Upssala XVIII International Guitar Festival. Concert Concierto de Aranjuez

España! Concierto de Aranjuez, El Amor Brujo & Turia

This year, the composer Joaquín Rodrigo, who created the as yet unsurpassed Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, would turn 120 years old. We celebrate this with conductor Christian Karlsen and guitarist Jacob Kellermann - both Grammy Award winners! - who together with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra give us their version of Rodrigo's fantastic masterpiece. Music that reflects the Spanish culture: the landscape, the food, the passion - everything that conveys to us the image of Spain. Concierto de Aranjuez also sincerely shapes the soul of the guitar and the melody of the intermediate movement goes straight to the heart.

Program
Concierto de Aranjuez - A tribute to Joaquín Rodrigo 120 years
El amor Brujo - passionate music by Manuel De Falla
Turia - guitar concert by acclaimed Francisco Coll (premiere version for orchestra)

Participants
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra & Swedish wind instruments under the direction of Christian Karlsen
Guitarist: Jacob Kellermann, Sweden
Violin: Leticia Moreno, Spain
Song: Carina Vinke

Spain is the cultural outsider who was eventually liberated from the Moors and became a symbol of the exotic, erotic and mysterious. And the guitar is the instrument that forms the very image of Spain.

This year, the composer Joaquín Rodrigo, who created the as yet unsurpassed Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, would turn 120 years old. We celebrate this with conductor Christian Karlsen and guitarist Jacob Kellermann - both Grammy Award winners! - which together with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra gives us its version of Rodrigo's fantastic masterpiece. Music that reflects the Spanish culture: the landscape, the food, the passion - everything that conveys to us the image of Spain. Concierto de Aranjuez also sincerely shapes the soul of the guitar and the melody of the intermediate movement goes straight to the heart.

One of Spain's greatest musical profiles is Manuel de Falla. In his El amor brujo - The magic power of love - there is fire, the melodic richness, the typically Spanish timbres but also distinctly Roman features. De Falla, like so many composers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was fascinated by Roma culture. El amor brujo is originally ballet music but also contains song and was written for the acclaimed flamenco dancer Pastora Imperio. We recognize the famous ritual fire dance, one of Manuel de Falla's most famous orchestral movements.

Central to the program is also music by the Spanish composer Francisco Coll, who with his sonorously imaginative and melodically rich music has taken the position as one of Spain's most prominent and sought-after composers today. His new guitar concerto - Turia - is named after the river in Valencia and was originally written in 2017. Before the concert in Uppsala, the composer reworked the work for guitar and orchestra and the new version gets its premiere here. Turia is a very special river that does not contain water, but gardens, fountains, cafes and an opera house. "Flamenco music is very present on the surface, but filtered through my sonorous imagination," says Francisco Coll about his new guitar concerto.

Jacob Kellermann
Jacob Kellermann has established himself as one of Sweden's most active, young guitarists. He works as a soloist and chamber musician, especially in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, and his repertoire often focuses on his own transcriptions. In 2021, he was awarded a Grammy for best classical album together with conductor Christian Karlsen!