World Renowned Guitarist Returns to New Zealand

World Renowned Guitarist Returns to New Zealand

Abstract Entertainment proudly present
PACO PEÑA FLAMENCO DANCE COMPANY: FLAMENCURA
Featuring the legendary Paco Peña.

One of the world’s foremost traditional flamenco guitarist’s Paco Peña returns to New Zealand shores with his sultry exploration of flamenco – The Cante, The Guitar and The Dance with Flamencura, playing the Bruce Mason Centre on the 15th and 16th of April.

Having played guitar since the age of 6 and becoming a household name in his native Spain as a highly regarded accompanist to Flamenco dance and singing, it was his move to London in the last 1960’s and becoming a soloist that lead him to the critically acclaimed career Peña has had.

His star-attraction performances in Covent Gardens led to so much interest among a British public previously uninitiated in Flamenco that he soon found himself sharing concerts with artists such as Jimi Hendrix, and made his solo debut at Wigmore Hall in 1967. It was not long before Peña was touring the world, both as a soloist and an accompanist with performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He later founded the world's first university course on flamenco guitar, at the Rotterdam conservatory of music

Such has been Peña’s universal acclaim, composing revered works such as Misa Flamenca and Requiem for the Earth, The New York Times declared that: "Mr Peña is a virtuoso, capable of dazzling an audience beyond the frets of mortal man. He combines rapid-fire flourishes with a colourist’s sense of shading; this listener cannot recall hearing any guitarist with a more assured mastery of his instrument". Readers of Americas Guitar magazine judged him as “Flamenco Guitarist of the Year” for five consecutive years, while in 1997 Peña was named Oficial de la Cruz de la Orden del Merito Civil, then in 2012 the Gold Medal in the Arts; both awarded to him by King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Flamencura looks at present day flamenco as well as the art-form in years past; a musical journey that aims to display the high level of development of modern flamenco and to highlight the razor sharp rhythmic complexity of its latest variations in dance, song and guitar. It also aims to glance back to the most primitive, pure forms of this captivating art and pay due respect to the legacy that tradition has left us; to observe the enormous inspiration that past eras of flamenco have given to today's artists and to show that the high levels of virtuosity achieved by today's dancers and guitarists is not unrelated to the cry "in extremis" of the lone singer of the past

Although the roots of flamenco are deeply imbedded in the soil and the culture of Andalucia, in Southern Spain, the art form nevertheless deals with emotional ingredients that are universal and timeless and therefore felt and understood by all human beings. Be it the lone voice of the flamenco singer or the sexuality and passion of the dancer or the unique texture of the guitar, this art form always has and continues to find mysterious paths into people’s sensitivities all over the world.

Flamencura demonstrates how the original, vehement emotions that prompted singers, dancers and guitarists of days gone by continue to nourish the art today and will remain the life-blood of flamenco – always.

FLAMENCURA plays
15th and 16th April, 8:00pm
Bruce Mason Centre, North Shore, Auckland
Tickets: $97.90 - $109.90 (service fees apply)
Bookings through Ticketmaster – www.ticketmaster.co.nz or 09 970 9700

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