The Ensemble “La Cuarentena” will perform in Mallorca
26 June 2009The Argentinean singer Sergio Bustos together with Leo Juanes and Alfredo Oyagüez on piano will give a concert of Andean and Latin Music as well as tango in Palma de Mallorca. The concert will be part of the annual world-class outdoor spectacles that are held in the magnificent courtyard of the Palau March. The show will feature the Cuarentena Ensemble, which is a project of South American musicians launched in 2007. The music is veering towards chamber music while maintaining the essence and depth of popular musical styles. La Cuarentena will perform everything from classic tango to modern versions of Astor Piazzolla to folklore reminding of Mercedes Sosa and Alberto Cortez. The Ensemble will give three concerts in Mallorca, all in remarkably stunning settings, on the 25th June at Son Marroig in Deiá, at Palma´s Palau March on the 26th and at the property of the Centre Cultural Andratx on the 27th of June.
The Museu de Mallorca offers an interesting tour around the history of the island
26 June 2009The Museu de Mallorca, which was set up in 1976, is located in the typical Majorcan property of the Counts of Ayamans, popularly known as Ca la Gran Cristina. The Museum contains archaeological remains, ranging from important Talaiots pieces to figures and ceramics from the Modernist period as well as examples of the stages in Italian and international Gothic painting. The building contains three floors, a main doorway with round arch, a manorial floor with Baroque balconies, an attic with Gothic windows as well as remains of the first identified Muslim house on the island in its central courtyard. Exceptional is the collection of weapons, symbols and ornaments of the first settlers on the island with materials of protohistory, which were found on the site of the Turó de Ses Beies. The different periods of colonization which the island underwent are reflected through reproductions of the Greek-Punic boat, the rooms of a Domus, a Roman house with typical atrium and the replica of an Arab tomb.
Real Mallorca´s football player Miguel Ángel Moyá
25 June 2009Majorcan football player Miguel Ángel Moyá, who is currently playing for Real Mallorca, received an offer from the football club in Valencia. His agent Manuel García Quilón said, that Ángel Moyá was very interested and confirmed talks between both football clubs, Mallorca and Valencia. García Quilón also mentioned that also other European teams are interested in the goalkeeper Ángel Moyá, without revealing more details. Moyá, who owns a property in Mallorca, made his professional debut with hometown RCD Mallorca in 2004. The Real Club Deportivo Mallorca is the oldest club in the Balearic Islands and was founded in 1916, by republican engineer Adolfo Vazquez. The club was first named Junta Directiva del Alfonso XIII FBC after the after the former Spanish King and was renamed in 1931 for political reasons in Club Deportivo Mallorca. The prefix Real was added in 1949. Real Mallorca has featured in 20 seasons in La Liga. They won the Copa del Rey in 2003 and were runners-up in 1991 and 1998.
Verdi’s “La Traviata” will be performed in the Castell de Bellver
25 June 2009On July 4 Giuseppe Verdi’s famous opera “La Traviata” will be shown on the stunning property of the Castillo de Bellver in Palma de Mallorca. In total 150 artists - mainly singers and musicians of the Balearic Islands - are involved. The spectacle was organized in collaboration with the town councils of Andratx and Palma, the Majorcan chapel and the Consell de Mallorca-Teatro Principal. Verdi’s opera tells the love story of a courtesan and a young man from a wealthy family during the 19th century in Paris. The opera is based on Alexandre Dumas´ novel “La dame aux Camélias”, which was published in 1848. La Traviata, which means “The Woman who strayed” or “The fallen woman”, was first performed in March 1853 in Venice, promptly failed and needed a revision. Only a couple of months later the revised version was successfully performed in London. Today Verdi´s La Traviata is one of the most frequently performed and most famous operas worldwide.
The Palau March in Palma de Mallorca
23 June 2009The March Palace in Palma de Mallorca was built between 1939 and 1944 by the Spanish financier Juan March. It covers an area of over 1,500 square metres and is situated on a property on the site of the previous Santo Domingo Convent between the Círculo Mallorquín, the Calle Conquistador and the Calle Palau Reial. The Palace is offering an outstanding library dedicate to subjects of Bartolomé March Servera, youngest son of Juan March Ordinas and patron of the arts. After a reconstruction of the building, the museum holds a museum that exhibits the collection of contemporary sculptures that Bartolomé March had in the Torre Cega in the town of Cala Ratjada, including works by Rodin, Chillida, Berrocal, Alfaro, Henry Moore as well as the popular Neapolitan Nativity Scene of the XVIII century, which can be visited at Christmas. The main staircase and the music room are decorated by the murals painted by Josep Maria Sert. Regularly concerts of chamber orchestras and contemporary music are being held in the auditorium of the Palau March.
