21/06/2013 00:00
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by Staff Reporter
THE summer programme of concerts at Bellver Castle, organised by the Palma city council, opens tomorrow, Saturday, with a recital by pianist Manuel Garcia Morante and soprano Maria Rosselló. The concert will be the first live performance of their album 25 Traditional Majorcan Songs. Garcia Morante said yesterday that the idea for the CD came about more than ten years ago, when he started to work on arrangements of Majorcan songs for soprano Francisca Quart, but the project was shelved after her untimely death. It was later resumed with Maria Rossello from Manacor, and is both a tribute to the island and to Quart. The programme will include La Sibil.la, the prophecies of Judgement Day which is sung in all Majorcan churches at Christmas.
The concert is free.
Details of the summer programme were presented by Rogelio Araujo, the city councillor in charge of the cultural department, who said that this year, it had a budget of 200'000 euros and is sponsored by Gesa, Sol Melia and Sa Nostra. One of the highlights will be the performance of the symphony The Mountains of Majorca by British composer Derek Bourgeois. It will be performed by the Palma Municipal Band which is currently giving concerts in the Plaza Mayor every Tuesday and Thursday, on July 23. The symphony is divided into two parts of three movements each, inspired in the Tramuntana and Arta mountain ranges. This concert is free.
The summer festival at the castle will also include major theatrical productions such as the classic Don Gil de las Calzas Verdes by Tirso de Molina, which can be seen on June 24 and 25. It will be performed by the Teatro Corsario company and tickets cost 20 euros.
The play dates from Spain's Golden Century, which is also the source of the poems set to music which will be performed by Julia Leon on July 2 (tickets 15 euros). Acoustic rock from Elliott Murphy, who has collaborated with Bruce Springsteen, and Sid Griffin can be heard on July 9 and Gerard Quintana, former leader of Catalan rock band Sopa de Cabra, will be appearing on July 16. The Castle will also be the setting for the Summer Serenades, the last of which will be given on September 3 by mezzosoprano Teresa Berganza, and four concerts by the Balearic Symphony Orchestra (starting on July 7), with Don Quijote as the central theme.