Seville, 28 October 2005.- Today the Focus-Abengoa Foundation announced its Music Programme for the Organ of Los Venerables for the 2005-2006 season, which, as in previous years, is centred on the organ itself. The Focus-Abengoa Foundation commissioned the prestigious German organ-maker Gerhard Grenzing to build this instrument for the Church of Los Venerables in 1991. Year after year, this Music Programme has carved a niche for itself in the artistic and musical panorama of Seville as a truly important event, due to its original quality and high standard of artistic excellence as well as its evident social impact.

The programme begins with the Recitals by New Organists, in three concerts to be held on 7, 8 and 9 November, coinciding with the seminar entitled “ European Capitals. The Moment of the Baroque” that will also be taking place on these dates at the headquarters of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation. The organisers decided that it would be advisable to incorporate music into such a pertinent and fascinating theme under the title The Organ in the Great European Cities of the Baroque and thus present as broad an overview as possible of the organ’s contribution to the Baroque artistic heritage of such significant European cities as Amsterdam, Paris, Lübeck, Prague, Venice, Rome, Seville or Lisbon, among others. Three young Spanish organists will be responsible for this musical exhibition: Eudald Daní Roura (Catalonia), Jesús Gonzalo López (Aragón) and Susana García Lastra (Asturias), all of whom have attained and demonstrated a very high level of artistic ability and are especially noted for their interpretations of Baroque music.

According to José Enrique Ayarra, tenured organist and head of music activities for the Foundation, “The Music Programme that we are presenting today covers a very broad area – that of organ music – which is completely absent from the programmes of other cultural institutions of Seville. Over the past fourteen years, these series have allowed us to enjoy the interpretative talents of over fifty of the world’s most prestigious organists; it has contributed to the promotion of many young Spanish organists, offering them the opportunity to demonstrate their worth and become known in the challenging world of concert performance; and, above all, it is providing school-age adolescents, from Seville as well as from other towns in the province, with access to a greater understanding of an instrument like the organ, so unfamiliar and yet so important in the history of Western music, by means of recitals prepared especially for them over the course of the educational series.”

Throughout the months from December to April, the Didactic Recitals will take place. These recitals are principally aimed at the students of those Obligatory Secondary Education (E.S.O.) schools and institutions that request participation, and are organised by the Focus-Abengoa Foundation with the intention of offering these students the opportunity to observe the organ first-hand, hear live performances and expand their knowledge of the instrument, which has played such an important part in the history of Western music. This is one of the most carefully and enthusiastically planned activities and one which has traditionally produced the most promising results, as evidenced by both the positive reception accorded to the recital programme by attending groups as well as the overwhelming demand for reserved seats, which have been pouring in, even from cities outside Seville, since last year. This fact has forced the organisers to increase the total number of available seats in an attempt to satisfy the high level of interest that these recitals have undoubtedly inspired in educational circles.

The zeal for improvement that the Focus-Abengoa Foundation applies to its music programme each year has inspired in this year’s edition the implementation of even more ambitious and almost insurmountable objectives. It is no easy task to organise a series of Master Concerts, where one can enjoy the works of some of the greatest composers of the 20th century as they are performed by some of the best musicians available. And this is precisely what is offered in this year’s cycle of three concerts, which will be held in the month of February.

In addition, the Foundation will also offer the traditional concert given by the Foundation’s tenured organist, José Enrique Ayarra, together with the Chamber Orchestra of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville, as well as the equally traditional Holy Mass and Concert of the day of Saint Ferdinand, held every year in the Chapel of Los Venerables. This year, the latter concert will include the participation of the Capella Giulia from Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, appearing in concert for the first time in Seville under the baton of the Basilica’s Canon and Chapel Master, Monsignor Pablo Colino, and accompanied on the organ by our tenured organist.

