Festival Ibérica, featuring Álvaro Martinete, Maise Márquez, and Concha Bernal

8 June 2022, 1:00
Festival Ibérica, featuring Álvaro Martinete, Maise Márquez, and Concha Bernal

The Ibérica Festival of Ibero-American Cultures will take place this year in Brno, Prague, Čechy pod Kosířem, and Zdounky. The nineteenth edition of the festival will feature several Czech premieres. For the first time in the Czech Republic, the main star of the gala evening at Brno’s Špilberk, flamenco guitarist Álvaro Martinete, will perform with dancer Coral Fernández, as well as Colombian singer with Caribbean roots Concha Bernal and the Catalan duo Magalí Sare & Sebastià Gris. This year’s festival will also feature the premiere of a poetic recital from Karel Čapek’s texts, A Trip to Spain, performed by actor Tomáš Hanák, accompanied by Petr Vít’s guitar and Verónica Roa’s dance. There will be dance and music workshops for beginners, advanced, and children.

The main festival event will be a gala concert on 18 June at Špilberk. “Leaders of the youngest artistic generation are extremely important for the future of flamenco guitar. These young Spanish guitarists are taking on the best of the heritage of previous greats such as Paco de Lucía, but at the same time each of them is putting their own personal touch on their playing. This is also the case with Álvaro Martinete, who will be performing at the gala concert," says the festival’s artistic director Petr Vít. Before Martinete, dancer Maise Márquez will set the stage on fire. She is one of the prominent personalities of flamenco dance and has created several new choreographies inspired by the beauty and elegance of Spanish classical music for this year’s Ibérica Festival, where she will dance with the Indigo String Quartet and accompanied by guitarist Dario Piga. The festival is announced for June 16-26 in Brno, Prague, Čechy pod Kosířem, and Zdounky.

The festival will be opened on 16 June in Prague’s Humanita by Magalí Sare, a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who has won the hearts of Catalan and Spanish audiences as well as the acclaim of the professional community. Now, for the first time, she will present herself to the Czech audience in a successful duo project with guitarist Sebastià Gris. A day later, the duo will visit the courtyard of the Brno Governor’s Palace. This year, guitarist Lukáš Sommer will perform as part of the Ibérica Clásica festival series. He is one of the greatest Czech classical guitar talents, which he recently proved at the famous Carnegie Hall. His solo recital at Ibérica will take place on 21 June at Brno’s Old Town Hall. After that, the festival will move to the castle in Čechy pod Kosířem, where Spanish flamenco dancer Virginia Delgado will perform on 23 June. On Friday, 24 June, fans of southern culture can look forward to the popular and free Fiesta Iberoamericana. This will fill the courtyard of Brno’s Old Town Hall with the aromas of Spanish tapas, authentic paella from El Romero, and Mexican tacos. There will also be wines from the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, and Colombian coffee. There will also be a number of music and dance performances throughout the afternoon and evening. This year’s guests include Colombian singer Concha Bernal and the Mexican group Mariachi Azteca. “For the first time in the history of the festival, we will also have festival wine and each bottle will bear a song exclusively composed and recorded by Dario Piga for festival visitors and wine lovers," Vít says. The final weekend of the festival will bring the premiere of a poetic recital based on Karel Čapek’s travelogue. In 1929, he took a train to Spain. 93 years later, the actor Tomáš Hanák, together with guitarist Petr Vít and flamenco dancer Verónica Roa, will follow in his footsteps. On 25 June, the audience will see the composite performance at the Belcredi Chateau in Brno’s Líšeň and a day later in the romantic surroundings of the Zdounky castle near Kroměříž.

The guest of honor at this year’s festival is Mexico, which will also be reflected in the traditional film showcase at the Art Cinema in Brno, where the audience can look forward to four Mexican and one Argentine film. Ibérica also brings the most diverse range of thematic creative workshops to the Czech Republic every year. One of them will be led by the gala’s star Maise Márquez, others will be led by Virginia Delgado, Álvaro Vargas will guide the steps of Argentine tango and salsa, and Dario Piga will reveal the secrets of flamenco guitar. There will also be classes for children, which will take place in the newly opened Zona Iberoamericana on 28 October Square in Brno.

