The love story of Romeo and Juliet is being performed in a way never seen before. Shakespeare’s classic has been adapted as a full-scale musical production. It features a completely original score by César Belda from Spain’s Academy for the Performing Arts.
The Romeo and Juliet Musical, “an immortal love”, as the poster says. The stage scenery and lighting seek to reproduce the atmosphere of the time in the magical Italian city of Verona.
The final concert in the Alternatilla Jazz season brings one of the world’s leading trumpet players to Mallorca.
Cuban Carlos Sarduy has received Grammy Awards for various collaborations, having worked with some legendary names, such as Steve Coleman and Chucho Valdés. He has played on well over fifty albums and has released four of his own, the most recent being ‘Luz’. Arranger and composer as well as trumpet player (he can also turn his hand to congas and keyboards), his music is typified by an Afro Cuban elegance that also draws on funk, rumba and Afro beat.
He teams up with Cuban percussionist Nailé Sosa, who in April gave a master class at Palma’s Conservatory, and two Mallorcan musicians - pianist Toni Vaquer and double bassist Joan Garcias. To end the season, the foursome is representative of principles behind the Alternatilla festival - those of cultural fusion and improvisation.
Wednesday, 8.30pm, Casa des Poble, Esporles.
Enric Pastor & Co
Enric Pastor is a musician who operates in various genres. He is a member, for example, of the NAFAS Ensemble, which was formed in 2007 and has played at various festivals for Mediterranean, roots and folk music as well as releasing their own recordings. A violin professor at the Conservatory in Palma, he has been part of classical music groups, such as Barry Sargent’s Ensemble Tramuntana.
In 2013, he formed Enric Pastor & Co, with the idea of exploring the violin in a jazz setting. Two albums have resulted. The most recent, ‘Moments’, was released in March this year. The group recently received the 2021 award for best jazz recording from the ‘Enderrock’ music magazine.
Other members are Wojtek Sobolewski (bass), Sergi Sellés (piano) and Jaume Ginard (drums).
Saturday, 8pm, Teatre Xesc Forteza, Plaça Miquel March, Palma.
The Nutcracker at christmas time
‘The Nutcracker’ is Tchaikovsky’s two-act “fairy ballet” that was adapted from the story ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’ by the German writer Ernst Hoffmann.
Since the late 1960s, it has been one of the most popular of all ballets, especially at Christmas time. And as Christmas is coming, so ‘The Nutcracker’ is being performed in Mallorca this week. Rather than a professional company like The Moscow Ballet, this is by students of classical ballet in Manacor.
A family show, the ballet takes Clara on her magical adventure and, for example, the battle of the Nutcracker against the Mouse King.
Thursday, 7pm, Manacor Theatre, Av. Parc, Manacor.
KianSoltani at Trui Teatre this week
Hailed by ‘The Times’ as a “remarkable cellist” and described by ‘Gramophone’ as “sheer perfection”, Kian Soltani’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience.
He is now invited by the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.
In recent months, he has been invited to make debuts with orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He is now to appear with the Balearic Symphony Orchestra for a programme that includes Dvorak’s Cello Concerto.
Thursday, 8pm, Trui Theatre, Cami Son Rapinya 29, Palma.
Sineu fair
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, the pre-Christmas fair in Sineu is in honour of Saint Thomas of Maurienne, also referred to as Thomas of Farfa Abbey. There is no obvious association between this saint and Sineu, but Thomas it is and Thomas it has been since 2003.
The fair is better known for being the “matances” fair. The traditional slaughter of pigs and the making of pig products, sobrassada in particular, is a key reason for staging the fair. But it is also timed so that it is a Christmas market, one of the many that are held in the island’s villages.
As well as the market, the Saint Thomas fair offers the chance to sample sobrassada, while local bars and restaurants will be taking part in a gastronomy event - special dishes for the occasion. Otherwise, there are giants, pipers and folk dancers, all traditions of a Majorcan fair.
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