School Blog

Today, Friday, 08.07. is the last day of the Granada International Festival of Music and Dance! There can surely be few better settings in which to listen to high quality music than some of Granada’s emblematic, renowned venues. Consequently, the annual International Festival of Music and Dance, which took place during the last 4 weeks, has provided a perfect experience for lovers of music, dance and Granada to truly indulge themselves. Venues where events took place included the King Carlos V Palace, the open-air theatre in the Generalife Gardens, in El Patio de los Arrayanes in the heart of the Alhambra and various other of Granada’s historic churches and buildings.

During a week, there are all kind of celebrations and activities all around the town.

There are also Flamenco and regional music performances in Casetas in the fairground and in the city centre. Two major processions take place during the feast. The first is the Tarasca, of pagan origin, which leads out on Wednesday. In this procession, a figure of a woman on a dragon, accompanied by giants wearing big papier maché heads, walks through the streets.

During this week bullfights with horseback lancers are held. Carocas (a traditional satirical competition) are placed around the Plaza Bib Rambla, near the Cathedral, for the people to read and comment on. Carocas are cartoons which humorously highlight the major local and national events that have taken place during the year. They are accompanied by verses which are placed underneath in large panels. From hundreds of cartoons the top twenty are selected.

This Granada fair, though less well known than Seville's, has nevertheless a great deal of charm and appeal. The fairground comprises three parts: the stands area, the swings and attractions, and the access paths to these two parts where you will find many bars and stalls with confectionery and baked potatoes. Each of these paths is decorated with thousands of lamps and lanterns.

The cover of the main façade of the fair is different every year, generating great excitement among the people. The theme is usually some emblematic monument of the city.

The entrance to the Casetas is usually free and you will taste typical Spanish food. As in previous years, the fair will be located at the fairgrounds in Almanjáyar, in the northern part of the city.

Semana Santa, also known as Holy Easter week, is a festivity you will never forget, especially when you celebrate it in Granada! In 2016 Easter in Granada is celebrated from 20 to the 27 of March. During this week 32 processions take place through the city center of Granada leading through the beautiful cathedral of the city!

This Catholic Festivity is very unique when you compare it with other cities in Andalucía. Granada is known as one of the most beautiful cities because of its unique surroundings of the processions and their “pasos” that are known as float of thrones with important religious icons.  

Palm Sunday-  20 March
Palm Sunday is the last day before the lent starts. This day they celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, 1 week before his resurrection.
On this day 5 fraternities (also known as cofradías) are going through the streets of Granada. Around 16.00h the Church Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro gives the opening of the holy week by letting out “La Burriquilla”. The best place to see tis procession is from de Arco de Elvira, that is situated behind the large street Gran Vía.

Holy Monday – 21 March
On this day the neighborhood Zaidín which is located in the south of Granada starts its Holy Week by starting their procession at 16.30 h from the church Corpus Christi. They start with their youngest fraternity Santismo Cristo del Trabajo and Nuestra señora de la Luz.  

Holy Tuesday – 22 March
This day around 18.00 h at Plaza Nueva, many people wait to see a spectacular procession that comes from the church of San Gil. The procession is named as Nuestro Padre Jesus del Gran Poder and Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza.

Holy Wednesday – 23 March
Holy Wednesday is a big day in the neighborhood Sacromonte where the gypsies (los gitanos) live. They say that this is one of the most beautiful and impressive procession of the Holy Week. The name of the procession is María Santísma del Sacromonte and starts around 19.20 h at Calle Ganivet. The best way to see it is when it is on his way back to the Abadía del Sacromonte.

Maundy Thursday – 24 March
This is a big day in the old Moorish neighbourhood Albaicín. People are standing in the small streets of Albaicín to watch La Estrellla, La Aurora and La Concha.

Good Friday – 25 March
On good Friday there are 6 processions in Granada.  Around 15.00 h nearly 5000 people will be at Campo del Príncipe in the neighbourhood Realejo to see El rezo al Señor de las favores.

