Festival ‘Escena Escorial’

From 28 August to 19 September, ‘Escena Escorial’, a new international festival which will offer the public symphonic concerts, opera, jazz, ballet and theatre over three weeks, will be held for the first time in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Conductor Alondra de la Parra is responsible for the festival’s programming.

As a prologue to what will begin on the 28th with the concert ‘The Colours of America’, featuring the Joven Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid and Thomas Enhco. From there, the musical offering diversifies: Yamandu Costa’s Brazilian guitar in ‘Choros y Milongas’, the Alexis Cárdenas quartet in ‘Ecos Latinos’ and Nemanja Radulović’s violin in ‘The Violin in Flames’.

Dance will have its own evening on 3 September: the Ballet Español de la Comunidad de Madrid, under the direction of Mónica Fernández, will premiere ‘Nascencia’. The following day, De la Parra will lead ORCAM in performing, together with Coro RTVE and soloists Serena Sáenz and Gaëlle Arquez, Mahler’s Second Symphony, ‘Resurrection’.

Theatre is represented in the programme by two very different proposals: Gabriela Muñoz’s clown show (‘Chula the Clown’), ‘Perhaps, perhaps… Quizás’, and the Spanish premiere of ‘@Carmen. The reel story’, the story of Carmen told in the language of social media, with stage direction by Bárbara Lluch.

The festival will close on 19 September with Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. The programme includes works by Wagner, Schubert’s Second Symphony and Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’.

The festival venues will be Teatro Auditorio San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Real Coliseo Carlos III and Teatro La Antigua Mina, in Zarzalejo.