Liza Minelli and Keith Jarrett at Donostia Musical Fortnight

amplify image

Miguel Martín, the director of the festival. Photo: EFE

Great artists will gather at Donostia-San Sebastian Musical Fortnight once again. The 43rd edition of the festival has been presented today and the organizers announced Liza Minelli, Lucía Lacarra , Keith Jarrett, Paolo Conte and Diane Kroll will be at the festival, among others. Moreover, although it has not been announced yet, Lou Reed is very likely to be at the festival.

The presentation of the festival has been heavily attended and the organizers said they are very happy because the Music Academy awarded them with the “Musical Diffusion” prize, which will be given Thursday in the Spanish town of Valladolid.

The schedule for the festival is very varied and the main innovation is that during the night of July 26 jazz music will have no break in Donostia-San Sebastian.

Donostia-San Sebastian Musical Fortnight

Donostia-San Sebastian Musical Fortnight is in some way a continuation of the big musical festivals organized with the sponsorship of the Casino in summer since 1883. For a long time, the Symphony Orchestra of the Great Casino of San Sebastian was an essential part of such concerts.

In the summer of 1939, two citizens started a musical project that had been brewing during the civil war years. The idea was to offer to Donostia-San Sebastian a series of consecutive concerts in a short period of time. On 16th August of that year, the festival began with its first event in the Kursaal Theatre.

Jose Joaquin Castañeda, deputy mayor of Donostia-San Sebastian town council and Francisco Ferrer Damborenea prepared an attractive programme with two concerts by the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, the performance of the operas "Tosca", "Rigoletto", "Aida", "Carmen", "Tristan and Iseo", "La Boheme", "Goyescas" and "La Vida Breve", the ballets of Lole Fuller and Vicente Escudero, a recital by Uninsky and the performance of "The Sarkaroff".

Supported by the Town Council and a very positive response of the audience, the Festival developed in the Victoria Eugenia Theatre with no interruption but undergoing several vicissitudes until now.