An estimated 4,000 people enjoyed brilliant nights in Arrecife recently, when two recitals by the Lanzarote Classical Orchestra were given. These concerts were embedded within a celebratory event organised by Arrecife City Council. The Council chose to do so to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the foundation of Arrecife, (now the island´s capital) as a municipality. El Charco de San Gines, the enclave around which Arrecife has become a fine port, (that over the past three years or so has attracted some of the world’s great sea cruises) and a bustling city, hosted these great concerts on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November.
The Mayor of Arrecife, emphasised the success of these new events scheduled by the City Council. For the mayor there is a palpable consistency that was confirmed last night. “The citizens want and applaud the revitalisation of Arrecife as a capital,” he declared.
The Mayor expressed his satisfaction with the achievements of the Municipal Government, which he presides, in recovering the Sailing Concerts in Charco de San Ginés, which were resumed last autumn thanks to the drive and organisation of the Department of Tourism, headed by Eli Merino.
Eli Merino, praised the good organisation and large attendance of spectators at this double performance by the Lanzarote Classical Orchestra, which, at the request of the Department of Tourism, included a show designed especially for the whole family, young and old, with the evening concert of Magical Dreams, set to soundtracks from Disney films. The characters from these films were present at El Charco de San Ginés, where they arrived on board small feluccas.
The Arrecife City Council set up a huge seating area with capacity for around three thousand people on the Paseo de la Ribera del Charco, near the Cuatro Esquinas and Multicines Atlántida, which was all occupied. As admission to these events was free and for that reason, and because many hundreds of people were ambling around El Charco de San Gines, couples standing arm in arm to listen to particular pieces, and family groups too, as parents with children and grandparents, often stopping to allow children to listen to certain instruments.
Roberto Fuentes, manager of the Lanzarote Classical Orchestra, said a word of thanks to not only the audience, but also the City Council, just before diving into the water with the Councillor for Tourism.
The City Council is supporting these events to enhance culture, and he later expressed his satisfaction with the institutional collaboration he has received from the City Council, the Government led by Mayor Yonathan de León, and closely from Councillor Eli Merino.
Around 50 musicians from the Lanzarote Classical Orchestra took part in the two recent performances. In addition, in the Concert in Vela, dedicated to ‘A Night at the Opera’, the soloists Arantxa Cooper, soprano, tenor Gabriel Álvarez, mezo Alba Cruz and bass Pau Armengol took part, under the direction of maestro José María Vicente.
So, the above offers some facts and figures of two wonderful arts nights. I think our report manages to convey the friendly atmosphere between the different age groups and nationalities amongst what I would wager was far higher than four thousand because as yet no mention has been made of all the diners in the twenty or so full restaurants along the promenade.
Only fifty metres away on the new marina where the big boats berth there was a concert going on, that involved X factor winners, and a winner of The Voice as well as footballers and other sporting stars and celebrities and social media stars.
There was plenty for the pensioner generation, of which my wife Dee and I are now senior members and for pre-teens and teenagers to enjoy.
In 2024, this being the commemoration of the 225th anniversary of Arrecife, it had been decided that the traditional Concert in Candlelight be focused on the young ones accompanied by a musical with an orchestra, under the baton of Luis Montesdeoca, whose songs from children’s film soundtracks were performed by Almudena Hernández and Altahay de la Guardia, winner of the Arrecife Song Festival. The presence of the Disney characters brightened the evening for the thousands of families who attended.
Fran Vega was the conductor of the children’s concert that started at 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., and at night, the Candlelight Concert. Between both, and in a planned manner, the City Council sponsored Bohemian Nights in Marina Lanzarote, a few steps from El Charco de San Ginés restaurant area.
The show paid tribute to the figure of César Manrique, a favourite son of Arrecife, who was born in El Charco de San Ginés area in 1919. At the start of the Concert in Vela, the world premiere of “A César” by the composer Leandro Quinteros and the stage design of the Tenesa Sol Gymnastics Club was performed.
Manrique, of course, is a hugely ubiquitous figure not only on the Lanzarote arts scene, but also on these pages at Lanzarote Information.
The same would apply to my own daily blog, sidetracks & detours and also the major glossy media here on the island, and the forty year old magazine, Lancelot even carried my review of Manrique. The Musical (that I still say should become a film).
The students of the Antonio Zerolo, La Destina, Mercedes Medina and Adolfo Topham schools, all in Arrecife, the capital of Lanzarote, participated with the contribution of decorated candle jars where the families of Arrecife and Lanzarote placed candles in the Morro Elvira in memory of the victims who died due to the tragedy of the intense rains that the Dana left in Valencia, and other areas of the Peninsula. This area of the Morro Elvira was created by the brilliant artist together with the master builder Luis Morales.
To enjoy two such wonderful evenings had a kind of ´what have I done to deserve this´ air about it. Not only were the chosen compositions from the very top drawer of classical and film score but it was also confidently and charmingly delivered.
The ambience of these two evenings was, as always, of tolerance and shared enjoyment, or as somebody in the sixties once mooted it as Peace And Love And Understanding.
Never has Arrecife, nor perhaps any other part of Lanzarote, seemed more resplendent. Sails on moored boats and ships were adorned with so many fairy lights that the tall boats looked like the Pechiguera lighthouse down at our end of the island, in Playa Blanca.
But El Charco de San Gines is, in the dark nights of this time of year, warm and welcoming, lilting in the bright lights silhouetting the people waltzing on the promenade around the lagoon.
