús Patrón, Glenda Suárez, Julio Sigut, Nuria Neida, Lucas Hehe, José Luis Alayón and Piluca Prada.

The programme Teatro Aficionado (Amateur Theatre) is an initiative that is included in the Educational and Social Area of the Auditorio de Tenerife. This programme encourages interest in the hobby of theatre and the production of theatrical plays by the existing associations in Tenerife. It aims to stimulate matters such as communication, the exchange of ideas, and creativity amongst members who, in turn, belong to youth collectives, cultural collectives, women's collectives, and neighbourhood groups, among others.

Its main objectives are to promote a liking for theatre among different social and cultural groups, to promote the general public's attendance to, and love of theatrical plays; likewise, to contribute to enriching the technical/artistic quality of amateur theatre groups and to create different work groups (directors, actors, costume designers, seamstresses, playwrights, scriptwriters, etc.).

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Five companies will perform at one side of the building, close to the cafeteria, at 7:00 p.m.

 

The Auditorio de Tenerife is offering an afternoon of circus and outdoor dance this Saturday (23rd) as part of the Arts and Movement Festival FAM. Five companies will perform at one side of the building, close to the cafeteria, at 7:00 p.m. With regard to the dance shows, LaCerda will present El baile de la Zurda, while La Guajira will stage Minguantes. As for the circus, Zen del Sur will bring its Eclipse with live music; Marta Nistal with Guanire Circo will perform Caminos; and the Chilean Bastian von Marttens will offer the circus and dance piece Bastian solo.

This creation with four dancers by the Catalan company LaCerda proposes taking a closer look at the vital impulse that moves each body that dances to the rhythm of music by investigating the nature of dance as movement, but also as a festive meeting place and the paradigm of community. Through this study, Edward Tamayo, choreographer and director of the piece, has created a system of choreographic composition in a loop, which he calls mantras, focused on the relationship of the feet with the pelvis, on space, rhythm, and the group, and it is inspired by the dance marathons and musical rhythms of Latin America.

Minguantes is a piece that delves into the temporal universe of two individuals who are gradually ageing. From a minimalist and futuristic perspective, the body is presented as an irreplaceable engine, gears with an expiry date, errors in the operating system, the eternal debate between will and ability, and in them the firm desire to continue. The least they could do is stop to contemplate the world, what they want most is to keep going. Armando Martén and Ana Beatriz Pérez are two performers who have spent over 20 years in A Coruña, and  over 30 devoted to dance, the foundation and core of their lives.

This Eclipse by the Andalusian company Zen del Sur is a phenomenon that occurs when two stars from dance, music, and the circus align on stage. It is a creation in several pieces that blends acro dance with classical guitar, the Cyr wheel with contemporary dance, flamenco dance with percussion and piano. With the versatile Carlos López as a dancer and acrobat and the performer Noemí Pareja on guitar and on percussion, Eclipse is an example of rhythm and emotions on stage.

The acrobat Marta Nistal from Lanzarote is coming to FAM with the show Caminos. Are all the paths (caminos) already marked out, or do we create them as we walk? Do we freely choose the paths that we take, or are these decisions determined by a set of innate characteristics, constraints, and experiences that are not chosen? To answer these and other questions, Nistal marks out paths on her static trapeze in order to find her truth, her personal and authentic way of exploring them in order to get from the core to her favourite destination: the soul of the audience.

In his show Bastian solo, the young Chilean juggler Bastian von Marttens wonders if free will and freedom exist and “if we are truly free or if we simply react to situations in life and existence.” How far does our freedom go? Through the connection between juggling, dance, music, and the audience, Bastian solo seeks to shed light on these eternal questions that accompany humans.  Bastian von Marttens was born 27 years ago in Chile, and 10 years ago he fell in love with juggling.

The rest of the FAM 23 programme, which has the collaboration of the Dance on Stage and Acieloabierto Circuit of the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, is available at www.famtenerife.com.

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The concert takes place within the framework of the Tenerife Viola Masterclass and includes a free talk before the concert.

 

This Thursday [21st], the Auditorio de Tenerife welcomes the concert of the Viola bouquet, in the framework of the Tenerife Viola Masterclass. The event takes place at 7:30 p.m., in the Chamber Hall, although there will be a talk before starting at 6.30 p.m. in the adjoining room. The tickets are on sale at a single price of €15, with discounts available.

