30th Princess of Asturias Awards Concert

Twenty-five years after last working together, flamenco singer Carmen Linares and flamenco dancer María Pagés, joint 2022 Princess of Asturias Laureates for the Arts, are to share the stage on the occasion of the 30th Princess of Asturias Awards Concert, to be held on the eve of the Awards Ceremony.

The event, entitled “Carmen and María. Two paths, but one gaze”, is organized by the Princess of Asturias Foundation in collaboration with the Cajastur Foundation. It will take place at 7:30pm on Thursday 27th October at the Prince Felipe Auditorium in Oviedo and be presided over by Their Majesties The King and Queen of Spain.

Through a dialogue between flamenco singing and dance, Carmen Linares and María Pagés will pay tribute to some of the most representative voices of Spanish poetry, interpreting various subgenres of flamenco such as tonás, bulerías, fandangos and tangos, among others. Via this art form, they will integrate popular songs and poems by Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Hernández, Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Jaime Gil de Biedma and El Arbi El Harti. Salvador Gutiérrez and Rubén Levaniegos (guitars), Pablo Suárez (piano), Ana Ramón and Cristina Pedrosa (singing) and Ana María González and Rosario Amador (backing vocals and hand clapping) will also participate in the event.

Individual performances

María Pagés will feature in the opening event of Awards Week with the show entitled “Paraíso de los Negros”, at the Niemeyer Centre (Avilés) on 20th October. This production of the María Pagés Choreographic Centre reflects a choreography inspired by the essence of Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York and the novel of the same title by Carl Van Vechten.

For her part, Carmen Linares will offer a concert celebrating her fortieth anniversary as a solo artist at the La Vega Arms Factory (Oviedo) on 29th October, thus bringing the Awards Week events to a close. The programme of “Carmen Linares. 40 years of flamenco” includes a repertoire that has raised Linares to the status of a legend of this art form, including her anthology of cantes sung by women, Federico García Lorca’s songbook and her tributes to Enrique Morente, Mercedes Sosa and Paco de Lucía (2004 Prince of Asturias Laureate for the Arts).

2022 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts

Carmen Linares and María Pagés were jointly granted the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts on 5th May 2022 for having “broadened the horizons of flamenco singing and dance (cante and baile), always with a sense of respect for tradition while daring to expand these forms of expression, thereby fostering the universal nature of an extraordinary cultural, popular and sensorial heritage. […] The careers of both artists are replete with experiences that defend flamenco as one of the most suggestive musical genres of our time and an enduring and unique artistic phenomenon” as stated in the minutes of the Jury granting the Award.