Many will be surprised to learn that at the upcoming Peralada Festival, a Rosalía version of Lola Flores' A tu vera will be heard. But not only will the new local international fashion artist sneak in, but so will Luz Casal, Sara Montiel, Chavela Vargas, and Estrella Morente. The common thread of hit songs like Piensa en mí, Se nos rompió el amor, or Quizás, quizás, quizás will be, no less, the films of one of the great names of Spanish cinema, Pedro Almodóvar.
The festival has decided to dedicate a night to his cinematography in a staged concert with the voice of Pasión Vega, who will be in charge of reviewing the most emblematic songs from classics such as Volver, Hable con ella, La mala educación, or Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios and more recent titles such as Dolor y gloria, where Rosalía herself acted and sang alongside her now friend Penélope Cruz, or Los amantes pasajeros, recalling the aeronautical interpretation by Javier Cámara, Raúl Arévalo, and Carlos Areces of I'm so excited by The Pointer Sisters.
The Almodóvar night will be on July 20 in Peralada, but it will also be repeated at the young Clàssicand festival in Andorra a few days later, on July 25. As if that weren't enough, the Carme library will combine its Quijote collection with an exhibition of books, scripts, and film posters by Almodóvar, who also illustrates this year's festival poster with a still life.
If feminist vindication is one of the hallmarks of the director from La Mancha, with improbable characters played by the great Almodóvar girls, the Peralada Festival will take up the baton with bets on young female authors such as composer Helena Cánovas (August 8) and director Júlia Sesé (August 7). The first will premiere the opera Don Juan no existe. Sobre lo que olvidamos y lo que permanece, with which she wants to rescue Countess Carmen Díaz de Mendoza from oblivion. The second will make current Catalan composers such as Aurora Bauzà, Anna Campmany, Joan Magrané, or Sesé herself dialogue with classics such as Monteverdi, accompanied by the Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música. The recovery of Maddalena Casulana, a very unknown pioneering composer who lived in the 16th century, will stand out.
In the 38th edition of the cultural event, other highly anticipated shows will be that of the Cuban company Carlos Acosta(July 26 and 27), the one fromJordi Savallto the memory of the former director of the contest Luis López de Lamadrid (July 30) and the return ofSara Blanch (August 5), the festival's first artist-in-residence, in 2016, now consolidated as one of the great Catalan sopranos.After canceling his participation in the Easter edition due to an injury, the pianistYuncham Lim will debut in Peralada on August 3. With the works on the new auditorium being delayed, the festivalwill returnto have a reduced version this summer, concentrating a total of 14 shows in 13 nights, starting on July 19 with the Polish tenorPiotr Beczałaand ending on August 11 with the Chinese pianistYuja Wang"It is not walking with the speed we had anticipated, but, musically speaking, it is in modeandante", points out its artistic director, Oriol Aguilà, who has not given deadlines for when work, which was expected last summer, might begin. The venues where this year's performances will take place will be the Carme church and the castle viewpoint, with capacities for 250 and 360 spectators, respectively. A new location will be premiered in the gardens of Celler Peralada, with the singer Julian Prégardien(July 31) and the quartetKebyart(August 4) paired with wines. The budget for the Alt Empordà festival, both the Easter and summer editions, stands at 2.2 million euros.