Colourful presentation of concert in Palma´s Plaza Mayor

Shoppers crossing the Plaza Mayor in Palma yesterday were surprised, and delighted, to find it had been “occupied” by a group of “animals” playing a variety of musical instruments. It was, in fact, a brief taste of the show which will be put on at the Auditorium on Saturday evening as part of the Winter Classical Music Festival. The event is Carnival of the Animals and it will include a performance of the work of that name by Saint-Säens, by the Basler Festival Ensemble, conducted by Thomas Herzog, with Caterina Alorda as the narrator and Francesc Blanco and Maria Victoria Cortes as the soloists. Blanco said yesterday that they wanted to do something more than just a concert, and so the musicians have been dressed up as animals. The violins will reproduce the sound of donkeys and cockerels and the piano will evoke the lion. Slides will be shown to accompany the music, he added. The programme will also include Liliana by Salvador Brotons, former conductor of the Balearic Symphony Orchestra. But it is not just Palma which will be able to enjoy the show. It will be performed on Friday at the Auditorium of Alcudia at 8pm (admission 1'000 pesetas); on Saturday at the Auditorium in Palma at 10pm (admission 2'500 pesetas) and Sunday at the Sa Maniga auditorium of Cala Millor at 7pm (admission 500 pesetas). The Alcudia and Cala Millor performances are part of the Winter in Majorca programme.