One of the most prominent cultural events of Europe will begin on the first day of August in the Spanish city of Santander. The 61th International Santander Festival is one of the oldest music forums in Europe, which program includes opera and ballet performances, solo, choral, chamber and symphonic concerts.
Popularity of the festival in Santander is truly enormous. Almost all musical performances are broadcasted live on Spanish national radio, while TV broadcasts it for the whole world. It is worth noting that thanks to the International festival Santander will be officially declared a European Capital of Culture in 2016.
Major events are held at the Festival Palace of Santander, which was specially built for the Festival Internacional de Santander and has excellent acoustics. However, concerts and performances will also be held at other venues of the city starting from the halls of the monasteries and churches (there are more than fifty of them in Santander) to open air venues on the squares and in parks. The total number of the planned cultural events is about one hundred. Festival Internacional de Santander gathers the best representatives of the musical and theatrical art. During the last years here performed such international stars as Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Arthur Rubinstein, Alicia de Larrocha, Daniel Barenboim, Diletta Rizzo Marin, Montserrat Caballe, Teresa Berganza, Samuel Ramey, Juan Diego Florez, Mirella Freni, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. This year is no exception. The festival will be opened by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Zubin Mehta. In the following days the festival’s program will include performances of the organist Javier Gaston, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia (conductor - Juanjo Mena), theatrical group from the University of Alicante, Madrid Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesús López Cobos, and many others.
Ilya Kozlovskiy
Date: 30/07/2012
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