Holy Saturday – 26 March
On Saturday there is only 1 procession which starts at 17.30 h. The procession begins at the church that is located inside the Alhambra namely Santa María de la Alhambra.

Easter Sunday – 27 March
The last day of Semana Santa: The bells of the churches toll joyfully in Granada. There are processions in the morning that close this beautiful week: at 09.00 h starts a procession from the church San Miguel; the last one starts at 11.00 h from the church of Sagrario that is located next to the Cathedral.

For the exact times, routes please click on the link below (IN SPANISH):
http://www.granadadirect.com/fiestas/semana-santa-granada/

The Granada International Jazz Festival began 35 years ago, in 1980 and quickly became one of the most significant jazz festivals that Europe has to offer. Over the course of 35 years a number of Industry giants have performed here which helped shape a genuine jazz movement.

This year, which is the 35 year anniversary of the festival, we will again be blessed with the presence of some amazing Jazz artists. Artists from all over the world such as Carmen Souza, Aaron Goldberg and many others will be performing. The culture that has submerged in the course of the 35 years of existence is one that promotes contact and exchange of experiences between local and foreign musicians, making the whole festival quite a spectacle for the true jazz fans but also very enjoyable for people who have never listened to Jazz in their life!

This is the perfect vacation for people who want to learn Spanish, enjoy the beautiful sights Granada has to offer and appreciate the culture the Jazz festival brings to the city.

For more information about the program please click here

The dancer and choreographer Rafael Amargo transformed one of the most essential poems of Federico García Lorca into a work of dance. He created the choreography for one of the most innovative flamenco shows of nowadays. Its main characteristic is unquestionably the fusion of both music and dance, of pure flamenco with contemporary trends such as Jazz and Latin music. This hybrid character –fusion– went on to become a constant feature of subsequent flamenco shows. Amargo went even further when he gave his work an audiovisual montage created by the filmmaker Juan Esterlich to complement the dance performance.
The show won several prizes, including particularly the Max Prize for Scenic Arts for the best performance by Rafael Amargo.

Our school will offer the show “Poeta en Nueva York” during July and August as a part of the weekly schools cultural programme. Students have the unique opportunity to enjoy this Flamenco performance whose technical and artistic level is enormous at a perfect setting , the Generalife Gardens of the Alhambra.

It will be held from the 17th – 20th June 2015. The closing and awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 20th.

Projections and the closing and awards ceremony are performed in Alhambra Theatre. The workshops will be held at various film schools and cultural centres of Granada.

When a group of people joined four years ago to show their work, they never imagined today that they would start organizing the 2015 edition of the VI International Short Film Festival Opera Prima.

“Opera Prima en Corto" is a festival of short films from audiovisual and film schools, where a meeting of directors, jury members and teachers of schools is generated. Workshops and competitive activities are free. The prizes are always film training, resources and tools for the feelmakers. 

For more information check the Festival Website.

Every year, thousands of visitors come from all over Spain to experience this holiday. According to legend, an alabaster cross was erected in 1625 in the district of San Lazaro, and all of the locals celebrated its commemoration by singing and dancing around it.



The tradition continued in the most well-known districts of Granada, the Albaicin and Realejo; children began to build small altars with a cross and decorate them with pottery and copper objects.

Some of these traditions live on to this day. One of the traditions that still remains is the placing somewhere in the decorations of the Cross of an apple with a pair of scissors inserted into it; this is done so as to try to avoid any criticism that might be made of the decoration of the Cross.

On this feast day, it is common to find all over Granada crosses that are decorated with carnations. Neighbourhood associations, guilds, schools, even town halls create their own cross. The atmosphere is unmatched. The Granadines, adults and children alike, dressed in flamenco costumes, walk around the city visiting various crosses and, in this way, celebrate this important feast of Granada.

