The new music program at the Royal Palace of Madrid will celebrate the 42nd edition of the Chamber Music Series, the 19th edition of the Organ Series, and a couple of special concerts. There will be a total of six dates between March and June at two key venues in the palace complex: the Royal Chapel and the Hall of Columns. Two extraordinary recitals are particularly noteworthy: one dedicated to forgotten and silenced female composers of the Baroque period; the other to the 350th anniversary of the birth of Giacomo Facco, a musician who was a violinist in the chapel itself.
March 18: ‘Le chant des Muses’ in the Royal Chapel
This extraordinary concert revives compositions by Francesca Caccini, Marieta Priuli, Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, and others. A dozen Baroque female composers will finally find their voice in this concert, thanks to intensive work to recover, research, and search libraries in Paris and Venice, resulting in the performance of up to six unpublished works.
March 25: Miquel González and Olga Ferrando at the Royal Chapel
The first concert of the 19th Organ Cycle will be performed by organist Miquel González and Olga Ferrando on vocals, revisiting pieces of sacred music from the late 18th and 19th centuries, with works by Boccherini, Haydn, Rossini, Gómez Carrión, Metón, Eslava, and Ledesma.
April 23: Gerhard Quartet in the Hall of Columns
As part of the 42nd Chamber Music Series, this string quartet will take us on an “emotional journey” through three iconic moments in the history of Western music: the spiritual contemplation of Tomás Luis de Victoria; the personal reflection of Beethoven; and the romantic language of Tchaikovsky.
May 21: Pérgamo Ensemble and Eugenia Boix in the Royal Chapel
Three centuries ago, Italian musician Giacomo Facco was a violinist at the Royal Chapel of the Royal Palace in Madrid. On May 21, this concert will pay tribute to the violinist in the same place where his music resounded three hundred years ago.
June 4: Javier Jiménez, Basilio Gomarín, and Miguel Ulla at the Royal Chapel
The second concert of the 19th Organ Cycle offers a program dedicated to the Baroque composer Francisco José de Castro “Spaguolo,” the first Spaniard to compose specifically for the trumpet. It features some of his pieces and those of his contemporaries, such as Alessandro Scarlatti and Juan Bautista Cabanilles, performed by this trio of countertenor, Baroque trumpet, and organ.
June 25: Turina Quartet in the Hall of Columns
This concert (part of the 42nd Chamber Music Series) is a celebration of the compositions left to us by Manuel de Falla on the 150th anniversary of his birth. A journey through his most famous works by the Turina String Quartet.