Dracula & the best scores horror has to offer Fimucité 13
– The Tenerife International Film Music Festival kicks off on Friday, Sept 20th with an ample selection of concerts and parallel activities.
The Cabildo de Tenerife hosted the official presentation of the 13th edition of the Tenerife International Film Music Festival (FIMUCITÉ), a world leader in its field, which runs from Friday 20th – 29th September. Participating in the event were the President of the Island Council, Pedro Martín; the Mayor of Santa Cruz City Council, Patricia Hernández; the General Director of Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands Government, Rubén Pérez; the Councillor for Culture of La Laguna City Council, Yaiza López and Fimucité Festival Director, Diego Navarro. Also participating in the event were festival guests Robert Townson (Producer), Sara Andon (Flutist), Simone Pedroni (Pianist) and Vince DiCola (Composer).
In this incredible festival aimed at music lovers, the composer and conductor Diego Navarro has chosen to pay homage to horror film music in FIMUCITÉ 13 by taking on two great challenges that have caught the attention of the general public and of professional musicians from across the globe: the concerts ‘My Favourite Fears’ and ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Concert’.
On Friday 27th September the Auditorio de Tenerife will host the concert ‘My Favourite Fears’, in memory of Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, creator and presenter of that magical TV show ‘Historias para no dormir’ (Things that Go Bump in the Night) who passed away last June. The concert programme brings together a selection of the best scores from horror film classics, such as the sagas ‘Halloween’, ‘Friday 13th’ or ‘Hellraiser’, with scores composed by John Carpenter, Harry Manfredini and Christopher Young, respectively. Other essentials being performed in this exceptional concert, which includes seven world premieres of unforgettable scores, are ‘Psycho’ (music by Bernard Hermann), ‘Terror in Amityville’ (Lalo Schifrin), ‘Poltergeist’ (Jerry Goldsmith) or ‘Sleepy Hollow’ (Danny Elfman). At the helm of the concert is German conductor Christian Schumann, and under his baton will be the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (OST) and the Tenerife Film Choir.
On Saturday 28th September FIMUCITÉ resuscitates ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ in a spectacular live-to-picture concert dedicated to the Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece of the same name. FIMUCITÉ, in coproduction with the Krakow Music Festival (FMF) and the collaboration of Sony Pictures and Robert Townson Productions, has created this project that offers audiences a screening of the classic film whilst its score is exquisitely performed by the OST and the Tenerife Film Choir under the baton of Diego Navarro. This is the second time that a show of its type has been performed in the Canary Islands. The first occasion took place last year as part of Fimucité 12 when the festival performed a live-to-picture concert for the science fiction classic ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’.
CONCERT PROGRAMME
The concert programming for FIMUCITÉ 13 kicks off this Friday September 20th in the emblematic Leal Theatre in La Laguna. On Friday the theatre will be hosting the concert ‘Cinema Morricone’, which sees an extraordinary discography edited by the prestigious record label Sony Classical taken to the stage by two brilliant soloists, pianist Simone Pedroni and flautist Sara Andon. This duo, performing on the piano and flute, will take audiences through some of the most famous and celebrated scores by the prodigious Italian composer Ennio Morricone, including ‘Cinema Paradiso’, ‘The Mission’, ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ and ‘The Untouchables’, amongst other pieces. This intimate recital will be repeated for audiences in Gran Ganaria on Saturday 21st September in the Guiniguada Theatre in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
On Saturday 21st September, as “Cinema Morricone” is being performed in Gran Canaria, the Guimerá Theatre in Santa Cruz will be hosting two performances of the concert ‘Let’s Dance’ by the pop-rock group Pop Culture Band. The first showing will be held at 19:00 and the second at 22:00. On this occasion, the concert repertoire covers music from some of the most iconic dance scenes in cinema’s history, including “The time of my life” (Dirty Dancing), “Hot Stuff” (The Full Monty), “Footloose” (Footloose), or “Far From Over” (Staying Alive), which will be performed by the composer himself, Vince DiCola. These are just some of the unforgettable compositions that will be recreated onstage, promising audiences a fantastic time full of rhythm, dance and fun as Gonzalo de Araoz and the band work their magic.
