Córdoba today sounds like classical music. After a process of decades, the city offers a healthy panorama in this fundamental area of culture. The work of the conservatories, the Córdoba Orchestra and the artists and groups of the city … who carry his name around the world are some of those responsible for this dynamism. Proof of this has been, for example, the result of the first edition of the Córdoba Spring Festival, organized by the Culture Delegation of the City hall in April and May.
In total, more than 6,500 people They went through this cycle of concerts that has brought together great international, national and Córdoba groups and artists. They almost always ended in full houses.
The artistic director of this festival is the Piano professor Juan Miguel Moreno Calderón, promoter of other successful events such as the Piano Festival Rafael Orozco and patron of the Orchestra among other performances. A key person in the bonanza that Cordoban classical music is experiencing and perhaps – due to his status as a musician, music lover, teacher and manager of the Culture area – the most qualified to x-ray the situation.
As he explains, Córdoba’s close relationship with classical music is historical, and hence there is “a great hubbywhich has sometimes not been valued in the way it deserved.
Moreno Calderón believes that one of the fundamental elements has been the work of the two conservatories that the city has. «They are living in a moment of great dynamism and that has allowed the establishment of a quarry and that many young musicians join new groups,” he adds.
Another of the essential elements to create this hobby has been the Córdoba Orchestra, which is moving towards its 35th anniversary in a new stage with a recent change of direction and management.
Also the important network of festivals that the City Council has created during the last decades. «We have a festival of old musicanother contemporary and the Rafael Orozco Piano Festival, to which the Primavera de Córdoba is now added,” explains Moreno.
The sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque, at the Rafael Orozco festival
Valerio Merino
In this case, he considers that what has been done “is laying a first stone and the objective is that over the years it can become one of the best festivals of Spain, something that has been achieved with the Rafael Orozco and that was also difficult to imagine when we first launched it 22 years ago.
Lastly, Moreno Calderón highlights the high level of the artists professionals that Córdoba is generating and that they have managed to succeed on large stages and festivals. “Classical music is one of our great strengths, but perhaps that had not been made visible,” he concludes.
One of the artists who carries the name of Córdoba around the world is the tenor Pablo García-López, who was in charge of opening the first edition of the Primavera festival last April together with the British pianist Simon Lepper. The singer explains that the classic is experiencing “very good growth and is heading towards an even better situation” in Córdoba.
Pablo García-López and Simon Lepper, in a recent concert
ABC
According to him, “the figure of Juan Miguel Moreno has been key in putting music in a position of greater prominence in the cultural policies of the city, something necessary because we can not only live off heritage». García-López also emphasizes that local musical entities have influenced this situation, such as the Córdoba Orchestra, the choirs, the Classical Quartet or the two conservatories, in which there is “a renewal of the management teams.”
In his opinion, “all this can be seen in the city and in the fact that the first Spring Festival had national impact Very powerful”. The tenor considers that the artistic future is also guaranteed with a new generation that has been pushing hard with instrumentalists “like Álvaro Toscano or Rafael Arjona and with composers like Miguel Linares».
“Classical music is one of our great strengths, but perhaps it had not been made visible,” says Juan Miguel Moreno Calderón.
«In recent years, great Cordoban artists of the older generation have died, such as Pedro Lavirgen, Luis Bedmar or Carmen Blanco and now a new generation is taking a more present role in the city,” he explains. As a challenge, she proposes maintaining “consistency in a programming that covers the entire year and that we continue to focus on bringing great international musicians to Córdoba.
Lastly, trust also beats in the words of the teacher and violinist Luis Ruben Gallardofundamental figure of the Córdoba Classic Quartet, one of the most successful classical groups from Córdoba. Regarding the Primavera Festival, he explains that “from the beginning we felt privileged to be part of that marriage between music and heritage in the middle of Cordoban spring.”
Concert by the Classical Quartet of Córdoba
Rafael Carmona
The artist remembers that 25 minutes before his concert began, which took place in the courtyard of the Archeological Museum, “there was already a queue of people waiting that went around the entire square.” In his opinion, a proposal of this type, which merged music and heritage, “was in the subconscious and I am sure that it will have high cultural prestige if this commitment is maintained.”
Gallardo, who is committed to being demanding in programming with high-quality and pure repertoires, explains that “in Córdoba we are not aware of the prestige what we are achieving outside” and sees a good future because “there are more and more possibilities, more and more audiences and more and more musicians and groups that want to make their way and that will continue to push for a very positive image of the city.”
His words emanate optimism, like all the people who are leading this boom that for now seems to have no end. It is clear that Córdoba sounds like classical music. And, what’s more, it sounds better and better.
