The Focus-Abengoa Foundation presents the 23rd edition of the Master Concert Series

January 30, 2015

• The series The Baroque Organ: a bridge between peoples confronted by religion will bring together the great organists Lorenzo Ghielmi, Matteo Imbruno and Johannes Unger.
• These meetings, which annually brings together the most respected performers and composers of the global scene, have made the organ of the Venerables one of the most important and prestigious platforms.

Seville, January 30, 2015. - The Focus-Abengoa Foundation has presented today the 23rd edition of its traditional Master Concert Series, which has become an unmissable event on the agendas of the best organists in the world. The organists Lorenzo Ghielmi, Matteo Imbruno and Johannes Unger, three brilliant and famous organists trained in some of the top schools in the world, will participate in the new series entitled The Baroque Organ: a bridge between peoples confronted by religion.

The presentation ceremony was chaired by Father José Enrique Ayarra, principal organist of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation and the Cathedral of Seville, and Anabel Morillo, Director General of the Foundation, who has advanced the concert calendar for this 23rd edition.

The first concert will be held on Tuesday, February 10 and will be performed by the Italian Lorenzo Ghielmi, renowned organist, and principal organist of the Milanese Basilica of San Simpliciano who, for years, has devoted himself to the study and performance of Renaissance and Baroque music. He toured Europe, America and Japan.

On Tuesday, February 17 another Italian, Matteo Imbruno, organist of the Oude Kerk of Amsterdam and organist in residence at the Hermitage Museum in the same city, will pick up the baton.

The closing of the series, on Tuesday February 24, will be in charge of the German Johannes Unger, organist of the Thüringischer Akademischer Singkreis; and winner of relevant awards, such as the International Organ Competition of Odense, Denmark; interpretation contest of the 22nd International Organ Festival of St. Albans and the 12th International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig.

The repertoire selected by the organists includes works from their countries of origin with the aim of, through them, discover other cultures, other musical styles and their influences. They will perform works by J. S. Bach, G. Frescobaldi, J. Cabanilles, C. Paumann, G. Böhm, D. Buxtehude or A. Vivaldi., among others

This new edition of the master concerts series, held for 23 years coinciding with the making of the organ Grenzing for the Focus-Abengoa Foundation, will have the collaboration of three international figures who "will surely delight us by offering samples from the major European schools, with influences from other composers and other cultures, but with the same denominator, the organ and its music”, stated Father José Enrique Ayarra.

The second series of these concerts will be held in May. They will be performed by Father Ayarra, who will be joined on Sunday, May 10, by the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Seville; and the 30th of the same month, in the traditional mass-concert for San Fernando’s day, by Vladimir Dmitrenco, 2nd solo violinist of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville.

Master Course

The course Meeting Points between the Iberian and Italian Baroque Organs, on Baroque Music Interpretation, is intended for organists and organ students from our country. It intends to contribute to a more comprehensive and thorough training of those who are trying to hone their organ skills or have decided to devote their musical activity to our instrument.

This edition’s course, which will be conducted by Lorenzo Ghielmi, will deepen in the special relationship between Iberian and Italian organs and their repertoires from the 16th century; a relationship that is evident and intense in the Baroque era and that appeared when the new "analytical" organ (individualized in its games) created the European schools and.

Enrollment in the Master Course can be done through the Focus-Abengoa Foundation (www.focus.abengoa.es) website.

Focus-Abengoa Foundation

The Focus-Abengoa Foundation was created in 1982 as a result of the cultural work begun in 1972 by Abengoa with the publication of the works Temas Sevillanos e Iconografía de Sevilla (Themes of Seville and Iconography of Seville). A collection of documents, books and engravings on the Kingdom of Seville and by Sevillian authors was created during the same period. This initial cultural work showed Abengoa’s directors the importance of the company’s involvement in activities that directly benefit society, beyond the firm’s core technology work, which led to the creation of the Seville Cultural Fund Foundation. Following the acquisition of Velázquez’s Santa Rufina by the Foundation in 2007, the Hospital de los Venerables, a 17th century monument and the headquarters of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation in Seville, has housed the Diego Velázquez Research Centre, a leading institution for studying and disseminating the Baroque era and the Sevillian period of this universally renowned artist.

For more information:

Communication Department of Abengoa

Patricia Malo de Molina

Tel: +34 954 93 71 11

Email: comunicacion@abengoa.com

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