BNE and ONE première a family-focused production based on Falla’s El Amor Brujo

Under the direction of Josep Gil, ONE will perform a version featuring flamenco singer María Toledo and narrator Ana Hernández.

Songs, spells, dances, love... Rubén Olmo, director of the Ballet Nacional de España, recreates a more contemporary and personal take on this Falla classic in this new ballet based on El Amor Brujo.

Part monodrama, part ballet and part concert suite, El Amor Brujo is one of the most iconic scores in the Spanish orchestral repertoire, and its Danza ritual del fuego is its most popular piece. Rewritten numerous times between 1915 and 1925 in different formats, the work is permanently open to creation and reinvention, as well as to the collaboration of artists with flamenco roots.

This project is a joint initiative of Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and Ballet Nacional de España. The director of the BNE, Rubén Olmo, had previously danced and choreographed some of the numbers in this work, but had never performed it in its entirety.

For Rubén Olmo, “this new ballet is a metaphor for love.” He used only the characters from El Amor Brujo in his creation to speak about the freedom of love and its different forms of love. In his opinion: “Love cannot be controlled. Love must be left free, allowed to flow. You have to feel its freedom. It's a nod to the freedom of love. Everything stays where it belongs. In free and true love.”

As part of the educational activities of both institutions, two special performances will be held for school audiences on April 11 and 12. In addition, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España has developed an educational guide to help bring the content of the programme closer to the audience attending Sunday's concert, as well as the two school concerts for nearly 4,000 primary and secondary school students.

EL AMOR BRUJO

Ballet Nacional de España

Programme:

El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla

Orquesta Nacional de España

Josep Gil, director

María Toledo, singer

Ana Hernández Sanchiz, narrator

Ballet Nacional de España

Rubén Olmo, director

Cast

Witch: Inmaculada Salomón

Candelas: Débora Martínez

Lucía: Irene Tena

Espectro: Eduardo Martínez

José: José Manuel Benítez

Carmelo: Albert Hernández

Auditorio Nacional. Madrid.

School concert: Thursday 11 April 2024, at 10:30

School concert: Friday 12 April 2024, at 10:30

Family concert: Sunday 14 April 2024, at 12:00

Sold out