It is a repertoire for the viola d'amore, string quartet and harpsichord/organ with works by Antonio Vivaldi, Marin Marais, Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Zorn and Garth Knox.

The performers of this concert are international artists linked to the Tenerife Viola Masterclass. Garth Knox, who studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Fredrick Riddle, will play the viola d'amore. In 1983 he was also invited by Pierre Boulez to join the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris and was a member of the Arditti Quartet.

The violinist Geneviève Laurenceau won the First Prize at the Novossibirsk International Competition and the Grand Prize at the Maurice Ravel Academy in Saint-Jean-de-Luz; she has taught at the Philippe Jaroussky Academy of Music.

The violinist David Ballesteros was born in Tenerife and studied violin with Óscar Hernández, Franco Gulli and Joseph Guingold. He then continued his studies of Chamber Music with Bernad Greenhouse and of Orchestra conducting with Karl Roskott. He is co-leader of the bandArt Chamber Orchestra and a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Macarena Pesutic, viola player, is the artistic director of Tenerife Viola Masterclass. She has won the RWE Competition in Leipzig (Germany) and the Music Teachers National Association Competition (USA). She has been teaching at the Higher Music Conservatory of the Canary Islands since 2005.

Agnes Vesterman, on cello, studied at Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris and in New York with Harvey Shapiro. She joined the Quatuor Arpeggione and in 2006 formed a duo with Garth Knox. She teaches at the Paris Conservatoire and the Conservatoire of Boulogne-Billancourt.

Sara Johnson, who will play harpsichord and organ depending on the programme, has participated in festivals such as the Trigonale (Austria), the Contemporary Music Festival of Cologne ON and the Pyrenees Early Music Festival. She has been a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra.

The concert begins with Vivaldi's Concerto for viola d'amore, string quartet and continuo in D major RV 392. The composer himself introduced this instrument at the Pietà, an institution where he taught. The programme will continue with Les folies d'Espagne, published in 1701 by Marin Marais, one of the leading figures of the French viola da gamba school.

The following work, Stranger for viola and viola d'amore by Garth Knox, commissioned by and dedicated to Melia Watras, is inspired by an old Irish tune composed by the Irish harpist Turlough O'Carolan (1670 - 1738). Schubert's Trio for strings in B flat major D. 471 will close the first part of the concert.

After a short intermission, Trois Petites Entropies, part of a collection commissioned from Garth Knox by Radio France, will be played, followed by the Duo for violin and viola in B flat major KV 424 composed by Mozart in 1783. The next work is by John Zorn, an American composer and saxophonist who began his career in the New York jazz avant-garde in the early 1980s, and this version of Amhiel from The Book of Angels is an arrangement by Garth Knox for viola d'amore and a string quartet. Finally, Knox's Passacaille for viola d'amore, organ and string quartet will be performed, in which the composer uses natural harmonics as the main resource.

Juana María Bolaños Polegre, a graduate of the Musicology Department of the Higher Music Conservatory of the Canaries, will give a preliminary talk in the Sala Avenida. The programme notes, which can be consulted on the Auditorio's website, are signed by Marta Álvarez García, lecturer in the same department.

The tickets are available on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 in the same timetable. Check the special discounts for the audience under 30 years of age, students, unemployed, and large families.

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Violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky is also making his debut as a soloist at the event which includes works by Ravel, Lalo, and Debussy

 

The conductor Paul Daniel makes his debut leading the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife in its new subscription concert of the 2023-24 season which, entitled Rapsodia Española (Spanish Rhapsody), includes works by Ravel, Lalo and Debussy. The violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky is also making his debut as a guest soloist at the event which takes place on Friday, 22 September, at 7:30 p.m. in the Auditorio de Tenerife.

Alborada del gracioso (The Jester's Aubade), written by Maurice Ravel in 1918, is one of the five piano pieces he composed for the Miroirs suite and was inspired by the writer and music critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi. It is the most performed work from the repertoire of the French maestro and is a kind of scherzo that uses good humour and vitality, represented by the pizzicati of the strings or plucked sound of the guitar, to address nostalgia, embodied on this occasion, by the melodies of the bassoon, violas, and cellos.