During the Festival we will be able to enjoy several of the great works of music history: all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas played by nine Spanish pianists; the depths and lyricism of the sonatas for violin and piano performed by the violinist Anna-Sophie Mutter; Mahler’s Symphony no. 1 conducted by Eliahu Inbal with the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE; Sibelius’ Symphony no. 2 with the Paris Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste; Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody at the hands of Joaquin Achúcarro, and Bruch’s violin concert performed by the French violinist Renaud Capuçon. And to cap the cycle of symphony concerts, the Paris Orchestra will play three beautiful pieces which symbolise the French 20th century repertoire conducted by Josep Pons.

Also featuring on the Festival’s programme is music from the Renaissance. There is baroque music, the classical guitar of the master Pepe Romero and the flamenco guitar played by Vicente Amigo and the young Juan Habichuela “Nieto”, the minimalist music of Wim Mertens and music sung in pursuit of a better world by Noa with the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada. The flamenco voice of Estrella Morente returns to the Palace of Charles V in all its profundity.

The International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada also has commissioned La Fura dels Baus to produce an up-to-date version of El Amor Brujo.

Music and verse appear in the hands of two outstanding actors: John Malkovich will premiere his theatrical version of Beethoven’s Egmont with the Orchester Wiener Akademie and, on the fifth anniversary of the birth Saint Teresa of Jesus, the Spanish actress Blanca Portillo will star in a poetry night in the Court of the Myrtles reciting poems by the saint to the accompaniment of music of the period.

But the Festival is not only music. It is dance too, and choreography. We will enjoy the great works of classical dance with the Vienna Opera Ballet. Liam Scarlett will present a new version of Carmen with a choreography danced by the Norwegian National Ballet. Víctor Ullate will bring us his “dance of life”, Samsara, looking eastwards, while Antonio Najarro and the Spanish National Ballet return to the Generalife Theatre with Spanish and flamenco dance.

We will also experience the avant-garde production by Sasha Waltz & Guests who has choreographed The German Requiem by Brahms, one of the most representative works in the history of European music. Performed by the Berlin Radio Choir, it offers a special vision of this work, known as the Human Requiem, in which the audience is immersed in and surrounded by the music of Brahms.

For further information visit: www.granadafestival.org or download the Programme as an PDF

PROGRAMME
www.eltango.com

Wednesday, 11.03.2015
Teatro Isabel La Católica / 21.00 h
Coro de Las butacas vacías
Alycristango (tango-danza)
Proyecto Tamgú (sexteto, voz y pareja de baile)

Thursday, 12.03.2015
Teatro Isabel La Católica / 21.00 h
Francina Pedrini / Martín Beligni (tango-danza)
Eliana Viola / Ezequiel Torres (tango-danza)
Camila Moreno Ricca / David Magné (tango-danza)
Javier Díaz González / Guido Lago (guitarra/armónica)
Tabaré Leyton (voz/guitarra)

Friday, 13.03.2015
Teatro Isabel La Católica / 21.00 h
Fabian Carbone / Mirta Álvarez (bandoneón/guitarra)
Ballet MalaJunta (5 couples)
Patricia Barone y Javier González (voz/guitarra)

Saturday, 14.03.2015
Teatro Isabel La Católica / 21.00 h
Ecos de la 10ª Cumbre Mundial del Tango – Zárate 2015
Sandra Márquez (voz/guitarra/armónica)
Paola Jean Jean / Nicolás Cobos (tango-danza)
Carlos Habiague (voz/orquesta/tango-danza)

Sunday, 15.03.2015
Teatro Isabel La Católica / 20.00 h
Luis Filipelli (voz/guitarra)
Francina Pedrini / Martín Beligni (tango-danza)
Carlos Guevara / Debora Godoy (tango-danza)
Gabriela Rey (voz/piano)
Homenaje al Maestro José Colangelo: José Colangelo en concierto

It is located just 32 kilometres from Granada by road and with good communications. The ski season starts generally at the beginning of December and goes until May. The resort has about 2,500 hectares of skiable area and a capacity for almost 30,000 skiers per hour. It is the greatest skiable vertical drop in Spain. Sierra Nevada ski resort offers excellent conditions to enjoy the ski slopes with more sunny days than anywhere else in Europe.