The Berlin Philharmonic gets flamenco. The prestigious German orchestra has chosen Joaquín Rodrigo’s ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’ as the repertoire for its European Concert 2011, which will be conducted by Simon Rattle. And Cañizares will be the guest musician who acts as a link between the worlds of classical music and flamenco. The concert will take place on May 1st at the Teatro Real in Madrid and will be televised live for 500 million spectators. The guitarist will return to Spain’s leading opera venue on June 29th, together with Arcángel and La Moneta, to perform the new show by Mauricio Sotelo ‘Muerte sin fin’, a tribute to Enrique Morente which will close Festival Suma Flamenca 2011.  
 

Cañizares (Photo Amancio Guillén)

“The show rests on the score which is like Sleeping Beauty and the orchestra and I are Prince Charming, who is going to kiss her to wake her up”. Like that metaphorical vision, Cañizares tackles the invitation from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to its European Concert 2011. The flamenco guitarist is the second Spanish artist, after Plácido Domingo, who has been called on by the prestigious German orchestra to take part in the gala it performs annually in order to commemorate its foundation on May 1st, 1882. And it is therefore the first time that this classical group has incorporated flamenco.  

As Cañizares explains, “it’s important to stress maestro Joaquín Rodrigo’s work internationally”, in this case, ‘El Concierto de Aranjuez’. And he feels that “it’s an honor and a pleasure to play with these very great musicians, but I’m also happy because they’ve remembered a flamenco guitarist who, in this case, symbolizes flamenco as music; I think that’s wonderful”.  

Cañizares with Simon Rattle in Berlín (Photo Mariko Ogura)

To get the concert ready, Cañizares had an encounter in Berlin a few months ago with the orchestra’s conductor, Simon Rattle. The initial contact was “fantastic; he’s a charming man and the orchestra… we already know that it’s emblematic”. And now the rehearsals will start, being held in Salzburg and Madrid in late April. Everything will be ready so that on May 1st a new edition of the European Concert will take place, but this time with a Spanish air. It will be heard all over the continent from Madrid’s Teatro Real, since it will be televised live for 500 million spectators in the 27 member states of the European Union. In recent years Oxford, Naples, Moscow, Athens, Budapest and Prague have hosted the now popular concert.

But in less than two months’ time, Cañizares will be back on the Real’s stage, where he also played at the past New Year’s Eve Gala. It will be on June 29th and with a totally different project: the premiere in Spain of the show ‘Muerte sin fin’ by Mauricio Sotelo. The performance, which will also include the participation of Arcángel and La Moneta, is set in Festival Suma Flamenca 2011 and will be a tribute to Enrique Morente. In the words of Cañizares, it’s “the best tribute we can give him from the heart; we’re very involved and very committed”. The guitarist has already collaborated with the contemporary composer in pieces such as ‘Cómo llora el agua’.