Then, it will be the turn of the Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra, op. 21 which was written by Édouard Lalo in 1874 and which marked his definitive consecration as a composer with a piece that embodies his attraction to the sounds of Iberian folklore. This work lays bare the author’s passion through the two main themes which are gradually interwoven, a simple martial pattern and a Hispanic melodic profile, both mark the course of the score. The role of the soloist in this work is performed by the violinist Nikito Boriso-Glebsky.

After the interlude, the orchestra will perform Images: II. Ibéria, a piece created in 1908 by Claude Debussy in which he tried to reflect the Hispanic sounds that seduced him so much during his life. In this musical painting, the Frenchman, who barely spent a few hours on Spanish soil, designs a colourful traditional landscape with the bustle he imagined would fill the cities, towns, and roads of the Iberian Peninsula.

Maurice Ravel will once again be heard at the end of the third event of the season of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. It will be with Spanish Rhapsody, also premiered in 1908 although with roots in his work Habanera which he wrote in 1895, aged just twenty. This piece, in which Ravel takes inspiration from the traditional Spanish musical palette, invites listeners to delve into a mysterious and sensual night with continuous appeals to the Flamenco format Malagueña, the Aragonese Jota, and the bucolic sway of the Habanera.

Paul Daniel has been Music Director of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, English National Opera, Opera North, and Opera Factory Musical. He has also served as Principal Conductor of the English Northern Philharmonia.

The British conductor has worked with leading orchestras in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, such as the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Orchestre de Paris, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Leipzig Gewandhaus, among others.

His operatic engagements include performances at La Monnaie in Brussels, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Zurich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Real of Madrid, Metropolitan Opera in Tokyo, and the Bregenz Festival.

Daniel was awarded the Olivier Award in 1998 for his outstanding operatic achievements and in 2000 he was decorated with the Cross of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year's Honour.

The Belgian-Russian violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky has earned different distinctions throughout his music career such as a silver medal and five special prizes in the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2007; winner at the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and winner at the International Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna, both in 2010.

His recent commitments notably include his residency at the Wiener Konzerthaus, presenting a season of chamber music in a trio with Narek Hakhnazaryan and Georgy Tchaidze, and his debut with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Wiener Kammerorchester at the Grosse-Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus and at Carnegie Hall in New York.

ATADEM, the Tenerife Association for Friends of Music, continues with the free talks beforehand for members and the general public. On this occasion, Lourdes Bonnet Fernández-Trujillo will contextualise the works that will be performed at this new event of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. The event takes place in the Sala Avenida, located in the hall of the Auditorio de Tenerife, starting at 6:30 p.m.

The tickets for this new concert can be purchased until the day of the event on the website www.sinfonicadetenerife.es, at the auditorium's box office and by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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The enrolment process, which is open to anyone from the age of seven, ends on the 24th of September.

 

The Theatre Schools of Tenerife will be developed in nine municipalities during the current school year 2023-2024, which begins in the first week of October. The enrolment period for this programme of the Auditorio de Tenerife is open until the 24th of September. The municipalities participating this year are Candelaria, El Rosario, El Sauzal, Fasnia, Guía de Isora, La Laguna, La Orotava, Tacoronte, and Tegueste.

To register in one of the theatre schools it is not necessary to have any prior knowledge or special skills and it can be done through the website: https://auditoriodetenerife.com/en/learning-and-social-programme/theatre-schools.

For this school year, there are four offers according to the student's ages: Groups A (from 7 to 11 years of age), Group B (from 12 to 14 years of age), Group C (from 15 to 17 years of age) and Group D (over 18 years). The subjects taught, with a fun methodology, are Bodily expression, Oral expression, History of theatre, Stage performance, and practice. All activities will be carried out from Monday to Friday in the afternoon and will begin in the first week of October.

The Theatre Schools of Tenerife (Escuelas de Teatro - ETT), a programme of the Educational and Social Area of the Auditorio de Tenerife, are developed, in collaboration with the municipalities of the island, during the school year and offer theatrical training to children, youth and adults. The aim is to foster a quality artistic hobby and to contribute to the cultural development of the social environment. All teachers have a degree in performing arts from the school of Performing Arts of the Canary Islands (Escuela de Actores de Canarias).