Annual concerts in the exceptional setting of the Torrent de Pareis
23 June 2009The concerts in the Torrent de Pareis in Escorca were initiated in 1964 by the Spanish painter Josep Coll Bardolet, who owns a property in Valdemossa, aiming to familiarize people with choral music. The annual concerts were intimate, but by the time the spectacular setting of the Torrent de Pareis, which was declared a Natural Monument in 2003, and the fabulous music attracted more and more visitors. Later Sa Nostra took over the organization, now the concert gathers thousands of people. The concert will take place every year in Majorca on the first Sunday in July. The choirs sing classical, popular or modern music and versions of works by late 20th century composers. This year’s edition will feature Cuban beats of Vocal Tempo and Nice Tour. The Torrent de Pareis can be reached by car, by boat from the Port of Sóller or by an excursion on a guided tour following the course of the Torrent.
A new exhibition in Mallorca’s Es Baluard Museum
22 June 2009“Under the Snow” is the current exhibition in the Es Baluard Museum. It includes twelve large-format paintings and fourteen drawings by the Russian couple Ila and Emilia Kabakov, who immigrated into the United States during the era of the Soviet regime. The images, which were produced between 2004 and 2006, show the couple’s native country covered in a mantle of snow, emulated by white paint. White landscapes, broken by cracks and footsteps through which fragments of Kabakov´s personal memory of the recent past of the former Soviet Union emerge. The exhibition can be seen in the Es Baluard Museum until September 6. The Museum is situated in a property with fabulous sea views in the center of Palma de Mallorca and has an initial core of more than 500 pieces of art. The sculptures, paintings and drawings are made by international artists linked to the most significant trends since the late 19th century, such as Cezanne, Barceló, Picasso, Miró, Magritte and many more.
Majorca - An island with a long and eventful history
22 June 2009Majorca has a long history, which was mainly formed by conquerors, invaders, settlers and tourists. The Balearic Islands were formed around 150 million years ago. At first Mallorca was joined to the peninsula as an underwater island. One hundred million years later it became the island it is now. The main vegetation at that time was scrub forests, rosemary, wild olive, lentiscus as well as dwarf palms plus rockrose and lavender in the sierra. The fauna was not diverse and included among others small field mice and wood shrews. Early settlers arrived on the island around the 1st century AD, but it was not until the arrival of the Moors in the 10th century that Majorca saw anybody taking a significant stronghold upon it. The following 300 years were marked by battles between the occupying Muslims and the invading Christians. In the 13th century King Jaume I of Aragon and Catalunya took over the island, destroyed the properties that the Moors established and formed the independent Kingdom of Mallorca. In 1808 the city of Palma fought fiercely against the yoke of Napoleon, however, the development of the agricultural infrastructure and the rail network made progress. In the 20th century the island more and more became a popular destination for tourists as air travel became increasingly available. Today tourism is the main economic sector.
Forthcoming shows and concerts in Majorca
17 June 2009On June 18 the Compania Joan Fullana is staging a show which is an exceptional semi-biographical recreation of the person as well as the works of the poet and musician Guillem D´Efak. D´Efak was born in Guinea and spend most of his life in the village of Manacor in Mallorca and Barcelona. Those were the three most important venues in the life of the artist and are reflected in the play in the property of the Auditori Sa Mániga in Cala Millor.
On June 27th rocker and writer Carlos Garrido will pay tribute to The Kinks´ Ray Davies. It will be a show in café-concert format, including covers of “Waterloo Sunset”, “Lola” and “You Really got Me”. He interpreted the songs with anecdotes and amusing stories and is portraying his generation, which discovered rock and roll in their youth and clashed with their parents and the Franco regime here in Spain. The Kinks were an English rock group formed in 1963 and were considered one of the most influential bands of our time.
Ramon Llull
17 June 2009Ramon Llull was a philosopher and writer, born in 1315 in Palma de Mallorca. He still is one of the most significant Majorcans of our time; wandering through the island one will see his name on street signs and his statues on public properties. By writing his entire, comprehensive work in Catalan, he made his native language one of the main languages of literature and culture. He also wrote the first major work of Catalan language. Llull was born into a wealthy family and was well educated. He became the tutor of James I of the kingdom of Aragon and later worked as courtier at the court of King James II of Majorca, wher he wrote lyrical troubadour poetry. His principal work was “Ars magna”, in which he depicted theology, philosophy as well as the natural sciences as manifestations of the godhead of the universe. Also he is known for his treatise on chivalry, animal fables and an encyclopedia of medieval thought.
