Surinach - Feria Mágica
At age 45, Carlos Surinach arrives in the United States, ushed by the precarious conditions left in Europe by World War 2. A few months later, he performed one of his works at a concert in New York’s Museum of Modern Art where works by Martha Graham, Balanchine, Doris Humphrey, and others were also performed. His success was immediate, and collaborations helped propelled his career in the United States. Feria Mágica, written five years later, its a dynamic concert overture that portray’s pagan rituals of the Romani, deep at night around an enormous bonfire.

Rodrigo - Concierto Andaluz
with solo guitarists Raley Beggs, Fred Springer, Ceili Connors , Robby Brown

Joaquín Rodrigo started to study music at age eight. He became a proficient musician and went to study in Paris under Paul Dukas, among others. After returning to Spain, he fell so oin love with the Spanish musical traditions that he went back to study musicology. Later he went to teach music history in the Universidad Complutense, one of Spain’s best universities, while achieving some of the highest musical honors as composers and writing commissions for some of the best musicians in the world - and he was blind since age 3!. This love for Spain’s musical tradition permeates all of Rodrigo’s music, and the Concierto Andaluz is an assortment of melodies that evoke the Andalusian region of Spain.

Falla - El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Suites 1 and 2
Considered the greatest Spanish composer of the 20th-century, Manuel de Falla wrote relatively few pieces, but his output presented the Spanish traditions in a very sophisticated way. During his 30s, Falla met Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Dukas, Isaac Albéniz, and he soaked up the writing techniques of these amazing group during his seven year stay in Paris. El Sombrero de Tres Picos (“The Three-Cornered Hat”) is a work that comes soon after his return to Spain. Falla wrote this ballet based on a novel by the same name; with lots of Andalusian music, costumes designed by Picasso and coreographed by Massine, “El Sombrero de tres Picos” was a great success when it was premiered in London.