The 36th edition of the Serenates Festival, organised by the University of Valencia and the Cultural Institute of Valencia will be held from 24 June to 2 July at La Nau Cultural Centre (Calle Universitat 2, València). This year’s edition will see a special premiere performance (30 June) by Martirio together with guitarist Raúl Rodríguez.
The Serenates Festival has been enlivening summer nights from the beautiful courtyard of one of the University of Valencia’s historic buildings for 36 years. The space creates the perfect backdrop for this summer music festival that aims to recapture and honour Valencia’s musical heritage. The festival offers a diverse programme with many musical styles and aims to provide a space for training, creation and innovation in the musical field, as well as welcome and encourage young musicians by creating an inclusive and equality-driven environment. It is also part of other music circuits within this same line of synergy.
Tickets for the all concerts will be on sale from 1 June at 12:00pm with a price of €3.15 and can be purchased online (www.latenda.es/entrades) or in-person at the La Nau Cultural Centre gift shop, except the concert of Coral Allegro ONCE València on 25 June at 12:00pm, which has free entry, and that of the Orquestra de València on the 29 June, in which tickets can be purchased online here. Non-numbered seats.
Complete Concert Programme
The festival will open with the University of Valencia Philharmonic Orchestra (24 June, 10:00pm) and the premiere performance of a new production. The university orchestra, directed by Beatriz Fernández Aucejo, will present ‘Una nit màgica’ (‘A magical night’), a concert that fuses symphonic poems and dances by Dvořák and Saint-Saëns with a simultaneous live projection of scenes from a film created by students from the Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny de València (Valencian School of Art and Design) for a workshop given by the visual and ‘new media’ artist Elena Juárez. This concert is a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the University of Valencia Foundation and is just the first of many commemorations throughout the rest of the year.
On Sunday 25 June at 12:00, the Coral Allegro de la ONCE (ONCE Allegro Choir) returns to the Serenates Festival with a concert compiled of different pieces it has performed during its 40 year history of promoting choral singing as a tool for inclusion and passing on values, such as solidarity, commitment and social diversity.
In the evening of that same Sunday, at 10:00pm, the Orfeó Universitari de València (University of Valencia Choir), directed by Francesc Valldecabres, will perform a chamber version of ‘Requiem’ by Brahms with the voices of Belén Roig and Francisco García, pianists Paula Tamarit and Juan Camilo Reyes, and percussionist Sergi Izquierdo. The concert will end with ‘Immortal Bach’ by Nystedt.
Each night will reveal more of the Serenates Festival’s diverse and eclectic nature. Sunday’s choral performace will be followed by the jazz concert, ‘The Atomic Mr. Basie’ on Monday 26 June at 10:00pm, performed by the Jazz Orchestra of the Conservatorio Superior de Música Joaquín Rodrigo de València. This group of young musicians, directed by Jesús Santandreu, will perform 11 pieces from the album of the same name by the paradigmatic Count Basie and his Big Band in 1958.
On Tuesday 27 at 10:00, Valencian singer-songwriter Sandra Monfort will perform accompanied by Amanda Monfort on violin and Jordi Ortolà playing percussion and synthesisers. Sandra Monfort offers a unique performance of poems and songs connected to Mediterranean folk culture that is both traditional and avant-garde, ancestral yet modern, organic but digital.
La Tendresa, directed by Èlia Casanova, will take the stage on Wednesday 28 at 10:00pm to perform ‘Plebeyos bailes’ (‘Plebeian dances’), which aims to shed light on a forgotten musical practice from the Golden Age--the meeting of upper class women from the most popular social strata who got together in secret to play, sing and dance to the popular music of the time.
On Thursday 29 at 10:00pm, within the section of the programme dedicated to music composed and performed by Valencian artists, the Orquestra de València, under the direction of Daniel Gil de Tejada, will perform a concert titled ‘Una nit amb el Mestre Serrano’(‘A night with the Master Serrano’) in celebration of the 150th birthday of José Serrano, with special participation by the young pianist María Linares.
Martirio & Raúl Rodríguez, ‘A Chavela’
On Friday 30 June at 10:00pm, there will be a special performance by Spanish singer Martirio and the guitarist Raúl Rodríguez with a repertoire paying tribute to the great Chavela Vargas. They will perform a selection of songs from the album titled ‘De un mundo raro, cantes por Chavela’ (‘In a strange world, sing for Chavela’) that they produced as an homage to the late singer.
Martirio and Raúl Rodríguez will perform different versions of the admired Chavela to the beat of flamenco, as well as blues and swing pieces and boleros, tangos and coplas.
In the spirit of training and promoting young musicians, the Serenates Festival will host a concert on Saturday 1 July (10:00pm) performed by a new visiting university orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. With Valencian conductor José Sanchís, the Madrid-based group will visit Valencia on its 10th anniversary with a repertoire including the famous ‘Swan Lake’ by Tchaikovsky, ‘Egmont’ by Beethoven, and the colourful and expressive ‘Capriccio Espagnol’ by Rimsky-Korsakov.
The Cor de la Generalitat (Choir of the Regional Government) will place the finishing touch on the 36th edition of the Serenates Festival with a performance on Sunday 2 July at 10:00pm with the 2020 winner of the National Music Award, Spanish Brass, under the direction of Francesc Perales. Together they will showcase the concert ‘Magnificat brass’ , a project that emerged from the piece ‘Magnificat’ , written by composer Juanjo Colomer in 2018 for a brass quintet.
This event’s programming is made possible by the cooperation of the University of Valencia and the Cultural Institute of Valencia, as well as the support and collaboration of the Department of Culture of the Provincial Council of Valencia, the Valencia City Council, the Palau de la Música de València (Valencian Palace of Music), the Conservatorio Superior de Música Joaquín Rodrigo de València, the European Festival Association and the Sabadell Bank Foundation.
More information:
Links:
