MONCLOA - ARAVACA
Joaquín Rosado Auditorium
No. 22 Calle de Santa Pola
The Price (El precio)
2 December, 7pm
La Farándula Theatre Company
A play by Arthur Miller. Four characters, each wrapped up in their own misery, try to make the best out of a dilapidated inheritance. A wily antique dealer, a frustrated wife and two brothers separated by an abyss after the 1929 crash tore the family apart.
Directed by: Hipólito Guijarro
Cast: Paco Salvatierra, Loreno Collado, Higinio Berzosa, Javier Páez
Christmas Stories
10 December, 7pm
Special Christmas Concert The Actors Choir
This choir is made up of actors and actresses who tell stories through music and theatre. They journey back to the roots of humanity through African songs, gospel, religious works, boleros, and soundtracks, always with peace and love as their guiding principles. At this very special time of the year, they perform carols from all over the world, songs that cross borders and are part of our folklore because they convey a message that transcends any language or nationality.
Directed by: Claudio Pascual
Spanish Fantasy (Fantasía Española)
15 December, 7pm
En Ruta Classics Concert. AIE Ascot Quartet
The Ascot Quartet is one of the ensembles selected for the 2023 EN RUTA CLASSICS concert tour, a programme featuring young classical performers from the AIE (the Spanish Association of Artists, Interpreters and Performers).
The Ascot Quartet's research and performances focus on presenting a varied, balanced, egalitarian and innovative repertoire of unjustly forgotten Spanish composers, alongside more familiar names from our country's musical literature, offering a broader perspective on what is commonly considered “Spanish music”.
The programme includes pieces by Rosa García Ascot, Manuel de Falla’s only pupil and a close friend of Igor Stravinsky, and by Elena Romero, Spain’s first female professional orchestra conductor and a pupil of Joaquín Turina, whose Piano Quartet in A minor is also included, a work of folkloric reminiscences bathed in an Impressionist atmosphere. The evening will conclude with a performance of Fernando Remacha’s Quartet.
Little Red Riding Hood (Caperucita Roja)
26 December, 12 noon
Christmas for children. Tropos Teatro De Títeres Company
Adaptation of the popular tale
Little Red Riding Hood just couldn’t help being disobedient. As soon as her mother told her one thing, she couldn’t help but do the opposite. Which is why she had to wander into the woods... Flop just loves making cakes, pies and tarts, but what she loves most is eating the biscuits her mother makes. One day, when she goes to pick one up, she finds a note. “I'm leaving these biscuits for your granny. Don’t take any”. What! I can’t have one? But she just needs to be told not to do something to get an irresistible desire to do just that. She remembers a story her mother used to tell her when she was small and they were in the kitchen together. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl who couldn't stand still”. And thus begins this story of this little girl who couldn’t help doing the opposite of what she was told. Deep down, she was just like her mother and her grandmother. Because after all, who hasn’t been disobedient once or twice?
Recommended for children over 4 years of age.
Gospel Souldrivers
28 December, 7pm
Gospel Concert. Souldrivers is a modern vocal harmony group in constant evolution.
Directed by Nuria Elósegui and influenced by the blues, soul, pop, rock and traditional gospel, they have several projects on the go in the music scene.
Juan Genovés Cultural Centre
No. 7 Travesía del Caño
Unlimited
3 December, 7pm
Music. Maria Toro Quartet
María Toro presents her latest project, Unlimited, based on the experiences and shared folklore that have marked her life on several continents. After a trilogy of albums in which she fused flamenco jazz with New York jazz (A contraluz, 2013), Brazilian sounds (Araras, 2016) and the music of Galicia (Fume, 2019), she has now embarked on a new venture. Unlimited marks a new milestone in Toro’s journey of exploration, combining, as it does, all of her previous background with the African influences gleaned from her recent experiences in Mozambique and even revisiting her first musical forays into progressive rock. The project continues Toro’s musical experimentation from new places and allows the artist to face new challenges with the same premise that has accompanied her since the beginning of her career: music knows no limits.
Tribute to Nino Bravo
16 December, 7pm
Music. Paco Arrojo
A show that revisits the Valencian artist’s greatest hits, respecting the original harmonies in an acoustic sound with modern, all-encompassing arrangements.
Nino Bravo is one of those artists who have left their mark on many generations. Paco Arrojo, of course, is no exception. When he was a child, his music was always on the radio in the family home and it was hard not to be moved by his brilliant and powerful voice and by those beautiful songs, that so many of us have sung at one time or another... A musical reference despite his early demise. To pay tribute to Nino and remember his legacy, is to journey back in time through our emotions and our memories... Thank you Nino!
