Sixth Serenates night with rigorous punctuality. Sunday, 29 June 2025, the University Choral Society of Valencia and the Orquestra de Cambra of Tortosa, under the musical conduction of Francesc Valldecabres and scenic direction of Mireia Andreu, offer the show “POLS. Bach Connections (4)”, a fascinating and grandiose proposal within the framework of the commemoration of the 250 death anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach, cycle organised by the University Choral Society of Valencia.
The title clearly combines two concepts: on one hand, POLS (or “dust” in English), as an “unforgettable mark” and an “invisible yet inevitable presence” left behind by wars. This is due to the fact that this year scenic proposal for the University Choral Society of Valencia wanted to be a reflection, commemorating the 80 anniversary of the end of the Second World War, about the “deaths and wars, dust and the memory of the anonymous bodies that lay forgotten”, affirms the society.
On the other hand, Bach Connections because the projects wants to commemorate the 250 death anniversary of the German composer “connecting” his music and multiple repertoires that cover since the 17th century until the newer creations. A masterfully done connection achieved via strategically using the main character at the centre of the programme with the renowned Ciaccona for violin that the Choral Society has versioned in Serenates from the studies of musicologist Helga Thoene.
A heart-breaking programme that additionally includes music from Barber, Fauré, Nystedt and Lutyens “as a journey through time, a visual cry that connects spaces and times, both from the past and present”.
From Isis laments to the crying of the 21st century
Night falls in the Senate and, despite being full with spectators, it remains in the dark and silent. A resounding silence broken only by the voice of soprano Cecília Aymí to interpret a cry of sadness which, despite evoking memories of the cruel and inhumane consequences of war, transports us to a much more recent catastrophe: eight months after the floods caused by the dana of October 2024 in the towns of southern Valencia, we can’t avoid thinking in the numerous victims as well as in the emotional anguish of those who fight day after day against a landscape and some desolated souls.
Serenates 2025 is dedicated to all of them, involving in the festival artists and bands that were affected by the disaster, as well as destining all the money from the sale of tickets to the Aid and Post-Dana Recovery Programmes of the Universitat de València.
Aymí, accompanied by the voices of the University Choral Society of Valencia and the violin of Fernando Pascual, sets the scene of the beauty of the Greek tragedy Lament of Isis on the death of Osiris op. 74 by contemporary British Elisabeth Lutyens, piece giving way to Immortal Bach by other contemporary, Norwegian Knut Nystedt.
This is the moment to listen to the University Choir in all its glory, supported by the Orquestra de Cambra de Tortosa -wind and string-, to which adds the performance of dancer Marc Sans, inspiring the auditorium in a heart-rending retreat maintained all throughout the show and that captures all the senses of the attendees, reaching an even more special appearance with the arrival of Ciaccona by Bach.
These emotions, these sensations, will go in crescendo with the arrival of a new actress, the young Charlie Andreu, completing an original duo on stage with Sans that, towards the end, will have all the artistic line-up with the 75 people participating in the event (singers, musicians, soloists and performers).
Hoarding Requiem op. 48 of the French Fauré, as well as the grand finale of the concert, to the scene, with a vibrant Agnus Dei op. 11 by the American Samuel Barber during which two big screens project the number of victims throughout all wars.
And then, they come back. Silence, darkness, tightness... But an ocean of applauses invades now the Senate of the historical building of the Universitat de València, overwhelmingly thanking the homage because, as the University Choral Society of Valencia ensures in the POLS. Bach Connections (4) project, “on its quietness, dust speaks louder than any word”.
At the halfway point of the festival
Before we begin the second month of summer, and having reached the halfway point of the festival, Serenates dedicated the night of Monday, 30 June to contemporary music by the hands of singer Clara Montes, who gave her repertoire to Miguel de Molina, coinciding with the inauguration of an exhibition at La Nau Cultural Centre paying tribute to the figure of the couplet singer.
On Tuesday, 1 July, it will be Komos Compañía Teatral y el Grupo Cantata de la Coral Juan Bautista Comes‘s turn, and they will interpret the tragedy Edipo rey of Sophocles with original music by José Ignacio Payá.
