Noticias
3,500 artists from 38 countries will perform from Oct 2nd to Oct 23rd
The 44th International Cervantino Festival will show a living Cervantes
October 02, 2016Guanajuato, Guanajuato.- The 44th International Cervantino Festival was opened with the greatest artistic and cultural program worldwide to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Don Quixote’s author, his legacy, influence and status as the central icon of the Ibero-American spirit and its universality.
Secretary of Culture, Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, Governor Miguel Márquez Márquez and Jose María Lassalle, Minister of Culture of Spain, presided over on Sunday October 2nd, at Teatro Juárez of Guanajuato the opening of this great edition that with Spain and Jalisco as Country and State guests of honor, will show a living and current Cervantes that still live in the consciousness of Spanish speakers as a symbol of their deepest identity and cultural richness.
Rafael Tovar y de Teresa said that this edition gathers 3,500 artists from 38 countries and will evoke Don Quixote’s author as a universal icon of Ibero-American culture and will show the younger generation the importance of his legacy and genius that transcends centuries and generations.
Tovar y de Teresa said that in this new stage, the Department of Culture, which brings together 25 institutions, joins the most important commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Cervantes’s death, building along with Spain a cultural and academic bridge to praise the literary and human values left to everyone through his work.
Secretary of Culture also mentioned the importance of giving the Cervantina Medal to writer Margo Glantz and the FIC Medal to Francisco Araiza, whose legacy enrich our culture as heirs of a rich tradition in literature and lyrical art .
"This edition with a program that is unprecedented in the world will certainly leave a mark to all attendees to the city of Guanajuato and those who follow it through transmissions by different media, because Cervantes is associated to highest culture, with Don Quixote and, of course, with Mexico, where his name and work frames this festival and its tradition”, he said.
Jose Maria Lassalle, Minister of Culture of Spain, said that there are currently 500 million cervantino citizens, heirs of a tradition that builds the identity of our Ibero-American spirit.
“That brave soldier, frustrated poet and protagonist of a life full of trouble called Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, dreamt many times of traveling to America under the orders of King Philip II to undertake the utopia of that fantastic world he dreamed of through his literature”, La Salle said.
"Today, 400 years after his death, we pay tribute and remember him as an integrating and indispensable part of those who speak Castilian and to the Spanish it gave the sense that someone born in that European country is not fully known until he discovers the importance of his American face, a latent aspect in this FIC program”.
Governor Miguel Márquez Márquez mentioned that in this historic edition of the festival the public can find, alongside the Coloquio Cervantino, where the latest research about the great universal author of our language will be discussed, a program covering dance, theater, concerts, cinema, academic meetings, workshops, exhibitions and children's activities.
"From October 2nd to 23rd the city of Guanajuato will become on the big cervantina cradle of America with the support of the Department of Culture, the government of Spain, the state of Jalisco and the University of Guanajuato, all united to make Cervantes a living presence in our national and international environment”, the governor added.
This year the FIC presents 10 musical commissioned works, an opera and 11 theater productions. The National Orchestra of Spain, will perform the world premiere Persiles y Sigismunda by Peruvian composer Jimmy Lopez and Don Quixote in the weddings of Camacho de Saverio Mercadante, with the piano performance of Javier Perianes and David Akham’s direction.
The Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra will accompany the premiere of Vencidos, by Fabio Vacchi inspired for voice and orchestra, in Leon Felipe’s poem; the Don Quixote ballet by Marius Petipa with music by Ludwig Minkus, participating the Dutch National Ballet, the National Dance Company and the Ballet of Jalisco.
The Coloquio Cervantino, which joins in its XXVI edition to the program of FIC, include specialists such as Hugo Hiriart, Margo Glantz and Carmen Boullosa, among many others, in addition to the talks by Cervantes winners as Jorge Edwards, Fernando del Paso and Elena Poniatowska.
In addition to the agreement with the Cervantes Institute of Spain, a large number of activities will be broadcasted in Channel 22.
With an epistolary speech to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, whom he called respectfully "your mercy", Jorge Volpi, director of the Cervantino Festival finally said that this edition will be an encounter with his spirit, his voice and with the influences that the great universal author left to the inhabitants of the planet.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
