España

The evening

Take a tour of perfumed gardens and experience vibrant folk dances in our selection of Spanish showstoppers.

If damp, cold England is getting you down, Stephen Bell and the Hallé Orchestra are ready to whisk you off to sunny Spain. Soak up the glorious atmosphere of Andalusia with Chabrier’s scorching España and Turina’s Serenata, as dreamy as the memory of a holiday romance.

Travel back through history with Massenet’s ballet music, inspired by three distinctive regions of 12th-century Spain.

Guitarist Gabriel Bianco will bring passion and colour to Rodrigo’s enticing Concierto de Aranjuez. The composer invites you to explore the 16th-century gardens of a palace: ‘the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains’.

The Spanish expression ‘vivir con pasión’ (live with passion) is perfectly embodied in tonight’s concert, no more so than in the seductive tunes of Bizet’s wonderful opera, Carmen.