The festival, as usual on its trajectory, provides a space for diversity and solidarity that, in 2025, will have the rhythms and the colours of Africa from the hand of the Percussion Group Amores, with the participation of Asso Mbaye (La Luna de África) and the dance of Elisabeth Mendy, who will perform Ubuntu on Wednesday 2.
On Thursday 3 we will have renowned Valencian pianist Rubén Talón, who will present a diverse programme with some of the most iconic pieces ever written for this instrument by Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and Satie.
On Friday 4, the Serenates stage will have, once again this year, the performance of the Choir of the Valencian Community which, with its main conductor, Jordi Blanch Tordera, will interpret the a capella programme titled Aqua, terra, aer, ignis: ELEMENTS
On Saturday 5, the festival will go outside the senate of the historical building of the Universitat to be held at the Patriarca Square, where the Els Tornejants y la Nova Muixeranga d’Algemesí with the music by Colla de Dolçaines i Percussió UV will perform their show. As an exception to the rest of the concerts, this will be of free entre and will begin at 8:00 pm.
The climax of the festival, on Sunday 6, will be done by the historical dance ground Armonía Danza, who will be presenting the show El poeta soldado, a recreation of the historical dances from the music of the Marquis de Santillana, with musical conduction by Emilio Villalba y artistic direction by Sofía Grande and Marco Bendoni.
An eclectic programme
It is usual for Serenates to offer an eclectic programme with music and tendencies that go from the Renaissance to these days. That way it has been possible to see from the moment the festival started on 24 June with the release of the own production of this year under the charge of Grup de Dansa UV, conducted by Toni Aparisi, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of la Universitat, conducted by Hilari Garcia Gázquez: a show that combined live music and dance through theCarmen suite byShchedrin (1932), a rereading of the opera by Georges Bizet.
Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 were nights for jazz. In the first place, the Jazz orchestra from the Conservatorio Superior de Música interpreted, along with the choirs from the Cámara del Conservatorio, Jove of the Comunitat Valenciana and the Unió Musical Santa Cecília de Onda, the Concierto Sacro by Duke Ellington, with the artistic conduction by Jesús Santandreu; while the next day, Eva Romero Quartet led a concert dedicated to the women composers repertoire under the epigraph Estàndards d’elles, women that opened the way to the jazz world to the rest and that music culture has the duty to restitute.
On Friday 27, the Orquestra de València, conducted this time by Andrés Valero Castells, interpreted a concert for the International Tuba Euphonium Conference ITEC, a call which in its 2025 edition, took place in Valencia and with this special concert the Orchestra, with the collaboration of the Philharmonic Orchestra UV, put to value the expressivity and versatility of the tube and the euphonium.
With the intention of recovering the music damaged by the floods of October, Serenates 2025 counted with the participation of groups that were directly affected, such as the Unión Artística Musical de Montroi and the Banda Sinfónica SM la Artesana de Catarroja, who performed, on Saturday 28, the concerts Música i escena, conducted by Jerónimo Castelló Mañes, and Resiliència, with the trumpet of Raúl Junquera and conducted by Ximo Arias Botías.
Solidarity with the music affected by the DANA
Serenates is a festival co-produced by the Universitat de València and the Cultural Institute of Valencia, that in 2025 achieves its 38th edition with 13 nights of concerts between 24 June and 6 July 2025. This year’s programme has a highlighted solidary character since the funds from the selling of tickets will be destined to the Programmes of Help and Recovery Post-DANA of the UV.
All the concerts will begin at 10:00 pm and the tickets can be bought, at a 5€ price point, either online through the www.latenda.es/entrades website, or physically at the La Tenda UV establishments while they are still available.
Serenates 2025 has once again the support and collaboration of the Department of Culture of the Valencian Provincial Council, the Valencia City Council, the Palau de la Música de València (Valencian Palace of Music), the Conservatorio Superior de Música Joaquín Rodrigo de València, and the College of Art and Design of Valencia (EASD), with this year’s poster design presented by the student Alejandro Gran Rodríguez, honouring music and flowers as symbols of this land. Serenates adds to its work, additionally, a line of synergy and clustering with other festivals maintaining the seas as a member of the European Festival Association, which allows it to share the programme with all Europe.
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