COMUNICACIÓN

YUSTE FOUNDATION CLOSES THE EMPEROR’S CYCLE OF CONCERTS WITH THE GROUP ‘MUSICA FICTA’

“The European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation and National Heritage organise a concert given by the group ‘Musica Ficta’, founded and conducted by Raúl Mallavibarrena, which will interpret the programme entitled ‘Carolus. Música para una corte española de los Austrias’ (Music for a Spanish Habsburg court), dealing with the first half of the 16th century. The concert will be held on Saturday 22 May, at 13:00 pm, at the Royal Monastery of Yuste’s church.

The Foundation intends to recall the date of Charles V’s death at the Royal Monastery of Yuste with this programme, a historical event that took place on 21 February 1558. This is why the musical programme goes through composers, whether Spanish or foreigners, who left us their music during the decades when Charles V was king of Spain, since his arrival in Asturias  in 1516 until he retired in Yuste.

The group ‘Musica Ficta’ interprets ancient music since it was founded in 1992 by Raúl Mallavibarrena. This national ensemble has performed in the most important Spanish festivals as in Norway, Germany, United Kingdom, Egypt, Argentina, USA, China, etc. They have recorded 22 CDs and have had critical acclaim and won important awards. They have carried out the first world recording of Francisco Guerrero’s ‘Villanescas Espirituales’ and in 2017 a new recording of ‘Requiem de Victoria’ was released to celebrate the group’s 25th anniversary. Musica Ficta is founder member of the Asociación de Grupos Españoles de Música Antigua (GEMA) (Association of Early Music Spanish Groups).

Raúl Mallavibarrena is specialized in repertoire from the 15th to the 18th century; he has conducted concerts in some of the mostimportant festivals in Spain, as in other European countries, the Middle East, United States, Asia, and Ibero-America with repertoire that goes from the Middle Ages to baroque zarzuelas and operas by Vivaldi, and a wide European Renaissance repertoire. He is often invited to give lessons and master classes in different universities and specialized centres and to collaborate with Teatro Real of Madrid.

The Emperor’s Concerts Cycle

In 1997 the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation initiated a series of concerts with the aim of establishing a musical cycle related to the period of Charles V in Extremadura, thereby proclaiming the European cultural heritage and its history as the main driving force of the process of European culture and integration.

This year the cycle of the Emperor’s Concerts was inaugurated on 26 May with the performance of the male vocal quintet ‘Ensemble Nobiles’ from Leipzig (Germany). Its programme included some parts of the ‘Messe de Nostre Dame’, by Guillaume de Machaut, the most ancient mass resulting from the pen of a single composer; the group ‘Collegium Musicum Madrid’ performed on 16 June with the programme entitled “Todos los bienes del mundo en el 550 aniversario del nacimineto de Juan del Encina”, as a commemoration of the playwright and singer from Zamora’s death.