Paco Arrojo explores the most popular repertoire of the artist Nino Bravo, with respect and deep admiration, performing each song with affection and passion in an acoustic format, to the delight of the audience, accompanied by Pau Álvarez on piano and David Escudero on guitar.
A Christmas Carol
17 December, 7pm
Christmas Concert. Saint Michael Choir
In 1995, the “St. Michael’s Choir” got off to a flying start. Directed by Javier Blanco, it is made up of students from the St. Michael’s Educational Centres.
Conductor: Javier Blanco
The Brave Little Tailor (El sastrecillo valiente)
27 December, 12 noon
Christmas for children. Hilando Títeres Company
Seven flies were buzzing around a tailor, bothering him as he worked, so he decided to get rid of them right away, and he did. Just like that. Proud of what he had done, for it was no easy matter, he made himself a sash and embroidered the following words on it: “Seven at a stroke”. He then decided that the world should know of his achievement, so he tied the sash around his back and set off on a journey. On the way he met a giant who, thinking that the phrase referred to men, not flies, showed him all due respect.
However, the giant puts him to the test on several occasions but the brave little tailor emerges unscathed thanks to his ingenuity.
New Year Concert. Walter Sax Big Band
3 January, 7pm
With Cris de la Osa, John O’ Brien and Yaiza López on vocals, the WSA BIG BAND is made up of more than 20 musicians. It was formed more than 10 years ago at the Walter Sax Academy, a music academy founded by the saxophonist Walter Geromet that focuses on teaching the saxophone and creating large jazz orchestras.
Today, the WSA BIG BAND is the Academy’s flagship ensemble. Made up of the school’s best students and several professional musicians, it features no fewer than 15 saxophones of different sizes, including sopranos, altos, tenors and baritones, as well as a rhythm section consisting of bass, drums, guitar, piano, percussion, two or three vocalists and a conductor.
Firmly committed to good music, fun, jazz and empathy, their repertoire ranges from jazz to funk, soul and rock’n’roll, revisiting classics by major artists who live on in the memories of young and old alike, such as Etta James, Marilyn Monroe, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Bubble, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin. They also play their own arrangements of legendary swing classics from the days of Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini, as well as excerpts from musicals such as Chicago, Porgy and Bess and Cabaret.
Directed by: Walter Geromet
Julio Cortázar Cultural Centre
No. 20 Calle Antonio Machado
Christmas Concert
14 December, 7pm
Benjamin Zafra and Adrian Begoña
A cinematographic and musical show that revisits the most charismatic Christmas songs in the history of American cinema.
The twelve tunes that make up the show are accompanied by a dynamic projection of edited excerpts from classic films, photographic montages of the stars who made them famous and several opportunities for audience participation.
An evocative concert that will bring back memories of Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, or Nat King Cole, among others. Line-up: Benjamín Zafra (vocals) and Adrián Begoña (piano).
Professor Bromato’s Classes (Las clases del Profesor Bromato)
16 December, 12 noon
Theatre for Children. Likuado Teatro Company
Pure science in a highly entertaining animated show that combines the performance of various scientific experiments with total audience interaction in a question and answer contest that will demonstrate how some physical phenomena occur.
Clumsy as ever, Professor Bromato will surprise us with fascinating experiments, such as the balloon that nobody can blow up or the elastic egg.
Recommended for children over 5 years of age
A Fabulous Christmas (Una Navidad de fábula)
27 December, 12 noon
Christmas for children. Marimba Marionetas Company
Christmas is coming and Carol is getting oh so excited, but her friend Nico gets bored just hearing about it and refuses to help his friend put up the Christmas tree.
There are another two characters who don’t like Christmas either: Nonoel and his assistant Paco. Nonoel is setting up a group to put an end to Christmas and decides to take Nico with him, even though the boy doesn’t want to go. Carol decides to find her friend and that rescuing him will be her best Christmas present. Even if it means she has to travel to the land of fables and fairy tales.
But never fear! She won’t have to go alone! She will be helped by none other than Pepe, the Christmas Wizard and the Wish Genie.
“Off we go, because Christmas is the best present there is”, says Carol just before the adventure begins.
Recommended for children over 3 years of age
Sign Language Icon
The Christmas Tuckys (Los tuckys navideños)
29 December, 12 noon
Christmas for children. Rafathor Company
It all begins when we meet a girl who is really upset because she wanted to work in the circus but they wouldn’t give her a job. She feels really sad and sorry for herself until she meets a friend who encourages her to start her own mini-circus. And so, between the two of them and their super-maletuky, they put on a circus show with the help of the audience. Filled with games and laughter, this show combines theatre, animation and circus techniques and acts,
such as clowns, acrobats, magic tricks, juggling and balancing. Both educational and entertaining, and with lots of opportunities for audience participation.
