He Àgora Actual Percussion Festival reaches its fifth edition in Xàbia. It will be held from July 5 to 9 in parallel to the European Meeting of Contemporary Percussion, reaffirming itself as the "most outstanding and specialized event in the current panorama of creation and interpretation", according to those responsible.
It is directed at an artistic level by Juanjo Guillem, while the academic direction is in charge of Joan Soriano and the technique of Alicia Arnau, and focused on undergraduate and postgraduate performers, composers and artists in general interested in avant-garde creation. An international benchmark, some of the leading national performers, composers and percussion ensembles and from countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, the USA, Italy, Australia, Mexico, China, Portugal, Switzerland have attended this meeting. , among others.
In its previous editions it has promoted different international calls for composers with participation from more than 20 countries and has made multiple national and absolute premieres of different pieces for percussion.
The Festival, organized by the Department of Culture and which is sponsored by the Institut Valencià de Cultura and INAEM I, is open to the general public and all its concerts -by the groups Neopercusión, Projecte SoXXI, Synergein Project and different soloists such as Sisco Aparisi- will take place this year in different spaces of the nucleus of duanes of the sea.
Normality recovered after the pandemic, this 2022 the festival returns to 100%. Dedicated to the figure and work of Iannis Xenakis on his 100th anniversary, it is presented as a fair recognition of one of the creative geniuses of the 20th century, essential to understand the revolution in the field of creation and interpretation of percussion of his time. .
From the direction of the meeting they explain that, at a national level, "this legacy reaches us through the great music for percussion by Ramos and Guerrero, also protagonists of the edition." The Festival will give an account of the main pieces for percussion ensemble, chamber and solos by the three composers, which together with the national premiere of Eolo'oolin (dedicated to Xenakis) by Julio Estrada for percussion ensemble make up a unique event. in Spain, and a necessary tribute to the genius of Xenakis.
The great program of the Festival is complemented by a whole series of varied and interdisciplinary proposals: presentations, conferences and master classes in interpretation given by some of the main specialists in each subject in the country. Musicologists, writers, architects, interpreters and composers will delve from different aspects into the work and figure and work of the three composers.
