By Tom Tansey
Article sponsored by
Spanish for Beginners

After having had a right old moan about the lack of quality concerts around the region these past few months, I am delighted to say there’s a veritably melodious Christmas stocking stuffed with prezzies to satisfy most people’s musical tastes this month.

The following concerts are all at the Auditorium in Murcia and details can be found at www.auditoriomurcia.org/

Kicking off Murcia’s opera season on the 12th (see last month’s column) is the Scottish Opera production of Puccini’s Tosca. Opera fans will be familiar with this production, but for operatic novices it’s not a bad one to cut your teeth on. Here’s what to do. Get a hold of a CD of the opera, stick it on the car system and do some preparation; get familiar with the music. Then get your glad rags on and have a night at the opera. The cheapest tix are €20 so it’s not too expensive and the Auditorium is not a huge venue, so even with the cheapest entradas, you’re not going to be in the gods.

On the 15th, we have Cecilia Bartoli, a hugely successful and influential Italian mezzo-soprano opera singer, best-known for her interpretation of the music of Mozart and Rossini, as well as for her performances of Baroque and classical music. At this concert she will sing with Ensemble Il Giardino Armonico. Next year she is due to receive the Léonie Sonning Music Prize given annually to an international musician. Previous winners have included Stravinsky and Shostakovich as well as more popular musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett. To be acclaimed in this company is testimony indeed.

Enough of fat ladies singing, (apologies to Cecilia Bartoli, who is anything but fat); now to skinny men singing and playing guitars, flamenco style. About 18 months ago in this column I wrote about a free outdoor concert I had attended in Murcia by flamenco singer Diego El Cigala. At the time I described the event as ‘one of those nights when we are reminded how lucky we are to be living in Spain.’ Well on the 17th, Diego is back and this time accompanied by legendary flamenco guitarist Tomatito. If you like flamenco, or if you’d like to find out more, then this is a real opportunity to see two of its finest exponents. Neither are purists and both use Cuban and Brazilian beats to complement their flamenco duende. Put simply, it’s the gig of the month and I’m hoping Santa’s got me a ticket.

Impossible to categorise, Living Colour are an American Rock, Funk, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Soul (see?) merchants, influenced by Hendrix and Sly Stone and can be compared to the Chilli Peppers. They’ll be pushing their recent album, a first in a good few years. They play on the 18th.

On the 21st we have Generation Singleton, a gospel ensemble from Detroit, a family of 8 singers who have worked with Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Stevie Wonder. This could be a really special concert, as the singers will no doubt combine the passion and emotion of their gospel music to the season of Christmas.

Finally, the following night (22nd) offers us hugely popular Spanish pop singer Antonio Orozco.

Well that’s it for 2009. Thanks for reading and a special thanks to all those who have commented on my various articles throughout the year. Your feedback is welcome and extremely important. Have a great Christmas and see you in 2010!