Recommended for children over 4 years of age
Two Stories for Christmas (Dos cuentos por Navidad)
30 December, 12 noon
Christmas for children. Trastero Títeres Company
Father Christmas is a very busy man, but even so, he still manages to find the time to tell us a story together with his friend, the merry and ever so wacky Mr. Banana. As you might have guessed, it’s a story about Christmas. The Wolf is fed up to the back teeth with Christmas, so he decides he’s going to spoil the three little pigs’ festivities. They’re busy playing and having a great time seeing who can build the best little house to celebrate Christmas with their family and friends. The wolf is so angry that he knocks down the house made out of straw and the house made out of wood, and he tries to do the same with the house made out of bricks. Then he decides to go looking for the Ugly Duckling, who is spending the holidays all on his own because he has wandered away from the farmyard.
Our three little pigs, Benjamín, Bartolo and Susanita, are really nice and friendly and they can’t bear to see anyone left all alone at such a time of happy celebration, so they head off after the Wolf to help the lonely duckling. At the end of the story, Father Christmas himself decides to intervene and turns the naughty wolf into a good one. Two stories that become one, full of happy wishes. Because after all, it’s Christmas.
Recommended for children over 4 years of age
CONCERTS IN CHURCHES
The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Aravaca
No. 45 Calle Berenisa
The Spirit of Christmas (Espíritu de Navidad)
21 December, 8:30pm
Mushi Children’s Choir
The choir is currently made up of 60 boys and girls aged 6 and over, who receive their musical training at the school of the same name. Its repertoire combines classical, popular, sacred, film and Christmas music from both Spain and abroad.
It has achieved important musical goals since it was founded in 2003.
It has received countless awards and mentions, and has performed at the Pontifical University of Comillas, the National Music Auditorium in Madrid, the Monumental Theatre in Madrid and Condeduque. It has also given a concert of Walt Disney film soundtracks at the Marriot Auditorium.
In 2009, it was chosen to give the world première of the children’s opera “Land of All” (Tierra de Todos) by the composer P. Villaroig at the National Music Auditorium in Madrid.
Conductor: Javier Blanco
Parish Church of San Federico
No. 21 Calle del Alcalde Martín de Alzaga
A Christmas World (Un Mundo de Navidad)
26 December, 7:30pm
Matritum Cantat Choir
Founded in 2003 and now directed by Javier Blanco, this choir is made up of 70 mixed voices. Since then, it has travelled the length and breadth of Spain, performing in the country’s most prestigious music venues and in many of its oldest churches, auditoriums and theatres.
It regularly participates in different festivals and music cycles such as the Community of Madrid’s Festival of Sacred Music and its network of theatres, the Madrid City Council’s Music for the Passion of Christ and Music at Christmas festivals, and it has also taken part in national festivals such as the Cuenca International Week of Religious Music, the Santander International Festival, etc.
It has performed with prestigious orchestras such as the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, the Neotonarte Symphony Orchestra, the King Juan Carlos I Symphony Orchestra and the Ars Futura Orchestra. Matritum Cantat has had its own Symphony Orchestra since 2008 and has given symphonic concerts all over Spain, performing works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Haydn’s Stabat Mater. Some of their performances have been broadcast by RTVE.
It has also ventured abroad to give a series of concerts in Portugal, Italy and France and to tour Argentina where its music was heard in the cities of Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, Iguazú, Rosario and Misiones.
Conductor: Javier Blanco
Buen Suceso Church
No. 43 Calle Princesa
Angel of Snow (Ángel de Nieve)
22 December, 9:15pm
Madrid Low Voice Choir (Coro de Voces Graves)
The Madrid Low Voice Choir was founded in 1995 as a project to recover the repertoire composed for male choirs. It currently has fifty members under the direction of Juan Pablo de Juan, and has become one of Spain’s most acclaimed choirs, lauded by critics and public alike.
The choir has received more than twenty awards from national and international competitions, including Genk (Belgium, 2022), Cork (Ireland, 2017), Varna (Bulgaria, 2010) and Torrevieja (2006, 2009, 2014). It has performed in the most important auditoriums in the country, including the Palau de la Música in Valencia, the Monumental Theatre, the National Music Auditorium, the Miguel Delibes Auditorium in Valladolid and the Teatros del Canal.
Thanks to its versatility, it is able to perform a wide range of musical styles and innovative programmes, from contemporary sacred music and popular music to major symphonic and choral works.
Conductor: Juan Pablo de Juan
