Àgora Percussion festival celebrates fifth edition which is dedicated to composer Iannis Xenakis

Wednesday 8th June 2022 – Mike Smith
Source: press release – Ajuntament de Xàbia

The Àgora Actual Percussió Festival celebrates its fifth edition in Xàbia and does so by dedicating the festival to the great Greek composer Iannis Xenakis on the centenary of his birth.

The festival will be held from July 5th to 9th in parallel with the European Meeting of Contemporary Percussion, reaffirming itself as the “most outstanding and specialized event in the panorama of current creation and interpretation“, according to its managers.

It is directed at an artistic level by Juanjo Guillem, while the academic side of the festival will be led by Joan Soriano and the technique of Alicia Arnau and focused on undergraduate and postgraduate performers, composers and artists in general interested in avant-garde creation. An international benchmark, some of the main performers, composers and percussion ensembles from Spain and from countries such as France, United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, USA, Italy, Australia, Mexico, China, Portugal, Switzerland, amongst others, have attended this festival.

In its previous editions, it has promoted different international calls for composers with participation from more than 20 countries and made multiple national and absolute premieres of different pieces for percussion.

The festival, organized by the Department of Culture and sponsored by the Institut Valencià de Cultura and INAEM I, is open to the general public and all of its concerts – given by the groups Neopercusión, Projecte SoXXI, Synergein Project and various soloists such as Sisco Aparisi- will take place this year in different spaces around the port zone of town.

With normality restored after the pandemic, this 2022 edition returns to 100%. Dedicated to the figure and work of Iannis Xenakis on his 100th anniversary, it is presented as a fair recognition of one of the creative geniuses of the 20th century, essential to understand the revolution in the field of creation and the interpretation of percussion of his time.

The directors of the festival have explained that, at a national level “this legacy reaches us through the great percussion music of Ramos and Guerrero, also protagonists of the edition“. The Festival will give an account of the main percussion, chamber and solo ensemble pieces by the three composers, which together with the national premiere of Eolo’oolin (dedicated to Xenakis) by Julio Estrada for percussion ensemble make up a unique event in Spain, and a necessary tribute to the genius of Xenakis.

The program of the Àgora Actual Festival is complemented by a whole series of varied and interdisciplinary proposals: presentations, conferences and master classes in interpretation given by some of the main specialists in each subject in the country. Musicologists, writers, architects, performers and composers will delve into the work and figure and work of the three composers from different aspects.

Concert Programme 2022

Tuesday 5th July, 10.30pm · CEIP Port de Xàbia
I CONCIERTO Xenakis-100. Héritage
NEOPERCUSIÓN & PROYECTO XoXXI
Xenakis y Pérez

Wednesday 6th July, 8.30pm · CEIP Port de Xàbia
II CONCIERTO. Xenakis-100. Héritage
NEOPERCUSIÓN
Xenakis y Ramos

Thursday 7th July, 8.30pm · CEIP Port de Xàbia
III CONCIERTO. Xenakis-100. Héritage
PROJECTE SoXXI
Xenakis y Ramos

Friday 8th July, 8.30pm · CEIP Port de Xàbia
IV CONCIERTO. Xenakis-100. Héritage
Xenakis y Ramos

Saturday 8th July, 10.30pm · CEIP Port de Xàbia
V CONCIERTO. Xenakis-100. Héritage
SYNERGEIN PROJECT
Estrada y Guerrero