The 49th edition of the SEMANA DE MÚSICA RELIGIOSA (SMR) starts in a difficult moment for everyone but with the encouragement and the willingness to maintain a continuing prolific output from its outset as well as to defend the values of culture. Throughout the 2010 Holly Week, we will offer a wide range of events to pay our own tribute to Johan Sebastian Bach, not because it is his annual commemoration but because of the extraordinary quality of his music, sacred and not sacred, that has been the source of inspiration for so many later composers such as Shostakovich and Szymanowski. We will have the opportunity to listen to St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244; St. John Passion, BWV 245; Mass in B minor, BWV 232; an entire programme devoted to his Motets and a monograph devoted to works for lute.
Mexico: A return journey
The 2010 edition of the SMR will focus an important part of its activities upon the Mexican repertoire since the viceroyalty up to present time, reflecting upon the huge importance of the cultural and musical connections that were established between the two continents. The activities will include the recovering of the baroque repertoire as well as the contemporary works (in it there is one of this year's commissioned works), conferences, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz's monologue Primero Sueño (First Dream) with music by Marcela Rodriguez, the exhibit El silencio como punto de partida (Silence as departure point) by Germán Herrera, sponsored by Discoduro.qnk - Digital Art Review and which will include projections of digital collage, video and a sound landscape of his authorship.
Musical Heritage
In the course of the 49th edition of the SMR we will continue recovering the Spanish and European Music Heritage. To commemorate the 500 anniversary of the birth of Antonio de Cabezón, Bernard Brabuchli will perform a clavichord concert. At the same time, we will celebrate the 350th birth anniversary of Sebastián Durón, born in Brihuela (Guadalajara) who is one of the most important Spanish baroque composers.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Holy Friday, the Iglesia de San Miguel will welcome the Leçons de ténèbres, by the Flemish composer Hector Fiocco. We will likewise have the honour of listening to the cantatas by the Majorcan composer Antonio Literas, which are preserved as the only existing source in the Guatemala's Cathedral archive.
Commissioned works
The Mexican composer Hilda Paredes (*1957) is the author of this year’s première work: Kamech ch'ab (Receive the creation). This piece will be premièred on 28 March 2010, interpreted by the Arditti Quartet and The Hilliard Ensemble.
The Portuguese Sond'ar-te electric ensemble will present the second commissioned work: Línea de Vacio, written by Abel Paúl (*1984) from Valladolid. Once again this year's Festival has its Contemporary Music Programme well to the forefront with works by the composers Marcela Rodriguez, Miguel Azguime, Enrique X. Macías, Marisa Manchado, Jesús Torres, Wolfgang Rihm, Javier Arias Bal, Alejandra Hernández, Gabriela Ortiz, Ignacio Boca Lobera, among others.
Our productions
On Holy Saturday, and on the occasion of the festival's closing concert we will have the privilege to attend the presentation of The Marriage, conducted by Peter Greenaway, based on “The Wedding at Cana,” by painter Paolo Veronese. Greenaway's work in San Giorgio Maggiore monastery in Venice, is to “interpret” the action and social life in the picture. This performance, in co-production with the Fondazione Cini and SMR will be accompanied with a concert by La Venexiana and Schola Antigua, who will recover some of the original unpublished scores by Paolo Ferrarsese, a Benedictine monk in San Giorgio, who was active during the times of the paintings in the monastery's refractory. All the music in this concert was especially written to be performed on Holy Saturday.
The venues
Lastly, it is important to reflect upon the importance of the marvellous spaces that Cuenca, a World Heritage Site, can offer. Its architectural beauty is often associated with intense religious spirituality. Our venues this year are: the Cathedral, Teatro Auditorio, Fundación Antonio Pérez, Fundación Antonio Saura, Church of la Merced, the Cathedral Chapterhouse, Espacio Torner, the Museo de Arte Abstracto, the School of Arts Cruz Novillo, Church of San Miguel and the church of the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception (Concepción Franciscana). For the first time, and thanks to the collaboration of the Universty of Castilla la Mancha, the talks will be given in the Aula Abierta.
The 49th SMR takes place in Cuenca from the 27th March 2010 (Saturday before Holy Week) to the 3rd April 2010 (Holy Saturday). Holy Week festivities, which have been declared of national cultural interest, will run parallel, in the same Cuenca City Center.
These features provide this festival with its unique atmosphere for appreciating music within a truly privileged setting.
Pilar Tomás
Art Director