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Yi-Chen Li from Taiwan is conducting a programme that includes Piano Concerto No. 4 by Beethoven, with the Ukrainian Kholodenko as the soloist

 

The Tenerife Symphony Orchestra is tackling its second concert of the season this week, after the good impression left by the opening event. The orchestra, conducted by Yi-Chen Lim, will offer a programme that includes the Symphonic dances by Rachmaninoff, Subito forza by Unsuk Chin and Concerto no.4 for piano and orchestra by Beethoven, where Vadym Kholodenko will make his debut as a guest soloist. This musical evening takes place in the Auditorio de Tenerife this Friday [15th] at 7:30 p.m.

The programme will begin with Subito con forza, a score lasting for barely five minutes that the orchestra is adding to its repertoire. Premiered in 2020, it was created through a commission by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to Unsuk Chin, to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven. This is a piece packed with sonorous resources and contrasts, with great complexity in rhythm and metre, moving from a passionate start to a restful ending, in a clear tribute to the professional career of the genius from Bonn. Then, there will be a performance of Piano and Orchestra Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 by Beethoven. This work – dated to 1806 – perfectly synthesises the transition between the classical and romantic periods. The piece was written during a period of full creative effervescence; and it maintains different classical elements, such as the formal structure, but with a marked emerging romantic character, such as the unexpected changes in tone, dynamic, and rhythm.

After the intermission, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra will perform Symphonic dances, Op. 45 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The last score by the Russian genius was created in 1940; and in the form of an epitaph, it summarises his trajectory as a composer, with a certain air of nostalgia, as it incorporates many of the previous motif elements, without sacrificing new thematic concepts and extensive experimental harmonies.

Yi-Chen Lin, current Kapellmeister and Musical Assistant of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, began her violin, piano, and orchestral conducting studies in Vienna. She made her debut in her current position in the 2020-21 season with the new production Greek by Mark-Anthony Turnage with which she received the backing of international critics. The Taiwanese maestro made her debut with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein Golden Hall in 2009. Subsequent invitations have taken her to different European countries, and she is the guest conductor with different orchestras, such as Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, hr Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Philharmonic of Slovenia, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, Orquestra Gulbenkian of Lisbon and the Symphony Orchestra of the Basque Country.

Vadym Kholodenko was born in Kyiv and aged 6 he began piano studies at the Lysenko State Music Lyceum in his home city, before then continuing at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. In 2010 he obtained First Place in the Sendai International Music Competition, and a year later, in the International Schubert Competition. In 2013 he was awarded the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn Competition. Kholodenko is a regular guest with different orchestras in concert halls around the world, in America (Atlanta, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestras); in Europe (Danish National, London Philharmonic, Milan Verdi Symphony and Spanish National), and in Asia-Oceania (Taiwan National, Sydney Symphony, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony). He has been artist-in-residence with the Fort Worth Symphony (Texas) and the SWR Sinfonieorchester (Stuttgart).

The Tenerife Association for Friends of Music is once again offering a free talk beforehand for members and the general public. Leandro Martín Quinteros will talk about the pieces of this musical event in the Sala Avenida, located in the hall of the Auditorio de Tenerife, starting at 6:30 p.m.

The tickets for this new concert can be purchased until the day of the event on the website www.sinfonicadetenerife.es, at the auditorium's box office and by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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Tuesday's recital marks the premiere of the Pianissimo subscription, which offers a 25% discount for the first four concerts.

 

As part of its Chamber Cycle, the Auditorio de Tenerife is offering on Tuesday (12th) an integral by Franz Schubert performed by the pianist Paul Lewis. This date with the music of the Austrian composer and the interpretation of the English musician opens the sessions dedicated to this instrument, the first four of which are offered this season with a 25% discount through the Pianísimo Subscription.

As for Tuesday's programme, the complete piano sonatas by Schubert take the audience on a unique and heartbreaking journey through the last 12 years of his life. From the charming lyricism of the early sonatas to the transcendent creativity of the last masterpieces, and the harrowing moments of despair when his health began to decline.

With frankness and sincerity, the sonatas by Schubert express some of the most essential elements of human experience: longing, consolation, despair, joy, loss, nostalgia, and hope. In our age, his music remains as essential and moving as ever.

Paul Lewis is a renowned performer of the Central European piano repertoire. His performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert have received unanimous acclaim worldwide. He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his services to music, and his musical approach has earned him followers all over the world.

He has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Philharmonic Orchestras Berlin, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of New York and Los Angeles, the Symphony Orchestras of Chicago and London, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. His close relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led to him being appointed a Koussevitzky Artist 2020 at Tanglewood.