IBÉRICA PROGRAM 16 – 26 June 2022

BRNO – PRAGUE – ČECHY POD KOSÍŘEM – ZDOUNKY

Magalí Sare & Sebastià Gris (ES)

16 June, 19:30, Humanita, Prague

Magalí Sare & Sebastià Gris (ES)

17 June, 19:30, Viceroy’s Palace, Brno

IBÉRICA 2022 GALA CONCERT

Maise Márquez: Encuentros Clásicos (ES)

Álvaro Martinete Quinteto (ES)

18 June, 20:30, Špilberk – Large Courtyard, Brno

Creative workshops

  • – 19 June, NoFeet dance studio, Brno

18 – 26 June, Zona Iberoamericana, Brno

Ibérica Cinematográfica

20 – 24 June, Art Cinema, Brno

Lukáš Sommer: Solo Recital (CZ)

21 June, 19:30, Old Town Hall – Fresco Hall, Brno

Petr Vít: Colombia the Beautiful Unknown (lecture)

22 June, 19:19, PF Café, Brno

Virginia Delgado: Concierto Flamenco (ES)

23 June, 19:30, Chateau Čechy pod Kosířem

Fiesta Iberoamericana

24 Jun, 11:00 – 22:00, Old Town Hall – courtyard, Brno

15:00 Mariachi Azteca (MX)

20:00 Concha Bernal Trio (CO) 

Trip to Spain (world premiere)

25 June, 19:30, Belcredi Chateau, Brno-Líšeň

Trip to Spain

26 Jun, 19:30, Orangery, Zdounky

Maise Márquez/ photo Ibérica archive

Comments

Reply

No comment added yet..

On Saturday, 24 August, the Korean radio orchestra KBS Symphony Orchestra with its musical director - Finnish conductor and violinist Pietari Inkinen - came to Brno's Špilberk Festival with an exclusively romantic repertoire. The invitation was also accepted by South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim, a graduate of the prestigious Julliard School.  more

For a quarter of a century now, the Brno Philharmonic has been organising the Špilberk Festival at the end of August in the courtyard of the castle of the same name. Four open-air musical evenings offer the audience a selection of concerts featuring classical, film and computer music, as well as often jazz and other genres. This makes it a diverse mix of performers and repertoires with an often pleasant, summery, laid-back ambience. This year's big and rapdily sold-out attraction was the Wednesday evening of 21 August, full of melodies from the James Bond films, performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, headed by world-renowned conductor, composer and arranger Steven Mercurio. During the concert, the audience also got to enjoy singers Sara MilfajtováVendula Příhodová and David Krausmore

As part of its European tour, the Taiwanese Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir (TPCC), under the direction of artistic director and choirmaster Dr. YuChung Johnny Ku, took the city up on its invitation and visited Brno. The concert was held on Monday, 13th August in the hall of the newly renovated Passage Hotel.  more

The final concert of this year's season of the Brno Philharmonic was devoted to works by Antonín Dvořák and Jean Sibelius at the Janáček Theatre. On Thursday, 20 June, Danish conductor Michael Schønwandt, who had not appeared before a Brno audience since January last year, took the lead of the Philharmonic. In the first half of the programme, the orchestra was accompanied by violinist Alexander Sitkovetskymore

In the spirit of the idea that Brno and folklore belong together, the Folklore Ensemble Happening of the Year took place on Thursday 6 June. The event was organised by the Brno UNESCO City of Music Office in cooperation with the Brno Dances and Sings association. The event thus became part of a long-term project that set out to map the amateur music scene in Brno, and not only folk music. Last year Brno City of Music reached out to choirs in a similar way, and in the future will host garage bands and more. This just goes to prove the diversity of Brno's music scene, not only as regards professional ensembles, but also enthusiastic amateurs for whom music is an inseparable part of their lives.  more