ORCHESTRAL

PROGRAM NOTES & SYNOPSIS

Algarabía explores centuries of cultural exchange through a contemporary scenic language. The music of Manuel de Falla serves as a fundamental point of departure. Alongside Falla, flamenco music composed by Manuel Masaedo and the music of Emirati composer Ihab Darwish intertwines with the original score and musical arrangements by Josema García Hormigo. The aim is to establish resonances between Arabic music, flamenco and contemporary symphonic writing.
Poetry becomes another bridge between traditions, weaving together texts by Nizar Qabbani, Miguel Hernández, Ibn Zamrak and San Juan de la Cruz with traditional songs performed in their original languages. Music, dance and spoken word converge in a staged journey where diversity, memory and encounter become the core expressive forces of the performance. A central part of the compositional work behind Algarabía has been the creation of an orchestral framework capable of integrating highly diverse elements (orchestra, choir, flamenco ensemble, traditional instruments, dance and poetry) into a coherent and organic musical language.

Algarabía tells the story of Farah (Cynthia Karam), an Arab woman researching the botanical legacy of Al-Andalus in the Alhambra alongside her friend Candela (Lucía Campillo). There she meets Florencio (Jesús Carmona), a young florist, and an immediate attraction arises between them. However, conflict emerges when Florencio cuts the flowers to sell them and Farah tries to stop him. After the confrontation, and guided by the wisdom of the Wise Man (Rafic Ali Ahmad), the characters reconcile in a final celebration that exalts nature and the encounter between cultures.

ARTISTIC TEAM

Dramaturgy and stage direction: Ignacio García & Jihad Mikhael
Artistic direction: Liuba Cid
Choreography: Jesús Carmona
Conductor: Borja Quintas
Orchestra: Orquesta Sinfónica Universidad de Navarra
Choir: Coro Universidad de Navarra
Flamenco ensemble: Manuel Masaedo, Antonio González Reyes & Belén Vega
Oud: Aya El Dika
Performers: Jesús Carmona, Lucía Campillo, Cynthya Karam, Rafic Ali Ahmad, Aitana Rousseau, Sofía Lasheras, Pablo Egea, Juan Bravo, Aya Ahmad Izzat Al Kanawati, Kiroules Malak Mounir Boushra, Noran Ayman Mahmoud Abdelhamed Gebril, Youssef Moujab.
Production: Khawla Art & Culture and Museo Universidad de Navarra

PROGRAM NOTES

Through four movements, the concerto traces a nonlinear narrative that moves through different phases of the creative process.
𝗜. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 is the genesis of ideas: restless, fragmented, ever-changing energy. The classical and the popular confront each other.
𝗜𝗜. 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘀 represents the emotional core of the work. This is the most soloistic and introspective movement.
𝗜𝗜𝗜. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 explores timbres and textures in a formal search in which the resonance of the piano is amplified by the orchestra.
𝗜𝗩. 𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘂𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 embodies the visceral side of the process: the rage when ideas resist taking shape, and the euphoria of finally seeing them come to life.

PROGRAM NOTES

In late June 2022, I experienced a wonderful moment with the C.S.M.A. Philharmonic Orchestra Chamber Choir, thanks to the orchestration reading workshop and especially to Borja Quintas and Juanjo Eslava.
I wanted to express my gratitude to Elena Ruiz-Ortega, the Ensemble, and the Chamber Choir of the C.S.M.A. for all the work they did in the opera for choir “Francisco de Goya: Going elsewhere through music.” So, I decided to orchestrate one of the parts that we worked on extensively and sang constantly in the hallways.

In the excerpt, the following unfolds: Goya is immersed in a surreal nightmare, thinking that the hundred thousand sons of San Luis are coming for him, protected by the Virgin of the Pillar. The voice of Leocadia enters his dream to calm him until he wakes up abruptly.

It was Sergio Martínez Zangróniz who conducted my piece at the premiere, which made me incredibly happy. He is one of the musicians who knows this opera best. He almost learnt the piano reduction by heart and played it, saving us in many rehearsals.

It was my first time writing for full orchestra and choir. An unforgettable experience!

PROGRAM NOTES

During the month of July 2021, I spent three weeks in St. Petersburg as part of the Innopraktika & Russian Seasons School 2021 Music Session with other singers, conductors and composers from all over the world. We were awarded with a scholarship that allowed us to get to know the Russian idiosyncrasy and the role that music and culture play there. We have visited spectacular places: operas, ballets, museums, huge score shops and so many other things. St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.

In COVID times, premiering a piece for orchestra is extremely difficult. It has been a real challenge to compose a work for large orchestra, about five minutes long, in just a few weeks and all its materials with thirty instrumental parts. It’s crazy. However, it has been one of the challenges of the project that has taught me the most: hard work and efficiency to the maximum.

We had to choose between several themes from works by Rimsky Korsakov. I went for “The Nightingale and the Rose”, without having listened to it before, this romanza sounded very familiar to me. My folklore, flamenco, resonated with Russian folklore, there were obvious points of connection. In the piece there is an imaginary conversation between these two traditions trying to “remember” common memories, taking Korsakov’s work as a starting point. The concert was unforgettable. It was great to have worked with Yuri Lebedev who got the most out of my work in the few rehearsals we had with the orchestra.

Above all, I want to highlight the human side of this experience. I’ve learned a lot from my colleagues, who have been pure and sincere, giving their souls to the project. The composer’s work is hard and solitary; finding people with the same passion and concerns has been unprecedented. It has ceased to be an individual effort to become an extraordinary collective project. I never imagined making such good friends from all over the world in just three weeks. Despite our differences, we shared the same concerns and struggled daily to bring out the best in ourselves, being today an endless source of support and inspiration.