He has received awards such as Instrumentalist of the Year of the Royal Philharmonic Society; two Edison, three Gramophone, Diapason d'Or de l'Annee, the South Bank Show Classical Music Award; honorary degrees from the universities of Liverpool, Edge Hill and Southampton.

He has given performances in the Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully, Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Konzerthaus, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, and Berlin Konzerthaus, and participated in the festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, Schubertiade, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lucerne.

The tickets can be purchased at a single price of €15 on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Check the special discounts for the audience under 30 years of age, students, unemployed, and large families.

The four concerts included in the Pianissimo subscription are: Integral Schubert I (12 September), Integral Schubert II (3 October), both performing Paul Lewis, Resiliencia with Yulianna Avdeeva (14 November) and Bach, Beethoven, Haydn and Alkan with Schaghajegh Nosrati (19 December).

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Víctor Pablo Pérez will conduct the Symphony Orchestra, four soloists and the choirs of the Comunidad de Madrid and the Opera de Tenerife

 

The Island Council celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Auditorio de Tenerife on Saturday, 30 September, with a great concert that evokes the inaugural one in 2003. Victor Pablo Pérez is the musical director of this performance featuring the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra), the Choirs of the Comunidad de Madrid and Ópera de Tenerife and the soloists Krassimira Stoyanova (Bulgarian soprano), Airam Hernández (tenor from Tenerife), Oleysa Petrova (Russian mezzo-soprano) and Alessio Cacciamani (Italian bass).

This concert, which will take place in the Symphony Hall at 7:30 p.m., takes up some of the key points of the first concert that took place in the Auditorio de Tenerife. Víctor Pablo Pérez, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Fanfare (2003) will play the work commissioned for the inauguration from the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, who died in 2020. The centrepiece of the programme is the Requiem Mass by Giuseppe Verdi (1874).

The tickets can be purchased at a single price of €10 on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Check the special discounts for the audience under 30 years of age, students, unemployed, and large families.

The Auditorio de Tenerife is a public company managed by the Island Council that was founded to cope with the activity of the building. It is currently the main production centre for shows in the Canary Islands. This stage space – opened in September 2003 –, with avant-garde architecture and located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, hosts the seasons of the Sinfónica de Tenerife (Tenerife Symphony Orchestra), as well as first-rate music and dance programme. Likewise, it implements its own educational and social department.

The main value of the Auditorio de Tenerife resides in the excellence of its programming and proceedings, innovation on an artistic and technological level, the desire to serve a diverse range of audiences, the creation of new audiences, and a pedagogical and critical vocation. Moreover, it commits to local companies and to the training of performing arts professionals.

The building was opened in 2003. Since then, it has hosted thousands of artistic shows at the highest national and international level. Notable figures have also passed through the facilities of this cultural venue such as several heads of state, politicians, scientists, and winners of the Prince of Asturias awards. It is also the setting for film and advertising shoots, events, and conferences.

This avant-garde work by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava covers 23,000 square metres. It combines the spectacular nature of a unique building enveloped in shiny white. It was created using the trencadís technique (uneven pieces of tile arranged as a mosaic) with a large square and the immense Atlantic Ocean behind it.

Its main auditoriums are the Symphony and Chamber halls, each one with a maximum capacity of 1,616 and 422 seats. Additionally, it offers multipurpose space such as the Castillo, Puerto, and Alisios halls, and communal space such as the square and foyer.

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The matinee programme ˋBetween Germany and France, Toccata and Dance!ˊ will cover works by Bach, Schumann, Vierne, Duruflé and Litaize.

 

Auditorio de Tenerife opens this Sunday (10th) its organ season with the concert Between Germany and France, Toccata and Dance!, performed by the Catalan organist Mar Vaqué. The matinee will begin at 12:00 noon in the Symphonic Hall, whose walls house this unusual instrument, unique in the world in its layout and timbre. These concerts are offered in collaboration with the San Miguel Arcángel Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts (RACBA).

The programme is made up of works by the German and French composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Louis Vierne, Maurice Duruflé, and Gaston Litaize. The combination of the motoric and virtuoso toccatas with the dance-like character of the programme is expected to captivate the listener in a back-and-forth of melodies and energetic sounds.

From the outset, the canons and concert sections of the toccata in F major by Bach immerse us in lively polyphonic dialogues, with rhythmic tensions maintained from start to finish. Schumann, a great admirer of the organ, originally composed these drafts for the pedal piano. The adaptation of these works for the organ enables a richness of sounds and nuances that a piano performance could not offer.

