Festival de Jerez puts the finishing touches to its line-up for 2004, with Farruquito
heading the bill
New venues provide a showcase
for young creators
Flamenco-world.com, November 2003
The program for the eighth edition of the
Festival de Jerez is starting to take shape. With a month to go before the official
announcement of the line-up, the names of a few acts have already slipped out.
By all accounts Farruquito
is to be the star of this festival which is a showcase of dance - both flamenco
and the more traditional Spanish variety - which drew 20,000 spectators last year.
Teatro Villamarta also has the Nuevo Ballet Español's version of Romeo
and Juliet lined up. In the programs of parallel activities, it emerges that Tomatito
will be performing, as well as Ana Salazar with her tribute to Edith Piaf. And
for the first time this year, the festival features a space given over to newcomers
and even non-Spanish acts. Many of the courses are already fully booked.
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Tomatito (Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
Ana Salazar
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The countdown has already begun. The 2004
Festival de Jerez is putting the final touches to its eighth edition, which runs
from February 27th to March 10th in the Andalusian city of Jerez de la Frontera
(Cadiz province). It's still several weeks until the full program is announced,
but some promising signs are emerging. At the main focal point of the festival,
Teatro Villamarta, the star performances are set to include that of Farruquito,
who last year was billed alongside Diego Carrasco; and the Nuevo Ballet Español,
a company which is no stranger to the festival, with their new production 'Romeo
y Julieta'. As for the parallel programs of activities which complement the main
list of events with alternative flamenco offerings, it seems that the presence
of Tomatito has been confirmed, as well as vocalist Ana
Salazar from Cadiz, with a live presentation of her album 'Ana Salazar canta
a Edith Piaf'.
A new feature at the festival's eighth edition
is the incorporation of new venues. This year the festival adds a new string to
its bow, in the form of 'La Compañía', which is a former church
seating some 250 spectators, set to be the home of the newcomers' offerings, as
well as overseas flamenco acts. For further details watch this space...
Sell-out courses
The overwhelming success of the program of
courses and workshops is common knowledge by now, with more than eighty percent
of the places already taken. Half of the thirty courses offered at this year's
festival are already fully subscribed, including those given by Belén Maya,
Rafaela Carrasco, El Güito, El Pipa, Manolete, Javier Barón, María
del Mar Moreno, Isabel Bayón, Javier Latorre and Mercedes Ruiz. There
are still places available on courses with Matilde Coral, Angelita Gómez,
Victoria Eugenia, Merche Esmeralda, José Granero, Manolo Marín and
Blanca del Rey, among others. As is now commonplace, the students will be an international
crowd, drawn not only from Spain and its neighboring countries, but also from
Finland, Denmark, Japan, Taiwan, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Peru and Brazil.
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