Special Concert – Sonidos de la Mancha: El Baile, la Voz y el Viento

From the villages of Castile to the international stage, Vigüela has been bringing the jotas, fandangos, and seguidillas of La Mancha to audiences for over forty years. In Haizebegi, Juan Antonio Torres, Carmen Torres, and the band’s musicians blend their world with that of Sara Cano, a leading figure in contemporary Spanish dance. From this collaboration emerges Sonidos de la Mancha – El Baile, la Voz y el Viento : the sounds of Don Quixote’s homeland brought to life through dance, voices, and instruments, bridging the power of folk movement and contemporary creation. Featuring Juan Antonio Torres, Mari Nieto, Carmen Torres, Eduardo Gómez-Olmedo, Jorge Martínez de Aguirre, and Sara Cano. 

Prices: €20 · reduced rate €10 · free for children under 15 and students at the CRR and ESAPB

Antonio Torres, vocals, guitar, zambomba, hand percussion
Mari Nieto, vocals, hand percussion
Carmen Torres, vocals, hand percussion
Eduardo Gómez-Olmedo, Spanish lute, guitar, hand percussion, vocals
Jorge Martínez de Aguirre, guitar, guitarro, hand percussion, backing vocals
Sara Cano, contemporary Spanish dance.

VIGÜELA

Juan Antonio Torres and Carmen Torres founded Vigüela in El Carpio de Tajo (province of Toledo) in the mid-1980s. Drawing on the musical heritage of La Mancha, they found there the resources for an “invention of tradition”: not the restoration of a static folklore, but the living evolution of what the music of this mythical land of Don Quixote is today. Over the years, they have been joined by numerous fellow adventurers, including singer Mari Nieto, followed by Eduardo Gómez-Olmedo, and, more recently, guitarist Jorge Martínez de Aguirre.

This artistic approach, which has earned him his international reputation today, has led Vigüela to bring the traditional repertoire of jotas, seguidillas, and fandangos to festival stages around the world: WOMAD, Førdefestivalen (Norway), Urkult (Sweden), Mediterranean Music Festival (Switzerland), EtnoKraków (Poland), Okarina (Slovenia), Sori Festival (South Korea), and the Sur Jahan World Peace Festival in Calcutta (India).

In 2022, the Library of Congress (Washington) commissioned Vigüela to record a collection of traditional songs from La Mancha for its music archives. In 2023, the group performed at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt as part of the “Beyond Al-Andalus” series curated by Birgit Ellinghaus.

SARA CANO, choreographer

A dancer and choreographer from Madrid, trained in dance and choreography at the María de Ávila Conservatory in Madrid, Sara Cano blends flamenco, Iberian folklore, and contemporary dance in her work. She founded her eponymous company in 2014 and developed an aesthetic based not on the fusion of styles, but on their coexistence and dialogue in choreographies that draw on contemporary creation rather than traditional dance. Her solos *A Palo Seco* (2014) and *Vengo!* (2019) have earned her numerous awards, including the Premio Max de las Artes Escénicas for Best Choreography (2020). This has led to her international reputation, which has led her to create choreographies for the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, the Opéra royal de Wallonie-Liège, and numerous other venues for choreographic creation.