The Clair de Lune by Vierne, the turning point in the programme, is a little nocturnal oasis in which the poetry of the moon overcomes us like sleep and holds us for a few moments away from the vitalist impetus of the other works. Duruflé, dedicating this work to his composition teacher Paul Dukas, brings out in the intimate Sicilienne the delicate nuances of the organ, caressing the listener with its melancholic melodies.

This nostalgic dance gives way to the percussion work by Litaize, the direct heir of Dupré and Vierne. The dancing fugue, a cascade of energy that leads to a tutti on the organ, with its almost jazz-like character manages to achieve great freshness on the organ. The final toccata by Duruflé represents the peak of the virtuosity of this composer, where we appreciate the characteristic freedom to improvise of the French organ school.

At the age of seven, Mar Vaqué (Tarragona, 1994) began studying piano, and in 2011 she delved into the world of organ thanks to the teacher Jordi Vergés and Jonatan Carbó. In 2013 she began her higher organ studies at the Higher School of Music of Catalonia. In 2015, she entered the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart (Germany), where she completed her studies with a Master's in organ and the Kirchenmusik (church music) degree. Vaqué has performed several concerts as a soloist nationally and internationally around Spain, Andorra, France, Germany, Colombia, Italy, and Lithuania. Her 2018 performance at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris stands out. Some of her concerts have been recorded by Spanish National Radio (RNE) and the German Radio SWR Deutschland.

In August 2015 she obtained first place in the IV International Organ Competition to commemorate Joseph Gabler in Ochsenhausen (Germany). In November 2016, she obtained second place ex aequo in the Call for Organ Entries for the 86th Young Musicians of Spain Competition. She is currently an organist, choir director, and teacher of organ, improvisation, and choir conducting in the St. Johann Baptist parish in Munich, activities that she combines with her concert career.

Built in the 20th century by the prestigious organ builder Albert Blancafort and his team, the Auditorium's organ is considered a unique instrument for its design, sound, and musical ranges. The sounds are produced by 3,835 pipes that are housed in the walls of the emblematic Symphony Hall, which are controlled by the organist from on-stage through the console and the four keyboards that he can play.

Tickets can be purchased at a single price of €15 on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Check the special discounts for the audience under 30 years of age, students, unemployed, and large families.

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The regional dancers, one of which won the Spanish National Dance Prize, star in the work with the singer Aurora Arteaga

 

On Friday (8 Sept) at 7:30 p.m., and to open the FAM 23 (Moving Arts Festival) programme, the Auditorio de Tenerife offers the dance piece Mutable in the Multipurpose Hall. Dácil González (Spanish National Dance Prize) and Carmen Fumero, two regional dancers and creators who live in Madrid, star in the piece with Aurora Arteaga, singer and composer.

The work is based on appearance and reality. It reflects on how points of view connect with reality, provide a perspective and influence our perception. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A slit gives way to a hole through which to look and be observed, a crack in the skin or in a surface. Change is the only thing that remains stable around us and in ourselves.

Both dancers are also in charge of the direction and choreography of Mutable. They have extensive and solid careers, and their paths have crossed on several occasions alongside choreographers such as Daniel Abreu and Iker Arrue. The Dance Company Daniel Doña, residence company of the Eduardo Úrculo Cultural Centre that also directs the company Carmen Fumero Cia, collaborates with Mutable. The global première took place on 4 March in the Sala de las Musas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

The tickets (€8) are available on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. To check the remaining programme of this FAM edition, visit www.famtenerife.com.

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On Friday it features the Concerto for violin and orchestra by Elgar and the Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven.

 

This Friday (8), at 7:30 p.m., the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra is beginning a new season at the Auditorio de Tenerife. The programme includes the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by Edward Elgar -with the German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann as soloist- and Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven. The American conductor Joseph Swensen will take charge of conducting the orchestra as the first subscription holder of the 2023-2024 series.

José Carlos Acha, minister of Culture of the Island Council of Tenerife, is excited about the new season of the Symphony Orchestra. “I believe that we have created an opening programme that will be well received by the audience and I am confident that this is the trend we will see throughout the performances we have this year.” Acha, who is also vice-president of the Island Council, recalled that it is still possible to obtain season subscriptions at affordable prices.

