The City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria presents an ambitious plan of activities, including concerts, theatre, dance music and film, for different audiences and in a variety of venues
The schedule already offers an extensive set of options in February and March
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tuesday 20 February.– Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will have a busy spring for Culture, judging from the range of options scheduled by the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the City Promotion company. The calendar for what remains of February and March is already packed, and the bar will remain high from Easter until the beginning of summer and the city’s traditional Foundation Festivities. In fact, the celebrations for the anniversary of the city will mark the end of the spring season in the cultural and leisure area. Until then, a full range of events in every genre of the performing arts, on different stages and for varied audiences, will continue developing at cruising speed in the capital of Gran Canaria.
Canary Islands Religious Music Festival
Indeed, as already announced, since Thursday 15 February lovers of the genre and those curious to explore it have been enjoying the 18th Canary Islands Religious Music Festival. The Festival is preparing a new event in the city, on Wednesday 28 February, in the Church of San Antonio de Padua, starting at 8.30 pm, with the Ainur Chamber Choir. On this occasion, the programme will consist of religious music sung a cappella from three different periods: the 16th and 17th centuries, the 19th century and the 20th century. In the first part, the choir offers works by composers such as Francisco Guerrero, Orlando Gibbons and Tomás Luis de Victoria. The segment of the programme devoted to the 19th century includes pieces by Parry, Stanford and Rachmaninov. And the last section reserves a special place for compositions by Maurice Duruflé, Josu Elberdin, Daniel Elder, Andrej Makor and Javier Fajardo.
It is worth remembering that the 18th Canary Islands Religious Music Festival offers 20 concerts in the Islands, always with its policy of performing in the churches of the archipelago.
The “Twelve Nights of Singer-Songwriters” continue in Mata Castle
Since January, the Mata Castle Museum has been hosting the “Twelve Nights of Singer-Songwriters” cycle, providing a range of original songs in this setting over the whole year. The programme will offer a spring season of talent; on the following Thursdays, always at 8.00 pm, Mata Castle will welcome other leading figures in the genre: on 14 March it will be Ari Jiménez’s turn, on 25 April there will be a performance by Víctor Lemes and Alba Rodríguez, the concert by Dácil Santana is scheduled for 23 May, and the semester concludes, on 13 June, with Rubén Rodríguez.
“Twelve Nights of Singer-Songwriters” will continue during the second half of 2024, with a programme that includes Arístides Moreno and Salomé Moreno, in July; Jesús Garriga, in August; Dani Cano and Ángel Ravelo, in September; Sylvie Hernández, in October; Jorge Santana and Andrea Báez, in November; and Paula Espinosa, in December. Admission to these concerts is free, subject to capacity.
Miller Still Dances
Sunday afternoons will remain a major date for senior citizens, with the continuation of the “Miller Dances” (Miller Baila) initiative, in the iconic cultural space in the Santa Catalina area. The initiative will be held again on three Sundays, 17 March, 14 April and 5 May, in a repeated offer of dance music that has always prompted a great response from the audience. The event remains free of charge for people over 65, with affordable prices for those below that age.
Cinema Effect, at the Elder
Cinema Effect is an initiative of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Film Festival, screening great current films in the capital of Gran Canaria that do not find a place on the commercial circuit, due to the difficult times cinemas are going through. This action has returned in 2024, once again on Wednesdays, as a nod to the traditional “viewers’ day” (when tickets are cheaper).
The Elder Museum of Science and Technology is the chosen location for this programme, always at 7.00 pm, with the next screenings planned before the spring. So tomorrow, Wednesday 21 February, Samsara, by Lois Patiño, has been selected as film of the day. It won a Special Jury Award at the Berlin festival last year, and in the tone of experimental cinema it is set in the Buddhist temples of Laos to transmit to the viewer an extraordinary spiritual journey towards reincarnation.
On 6 March the Elder will screen Afire, by the German director Christian Petzold: a tragicomedy that takes place during a holiday by the Baltic, which ends up being threatened by a slow but relentless fire.
Four Daughters, by Kaouther Ben Hania, is the film at the Elder on Wednesday 20 March. In this documentary the Tunisian director tells the story of a mother of four daughters who lives through the disappearance of the two eldest.
In addition to all this programme, which will continue in the following months, it should be noted that this Cinema Effect has reserved a special date in between for a new session of its «Camera Obscura», devoted to silent films. It is on Saturday 9 March, with the screening, this time at Miller and starting at 8.00 pm, of The Cursed Village (1930), regarded as one of the masterpieces of Spanish silent cinema. The film, directed by Florián Rey, whose real name was Antonio Martínez del Castillo, is a rural drama that competed at the 1st Venice Film Biennale.
