Gloria Estefan celebrates 50 years of career and will celebrate it from the stage of the Plaza de Colón. The Cuban-American artist will be the herald of Hispanidad 2025, the festival that from October 3 to 12 will fill the streets of Madrid with concerts, folklore, literature, parades, gastronomy and cinema. His will be the most anticipated concert of this edition: October 5 at noon, free and outdoors, on a new stage that replaces the Puerta de Alcalá.
The event, promoted by the Community of Madrid, celebrates this year its (it will be broadcasted by Univision) and an institutional message: Madrid as capital of the Hispanic world. The event will have Argentina as guest country in 2025 and the United States has already been confirmed as guest country in 2026.
More concerts and other activities for Hispanic Heritage Day
Estefan is not arriving alone: among the most prominent names are Bomba Estéreo, Eliades Ochoa (yes, the one from Buena Vista Social Club), Henry Méndez, Silvana Estrada, María José Llergo, Babasónicos, Los Panchos with Mocedades, Bon Calso, Kevin Johansen with Liniers, Miranda!, Orquesta Aragón or Aleesha. All of them will play on stages scattered around Plaza Mayor, Plaza de España, Puerta del Sol, Puente del Rey and Colón.
And as usual, the Grand Cavalcade along the Gran Vía will be held on the afternoon of October 5, this time with an unprecedented addition: the United States will participate for the first time along with the Hispanic American countries, a clear sign that Hispanic culture is also spoken with an Anglo accent.
In addition to music, the program includes literature -with a film series dedicated to Mario Vargas Llosa, who passed away last April-, dance, theater and gastronomy, in an edition that aspires to surpass last year’s figures: more than 630,000 attendees.
When Hispanidad is celebrated in Madrid
The program officially kicks off on October 3 with Estefan’s opening speech and, a few days before, on September 21, the race Madrid Corre por Madrid – Hispanidad edition, which will donate one euro from each race bib to the Association of Victims of Terrorism, will take place.
The Ballet Español de la Comunidad de Madrid also joins the line-up with its first international tour: it will take its version of El amor brujo to Buenos Aires, with music by Falla, choreography by Olga Pericet and direction by Alondra de la Parra. A theatrical production by Teatros del Canal will also be presented there: Numancia, by Cervantes, in a version by José Luis Alonso de Santos.