The Festival kicks off this week with a concert by Avishai Cohen & the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra
- Entrance tickets for the two concerts by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis were sold out in just a few hours
- The change in the alert level in Tenerife has caused changes to be made to the venues for the concerts staged in Adeje & Santa Cruz de Tenerife
The 30th edition of the Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Mas kicks off this week with concerts by Avishai Cohen and the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, featuring what would supposedly be the live world premiere of their latest work, Two Roses, released last April. And they do so with the concert on Thursday 1 July at the Pérez Galdós Theatre completely sold out and the last few tickets available for the one the following day at the Tenerife Auditorium. Also sold out are the venues for the two concerts by Cimafunk (Friday at the ‘Jazz Corner’ & Saturday at the Santo Domingo Convent in La Laguna), getting the festival off to the best of expectations, with tickets for the concert by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis having also been sold out in a matter of hours, and the ones by Snarky Puppy heading the same way.
During these days prior to the start of activities, the Festival is offering alternative venues following the change in alert level to 3 in Tenerife by the health authorities. Some of the concerts programmed in Adeje & Santa Cruz de Tenerife have a change in venue from open-air spaces to theatres & auditoriums. Miguel Ramírez, director of Canarias Jazz & Mas, confirmed this morning at the press conference that “the concerts due to be held in the public square ‘Plaza de España’ in Adeje on 9 & 10 July will take place at the Auditorium ‘EMMA’ and those in the square ‘Plaza de la Candelaria’ in Santa Cruz on 16 & 17 July, will be moved to the place of interest ‘La Granja’ and the ‘Sala de Cámara’ (Chamber Hall) at the Tenerife Auditorium” (all information relating to the programming and sale of tickets on www.canariasjazz.com.
It is precisely these circumstances brought about by the health & safety protocols “that entrance tickets have been put on sale in dribs & drabs; we have been holding back because of this situation in the event of the possibility of increasing audience capacity”. The sale of tickets have gone “magnificently, entrance tickets for the main concerts being sold out in hours and we believe this will be the keynote for all the others”.
Representatives of the main institutions that collaborated & sponsored the festival, were also present at the press conference, such as Juan Márquez, Deputy Minister for Culture at the Canary Islands Government, who spoke of the festival as “part of our cultural heritage, it is already an institution of our programming”, and highlighted the role of the private sponsor, ‘Canaluz’, “as being fundamental to the strong billing the festival features this year”.
Also present were Carlos Álamo, Councillor for Tourism at the Cabildo (Island Council) of Gran Canaria, who valued “culture as an enhancing element for Gran Canaria as a tourist destination”; Mercedes Díaz, Councillor for Citizen Participation in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, expressed her congratulations for “the return of the festival to our municipality, at two such emblematic venues as the Faro of Maspalomas Esplanade and the Convention Centre of ‘ExpoMeloneras’; Carolina Alonso, Councillor for Culture in Santa Brígida, “a municipality that has been with the festival almost since the very beginning, which backed it last year during its toughest moments of the pandemic and was not going to be left out at its 30th anniversary”; Tilman Kuttenkeuler, Managing Director of the Auditorium & Theatre Foundation, “very pleased to have at our theatre Wynton Marsalis with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra”; as well as Lorenzo Muñoz Cerdeña, CEO of ‘Canaluz’, the main private sponsor of the festival, who asserted not having doubted “for a single moment when we were given the opportunity to sponsor the festival. We are a renewable energy company and culture also is energy”.
In this first weekend, the programme also features performances by several local groups: Javier Infante & Pablo Rodríguez and the Luismo Valladares Quartet will open the series of concerts on Thursday at the Santo Domingo Convent in La Laguna, Tenerife; Yexza Lara & Pablo Selnik will stage the opening act for the concert featuring Cimafunk at this same venue; on Saturday, the Pablo Queu Sextet and Luis Merino will share the stage at the José Antonio Ramos Auditorium (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria); and Buzo Ruso will close this first weekend’s activities with a concert on Sunday at The Paper Club.
The line-up with some top class classic and up-and-coming figures, such as the pianist Fred Hersch, in a trio format; the powerful voice of Liv Warfield; the skills on the guitar of Julian Lage; and the aplomb of a good number of bands which this year go to make up the so-called ‘& Mas’ and who will offer performances related to jazz, like soul & funk, featuring the participation of José James and his rich style based on neo soul, hip-hop & drum‘nbass; the large ensemble as represented in Brooklyn Funk Essentials; the Latin rhythms trimmed with soul & funk by the Cubans Cimafunk; the garage soul of The Buttshakers; and the ever surprising blend of Latin jazz with which Patax arranges pieces of renowned artists, and which on this occasion happens to be a totally crazy rendition of The Beatles repertoire.
As always, the Canarias Jazz & Mas Festival offers in its programme renowned artists with others heading in that direction, but also aware of the up-and-coming ensembles. Musicians who move between classic jazz and the contemporary. Veterans on the national scene like Jorge Pardo with Carles Benavent & Tino Di Geraldo; and Maria Joao & Carlos Bica Quartet; with new faces ready to be launched, such as Cyrille Aimée, Chico Pinheiro Quartet; and also Ozma, Jean-Paul Estiévenart Quintet, Óscar Peñas & The Black Barbies.
And of course, it goes without saying, the stage venues at the Canarias Jazz & Mas Festival will be the setting for a good number of groups that were formed on these islands, and some of the veterans who have played at this event while just starting out, will return to be the star performers at the festival, like the Kike Perdomo Sextet. Up to a total of eleven Canarian groups feature in the programme, among those being Miriam Fleitas & D’Local Groove, Yone Rodríguez Sextet, Javier Infante & Pablo Rodríguez, Luis Merino, Simbeque, Luismo Valladares Quartet, Yexza Lara & Pablo Selnik, Pablo Queu Sextet, Gino Marcelli Trio, Jonay Mesa Quintet….
In this 30th edition, the Festival Canarias Jazz & Mas goes to the eight islands for the first time in the same edition (having already staged concerts on all, but not in the same year), a milestone that is due also to the collaboration of all the institutions that have made it possible to celebrate this musical event: the Canary Islands Government; the Island Councils of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife & Gran Canaria (through its Tourist Board); the Town Halls of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Brígida, Teguise, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Laguna, Puerto de la Cruz, Adeje, Los Llanos de Aridane, San Sebastián de La Gomera; and venues such as the Adán Martín Auditorium of Tenerife, the Auditorium & Theatre Foundation of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Theatre Guiniguada, the place of interest ‘La Granja’, and others that have been added this year, like the Elder Museum of Science & Technology, the Convent of Santo Domingo in La Laguna, the Convention Centre of ‘ExpoMeloneras’ and the Tenerife Nature & Archeology Museum (MUNA).
PROGRAMME FIRST WEEKEND:
Thursday 1:
La Laguna – Santo Domingo Convent
Javier Infante & Pablo Rodríguez + Luis Valladares Quartet
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – Pérez Galdós Theatre
An Evening with Avishai Cohen ‘Two Roses’ & Tenerife Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bastien Stil
Friday 2:
Santa Cruz de Tenerife – Adán Martín Auditorium
An Evening with Avishai Cohen ‘Two Roses’ & Tenerife Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bastien Stil
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – Jazz Corner (Alfredo Kraus Auditorium)
Cimafunk
Saturday 3:
La Laguna – Santo Domingo Convent
Yexza Lara & Pablo Selnik + Cimafunk
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – José Antonio Ramos Auditorium
Pablo Queu Sextet + Luis Merino – Pelula
La Graciosa – Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen
Javier Infante & Pablo Rodríguez
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