Outstanding concerts
This cultural programme, which runs until June, sets aside particular dates for concerts of special importance. The first is the one that the Municipal Concert Band is planning to present next Thursday, 22 February, at Miller, at 8.00 pm, under the title Latineando. This is a tour of Latin music, from the symphonic world of Arturo Márquez to the Latin Jazz of Chick Corea and Arturo Sandoval. The band will perform carefully constructed symphonic versions of immortal Latin classics. These solid recreations of the standards of the genre will include boleros, to which Gabriel Domínguez will add his voice. Tickets to the concert are available to the public at lpacultura.com.
The Municipal Concert Band has another important date on Wednesday 20 March with a special Easter concert, to be held in the Church of Nuestra Señora de La Luz, starting at 8.00 pm. A suitable repertoire and setting for this time of year will underline the uniqueness of the occasion, with the attraction, as always, of being able to enjoy the abilities of the municipal ensemble.
Miller will host a musical event of a different kind with the Festival Sonora Competition for Canarian bands, scheduled for Friday 15 and Saturday 16 March, starting at 8.00 pm. It is a big event for emerging local bands and their followers, who will make this date an intense and enthusiastic day on stage.
On Saturday 23 March, Santa Catalina Park will once again be the venue for Dominic Miller in concert, starting at 8.00 pm. He has been Sting’s faithful guitarist for over 30 years and has made a dozen albums under his own name. Tickets for this major event in the city will be on sale through the lpacultura.com website.
“Eat to the Beat”, a project organized by Salan Producciones in collaboration with the Culture Section of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council, will once again feature on the city’s cultural programme in April and May. On Friday 5 April it will be the turn of Tarque & La Asociación del Riff to appear at Espacio Miller, at 8.30 pm (tickets will go on sale on the lpacultura.com website). The band is the brainchild of Carlos Tarque, well known as the founder of M Clan, who has become one of the most marked influences on Spanish rock in recent years. The curtain-raiser for this concert will be a guest artist, Said Muti, who will present songs from his new album, due to be released shortly.
On Saturday 20 April there is another «Eat to the Beat» event at Miller, at 8.30 pm (tickets will be on sale on the lpacultura.com website). Specifically, it features The Next Movement: a British electronic funk band, with groove in its soul and a firm determination to infect every audience with its beats.
And there is yet another “Eat to the Beat” confirmed for Saturday 4 May, also at Miller and also at 8.30 pm (tickets will be available on the lpacultura.com website). It features Electric Guitarlands, whose show is considered one of the greatest guitar acts that can be witnessed on the current rock scene. Comprising four iconic guitarists of the genre, Gus G, Michael Angelo Batio, Rowan Robertson and Andy Martingelli, this will be a formidable cultural offering for May.
Among the outstanding concerts, in Women’s Month, the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium hosts the Gran Canaria Women’s Band on Sunday 10 March (12.00, tickets on sale on the Auditorium website), in a concert held with the collaboration of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council. This all-female symphonic ensemble is conducted by its founder, Pilar Rodríguez. On this occasion, the orchestra presents a concert with the soloist Carolina Santana and the participation of Beatriz Pérez, vocalist of Última Llave, the Alexia Rodríguez Artistic Schools, the Children’s/Youth Chorus of the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Marcela Garrón, and Sara Cárdenes’s Múdate Studios dance company.
“Musicando” extends its programme
“Musicando”, the unmissable open-air music event, usually held at the José Antonio Ramos Auditorium in Doramas Park, will shortly be continuing its season of roots music, already honoured with a highly prized Canarian Music Award. Between February and June there are no fewer than five Saturdays programmed under this label, always at 9.00 pm and, for the first time, in different locations.
Fabiola Trujillo will present her show “With Mexican Soul” at the José Antonio Ramos Auditorium on 24 February. It is a real tribute to ranchera, a genre that has always been highly appreciated by the Gran Canaria audience and that Trujillo has developed with passion, dedication and success. With nine discs behind her since 2002, she always gives it everything she’s got in her stage performances.
After this will come Sylvie Hernández, on 16th March, in Tamaraceite Sur Park; José Manuel Ramos and Benito Cabrera, on 13 April, again in Doramas Park; Beatriz Alonso and Javier Cerpa, on 18 May, in the Plaza de Santo Domingo; and the bassist Paco Perera, on 1 June, at the José Antonio Ramos Auditorium in Doramas.
Classical Wednesdays with a prize
“Classical Wednesdays” will continue throughout this period at the Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, with a varied musical programme that will bring local talent to audiences within the walls of this iconic building. The programme will carry on running over these months. As always, the concerts, with free admission subject to capacity, will start at 7.00 pm.