Finally, special mention must be made of the Master Organ Course for organists and organ students from all around Spain. This year the course will be held on 25, 26 and 27 February and will focus on an in-depth study of the compositions for organ of Olivier Messiaen, the renowned organist of the Trinité Church in Paris, professor of composition at the Superior National Conservatory, “the Bach of the 20th century” and the most important French organist of recent times. Furthermore, the course will be taught by another giant of the organ, Olivier Latry, who is the tenured organist for the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, organ professor at the “Cité de la Musique”, one of the greatest living performers and, what is more important, Olivier Messiaen’s best-loved disciple.

The Focus-Abengoa Foundation was established in 1982 as a consequence of the cultural activity initiated in 1972 by Abengoa with the publishing of the works "Sevillian Topics" and "Iconography of Seville". During the same period a collection of documents, books and prints on Seville, or by Sevillian authors, was being put together. This initial cultural activity brought Abengoa's senior management to see the importance of the company being seen outside its essential technological functions through an activity that would be of benefit to society as a whole, which in turn led to the founding of the Fundación Fondo de Cultura of Seville.

The activities of the Foundation have grown in strength and number in faithful adherence to its corporate purpose, which is the promotion of culture in its many artistic and scientific expressions. The activities of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation have mainly been focused on education, painting, restoration and music, and to a lesser degree on seminars, literary publications and etchings.

José Enrique Ayarra Jarne

Born in Jaca (Huesca), José Enrique began his musical studies at the age of three. He was awarded the degree of Professor of Piano by the Zaragoza Conservatory at the age of eleven, and went on to obtain a degree in Organ and Gregorian Chant from the Institut Catholique of Paris as well as in Sacred Theology from the Universidad Pontificia of Salamanca. He holds the position of tenured organist of both the Cathedral and the Hospital of Los Venerables in Seville. Mr. Ayarra held the position of Professor of Organ at the Superior Conservatory of Music of Seville from 1979 to 2002. He is a Permanent Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary of Seville, as well as a corresponding Member of the Royal Academies of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Madrid), of Our Lady of Sorrows (Granada) and that of Luis Vélez de Guevara (Écija). He also serves as the technical-musical advisor for the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville, for the Artistic Heritage Department of the Archbishopric of Seville and for the Focus-Abengoa Foundation.

José Enrique has held the position of General Co-ordinator of the III National Organ Congress of Spain (Focus-Abengoa Foundation, Seville, 1998) and is President of the Hispanic Organ Association (AOH).

One of the most prestigious awards conferred upon him is the “Andalucía” Music Prize in 1990, given by the Autonomous Government of Andalusia. As a concert performer he has played in over thirty countries in Europe, Africa, America and Asia and has made radio recordings for radio and television stations in a dozen countries, as well as recordings on organs of various European schools. Special mention must be made of the recording of the complete works of Francisco Correa de Arauxo on historical Andalusian instruments, the recording of Spanish organ music performed on the Beckerath organ in Yamaguchi (Japan) for the NHK, and that of the piece Baroque Airs on the Organ of Los Venerables, produced by RTVE (2003).

In the past few months of 2005 José Enrique has performed in Mexico (International Organ Festival of Morelia, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Celaya, Querétaro, Guanajuato, etc.), Japan (Tokyo, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kanazawa, etc.), Germany (Orgelfestival in Hannover), Poland (Gdansks-Oliwa and Frombork), the Czech Republic (Moravská, Olomouc Festival), Belgium (Bruxelles Cathedral), Italy (Europäisches Orgelfestival Via Claudia Augusta and Concerti di Autunno in Treviso), Switzerland (Bâle Cathedral), Spain (Santander, Bilbao, Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Madrid), among other countries.

As a teacher he has given courses on Spanish music at a number of American universities (Illinois, Michigan and California in the USA, Alberta in Canada, Guanajuato in Mexico, etc.), as well as at Germany academies (Michaelstein, Turingia, etc.). He has also sat on the judging panels of various international organ competitions (Paris, Ávila, Ponferrada, etc.).

As a researcher and writer he has published several books and a large number of articles for specialist publications both in Spain and overseas, mainly on the sacred musical heritage of Andalusia, musicians and instruments, artistic production and archives.