The orchestra is adding the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in B minor, Op. 61 by Edward Elgar to its repertoire. Premiered in 1910, the piece is a summation of the work of the British composer and his influences, which also presents the usual patina of melancholic romanticism that is so characteristic in his creations. With demanding sheet music for the soloist, as it is one of the longest and most difficult works from the violin repertoire, offering a score with the classic sonata form that depicts a series of intimate emotions.

This work will excel Frank Peter Zimmermann, who is now established as one of the world’s best violinists and who returns to the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra after 14 years. He began playing the violin at the age of just 5, studying with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers. In 2010 he formed Trio Zimmermann, together with Antoine Tamestit at the viola and the cellist Christian Poltéra. With this group, he performs at the main music centres and festivals in Europe.

In the second part of the concert that opens the season, it will be possible to hear the most popular and widely-performed piece of classical music: Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven, a work that premiered in 1808 and dedicated to Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz.  Despite being written at an advanced stage of his deafness, it conveys a high dose of energy from its opening bars. During the Second World War, it had a great political weight and was championed by the Allies as a flagship of their values.

After his debut with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra last March, Joseph Swensen returns to once again lead the orchestra. He arrives shortly after being appointed musical director of the Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine for the 2024-25 season. He is also the chief guest conductor of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra of Wrocław and the City of Granada Orchestra. Likewise, he is a conductor emeritus of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Swensen began his musical career as a solo violinist, playing with the world's main orchestras and conductors.  In terms of conducting work, he has served as the chief guest conductor and artistic advisor of the Orchestre Chambre Paris (2009-2012) and chief guest conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (2000-2003). Within the field of opera, he has also served as the musical director of the Opera of Malmö (2005-2011).

This season, Joseph Swensen will undertake different professional commitments, notably including the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra of Australia, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National du Capitole of Toulouse.

The tickets for this first season concert can be purchased until the day of the concert on the website www.sinfonicadetenerife.es, at the auditorium's box office and by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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The schools on the island can submit their requests to host these proposals in their classrooms until 29 September

 

The Educational and Social Area of the Auditorio de Tenerife presents the catalogue of the eighth edition of Teatro en la Escuela (Theatre at School) programme which brings performing arts to classrooms on the island. There are eleven proposals including theatre, oral narration, music and dance on offer for schools in Tenerife during the 2023-2024 academic year between October and June. The deadline for schools to submit applications is 30 September.

The proposals, ranging from shows to creative processes, have been selected by a committee of experts through a public call for entries. The performances are divided according to educational levels: Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education, Baccalaureate and training cycles. The Auditorio de Tenerife will provide teachers with a teaching guide so they can do work beforehand in class and optimise the educational possibilities of the programme. The catalogue and the application form are available on the Theatre at School section of the Educational and Social area on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com/en.

For preschool, there is La más bonita (The most beautiful) by the puppet company Bolina Títeres. As for primary, the following pieces have been selected: The Pestoff, by Clownbaret, A Ciencia cierta (For Sure), by El Wije Producciones, and Háblame de ti (Tell me about yourself), by the company I+D Danza. The shows chosen for Secondary are Noa, by the company of Paula Quintana, uNpACKAGING, by ziREjA; La montaña, el agujero, los Escombros (The Mountain, the Hole, the Rubble), by Javier Cuevas and Checho Tamayo, and En el escenario de ‘Crimen’: una experiencia surrealista, (On the 'Crime' stage: a surreal experience) by the company Hojarasca. Lastly, Entre burlas y veras (Half joking, half serious), by Teatro Tamaska, Lastly, El Lugar en el que vivo (The place where I live), by Mon Peraza, and ¡Valientes! (Brave) the proposals for the Baccalaureate and training cycles are by Burka Teatro.

The program 'Theatre at School' aims to promote stage and musical languages to students within their own educational context and link academic aspects to the professional context of performing arts in the Canaries, laying the foundations to encourage the socialisation of students within the school space, through cultural activities, and in turn promote the all-round development of pupils, as the companies stage works adapted to curricular needs.

Other objectives involve integrating other artistic languages associated with literature, using gestures and the voice through the use of poetic and narrative texts as dramatic expressions. Lastly, the aim is for pupils to discover authors and their texts while analysing their structure. All of this is aligned with the guidelines of the Department of Education of the Canary Islands Government for the different levels.

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