On 6 March the Palacete will host a new edition of the “City of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Mystery and Intrigue Novel Award” (Premio Internacional de Novela de Misterio e Intriga Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). This is an important event for the city’s Culture Section, at which the winner of the competition will be revealed before the concert by the Jazz Train Trio with Susana Lang-Lenton.
The following month, the Advanced Music Conservatoire of the Canary Islands will have a prominent presence. Its students will take the stage at the Palacete on 3 April. And on 8 May the students of the Municipal School of Musical Studies (EMEM) will return to this venue. A multidisciplinary show of music and painting is scheduled for 22 May.
Theatre at Miller
The forthcoming dates in the city’s cultural programme also have a space reserved for theatre. On Thursday 14 March, at 8.00 pm, the Miller hosts the performance of I Am Phaedra, a work written and directed by Marianella Morena and starring Noelia Campo. Inspired by the myth, this Phaedra takes contemporary elements ranging from the social pressure for beauty and longing for eternal youth and the limits of fertility to political correctness when addressing our bodies and the narrative promoted about them.
On Friday 22 March, also at 8.00 pm, again at the Miller, is Our Dead: a dialogue in which an ETA car bomb lives side by side with the guns of a gang of Falangists, to immerse us in the terrible solitude of those who were victims of each. In this performance, brought to the capital of Gran Canaria by Micomicón Teatro, the company led by Laila Ripoll and Mariano Llorente, an octogenarian agrees to meet a repentant ETA prisoner who killed her son.
Ciclo Miradas
“Ciclo Miradas” is making its presence felt this spring on the stage of Teatro Guiniguada. On Friday 5 April, at 8.00 pm, Smoke Bomb has been scheduled (tickets on sale on the theatre’s website): the concert by Bely Basarte under the title of her latest album.
“Ciclo Miradas” will continue in the city’s cultural programme on Friday 3 May, with the comedy show You’re prettier with your mouths shut, from 8 pm (tickets on sale on the theatre’s website). This is a production conceived, written and performed entirely by women that includes musical numbers and monologues and has won favour with national critics in the last few years. The show is directed and presented by Jessika Rojano and the Valencian comedian Sil de Castro, with music by La Maria Rosa.
Transitando Dance Festival
The Transitando Dance Festival will play a notable part in this cultural programme of the capital of Gran Canaria, taking place for the third time in Juan Pablo II Park on the weekend of 19 to 21 April.
It is the third consecutive year that this event, promoted by the DISA Foundation, produced by Qué tal estás Productions and supported by Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council, has been held in this location. The programme includes a range of free activities in a festival aimed at the whole family.
Exhibitions
Until 23 March the Mata Castle Museum is hosting “The Casimiro Collection: Dissecting Art”, a show curated by Daniel Montesdeoca, managing director of Museo Néstor, which comprises works belonging to the collector José Antonio Casimiro Pérez, a doctor and surgeon by profession (LPGC, 1981).
The gems available to visitors are divided into two sections: “The Canary Islands: Tradition and Avant Garde” and “From Romanticism to the Silver Age of Spanish Culture”. Those interested will have access to 35 works by notable artists from both the Canary Islands and the Spanish mainland. They include pieces by Millares, Lola Massieu, Néstor, Pepe Dámaso, Jesús Arencibia, César Manrique, Servando del Pilar, Álvarez de Sotomayor, Julio Moisés, Antoni Fillol, Marceliano de Santamaría and Josep Maria Tamburini.
The Pepe Dámaso Cultural Centre also offers an active semester: from 23 February to 2 March, to mark “La Isleta Day”, promoted by the La Isleta Forum, this space will host activities in the basement and on the first floor. From the very moment of the opening, at 6.30 pm, the district will be able to enjoy exhibitions of paintings, displays of old photographs, work groups and workshops. There are also tributes to the “Neighbourhood Movement” and to outstanding personalities such as Saturnino Martínez. There will also be dramatized readings.
The commemorative events, theatre, recitals and even a concert by the “Barrios Orquestados” community orchestra will reach other points in La Isleta, a gathering that underlines the spirit of solidarity and belonging among its residents.
A bit later on, from 1 to 12 April, the doors of this space will open for the exhibition “Textile Waste: Experimentation in Architecture and Art through Reuse and Recycling of Textile Waste”, organized by the School of Architecture of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the School of Art and Advanced School of Design of Gran Canaria, in coordination with the Manolo Blahnik School of Art, La Palma, the Advanced Technical School of Civil Engineering of the University of Cantabria, the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Fashion of the University of Wellington, New Zealand, and the Department of Green Spaces of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Again, workshops and talks will be held in the basement and on the first floor.
The spring programme includes a fair number of other events related to established programmes, concerts by the Symphonic Band, the International Film Festival itself, the activities and actions of the Network of Municipal Public Libraries, and many other events, details of which will be provided as they get closer.