Festival de Music Española de Cadiz Manuel de Falla
by Tony Bryant
Festival de Música Española (Spanish music festival), a ten-day musical extravaganza dedicated to one the city’s most formidable composers, Manuel de Falla.
Founded in 2002, the 2024 edition held between Friday 15th and Sunday 24th November 2024, presents a total of 35 concerts and activities in 13 different venues throughout Cádiz: these include some of the city’s most iconic cultural establishments, such as Conservatorio de Música Manuel de Falla, Casa de Ibero-América, Gran Teatro Falla, Edificio Constitución 1812 (old La Bomba lecture hall), Auditorio Costa Rica, Teatro del Títere La Tía Norica and the Iglesia de San Francisco.
This festival, which, in 2023, saw a shift in focus to involve current music alongside the traditional classical concerts that have come to define this event.
Also known as the Manuel de Falla festival, the event was created with the intention of highlighting the importance that Spanish, especially Andalucian, composers and performers have had and continue to have on the country’s creative music scene.
The axis of the festival is the 23rd November, the day on which Manuel de Falla, considered the most universal of Spanish composers, was born in Cádiz in 1876.
The festival endeavours to preserve the Spanish and Andalucian musical heritage in much the same as Manuel de Falla himself, a staunch aficionado of cante jondo and the music of Andalucian Gypsies, which he stressed should not be confused with flamenco.
However, this diverse musical catalogue also highlights works and shows produced by modern and current-day composers and musicians, and as well as the concerts, it presents lectures, workshops and exhibitions, many of which are free.
Organised by the Andalusian Institute of Performing Arts and Music of the regional ministry of culture and sport, this year’s programme includes subjects such as the musical analysis and composition of Manuel de Falla, workshops for female composes, medieval music, choral guitar, flamenco, folk and electronic music.
Concerts will include the Cádiz Baroque Orchestra and Virelay Vocal Ensemble, flamenco guitarist Yerai Cortés, Seville dance music group Pony Bravo, the medieval music ensemble Vandalia y Manuel Vilas, folk duo Los Hermanos Cubero, singer and violinist María de la Flor, and Gypsy flamenco singer Israel Fernández.
To make the event attractive for families, in addition there will be workshops on skateboarding and urban street dance.
