Tomatito opens the 23rd edition of Flamenco Festival, dedicated to the figure of Paco de Lucía and the musical legacy of the spanish guitar
30 artists, including 150 from Spain and another 80 from the Manhattan Wind Ensemble perform at 24 events in New York City, plus 20 concerts in Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC
The guitarist Tomatito, one of the global leading figures of the Spanish guitar, will open the 23rd edition of Flamenco Festival New York, on March 1st, at the iconic and historic Town Hall in New York City. This is the same stage where Maestro Sabicas (Agustín Castellón Campos, considered the driving force behind the internationalization of flamenco) presented the first flamenco guitar recital in history, in 1959. Tomatito's performance will mark the beginning of a new edition of Flamenco Festival, bringing together 230 participants in a long-awaited tribute to guitarist Paco de Lucía, on the tenth anniversary of his death. Flamenco Festival reaches its 23rd edition in New York, once again as its main venue in the United States, in an unmissable event from March 1st to 17th, which will feature the Spanish guitar as the protagonist. Additionally, there will be a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of Spanish musician and poet Vicente Espinel, a writer and musician from the Spanish Golden Age, who is credited with the creation of the modern poetic form of the décima, composed of ten octameters, named espinela in Spanish after him.
Almost two decades after the guitar master Paco de Lucía last performed in the Big Apple, –precisely during the celebration of Flamenco Festival New York 2007–, the event resumes this historic milestone to bring together names such as Tomatito, Rafael Riqueni, Alejandro Hurtado, Raúl Cantizano, Rycardo Moreno, Antonia Jiménez, Diego del Morao, David de Arahal, Olga Pericet, Manuel Liñán, Paula Comitre, Alfonso Losa, Israel Fernández, María José Llergo, Inma La Carbonera, Sandra Carrasco, and Los Voluble, among others. These figures represent the best of flamenco dance, guitar playing, and singing, aiming to captivate an audience eager for thrilling and authentic emotions. They will witness multiple, unique, and unrepeatable moments in this edition, which will bring together proposals specifically created to celebrate music and praise the talent, innovation, and contribution of the master Paco de Lucía.
Overall, it is expected that the attendance to this flamenco event will surpass 37,400 people (20,600 in New York and 16,800 among the rest of the host cities), who will be able to enjoy the 19 companies included in this 23rd edition. The programme includes 44 performances in 21 venues across New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Washington DC, at renowned locations such as the New York City Center, The Town Hall, The Public Theater, or Jazz at Lincoln Center, as well as the Kauffman Music Center/Merkin Concert Hall or Berklee Theatre, to name a few examples in the Big Apple.
A programme with the Spanish guitar as the epicentre of flamenco
In this 2024 edition of Flamenco Festival, the guitar will have a prominent role as an instrument with strong roots in flamenco. A tribute motivated by the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of the musician, poet, and writer from Malaga Vicente Espinel, a key figure in Spanish musical history who is credited for having added the fifth string and therefore, having invented the "Spanish guitar". The creation, dissemination and popularization of this instrument is a fundamental emblem of flamenco art and its sound is inseparable from it.
Each company will also pay tribute to another contemporary figure such as Paco de Lucía, the genius who popularized flamenco worldwide and who has been the great renovator of guitar playing, fusing it with other styles without losing its classical essence.