On Thursday 26th September the Guimerá Theatre opens its doors for the concert ‘Randy Edelman: A Close Relationship’. Edelman, who composed film scores for works that include ‘Dragonheart’ and ‘The Last of the Mohicans’, and television series such as ‘MacGyver’, is one of the most well-known composers in Hollywood. On piano and accompanied by a string septet, Eldelman will be taking a look back at his fascinating and eclectic music career in an intimate and moving concert.
On Friday 27th September, we move to the Auditorio de Tenerife ‘Adán Martín’ for the concert ‘My Favourite Fears’. At the start of the evening FIMUCITÉ has the pleasure of hosting the II Spanish Audiovisual Music Awards for the Association of Audiovisual Composers (Musimagen). Award winners will be announced during the ceremony. During the evening’s events, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife under the baton of the festival’s director & composer Diego Navarro, will perform a suite that unites the three film scores nominated for Best Orchestral Score: ‘La gran aventura de los Lunnis y el libro mágico’ by composer Vanessa Garde; ‘El fotógrafo de Mauthausen’ by Diego Navarro; and ‘El Reina’ by Juan Bardem.
Last year audiences in the Canary Islands were able to experience a live-to-picture concert for the first time ever. The overwhelming success of the concert, which saw the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ being brought to the stage, revealed just how hungry audiences are for this type of experience. Based on this feedback FIMUCITÉ has once again decided to bring Hollywood alive, this time with the live-to-picture concert ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ which will be held on Saturday 28th September in the Auditorio de Tenerife. This magnificent event, which is the fruit of arduous amounts of research and musical restoration, was premiered in Krakow last May. Following its Spanish premiere in Tenerife, the concert commences its world tour with the German distributor Europäische Filmphilharmonie GmbH.
On Sunday 29th September concert programming in rounded off with the concert, ‘Champions of the Silver Screen’. The concert will be performed by the FIMUCITÉ Youth Orchestra, which is comprised of young musicians from the Professional Conservatory of Music of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Canary Islands Higher Conservatory of Music. This will be the first year that the orchestra performs its traditional concert in the Auditorio de Tenerife. Under the direction of José Antonio Cubas, these talented students will be journeying through some of the most important soundtracks from sports films. Just some of the pieces selected include: Oscar-winning ‘Chariots of Fire’ (Vangelis), ‘Rocky’ (Bill Conti), and ‘Hoosiers’ (Jerry Goldsmith). Under the agreed international exchange of musicians between the youth orchestras of FIMUCITÉ and the Krakow Music Festival (FMF), a group of talented musicians from Krakow will be visiting Tenerife and joining our young Canarian musicians during their performances.
FIMUCITÉ FILM SCORING ACADEMY (FFSA)
From 25th – 27th September the Professional Conservatory of Music in Santa Cruz de Tenerife will play host to the new edition of the FIMUCITÉ Film Scoring Academy (Academia FIMUCITÉ para Compositores Audiovisuales). The FFSA offers an important array of master classes at the hands of internationally renowned professionals from the sector of audiovisual composition. These free educational activities are aimed at students and professionals who are interested in receiving specialist training.
In addition, the Tenerife International Film Music Festival will also be offering an interesting selection of matinee performances aimed at schools under the umbrella of the educational activities that form part of this year’s festival. These matinee performances will be performed in the Auditorio Antonio Lecuona of the Conservatory of Music in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the 26th September (‘Champions of the Silver Screen’) & 27th September (‘Vince DiCola: Artistic Transformations’). The goal of these concerts is to help children better understand and fall in love with film music.
As a festival FIMUCITÉ strives to ensure the social inclusion of marginalised groups. We would therefore like to thank the Canary Association of Autism Spectrum Disorders (Asociación Canaria del Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo – APANATE) for their collaboration in this year’s festival. Thanks to their collaborative efforts students living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) from different educational centres will be able to enjoy these concerts. In addition, their efforts have also ensured the inclusion of volunteers affected by ASD who will be participating in the events run by the festival by handing out brochures or selling merchandise on our stands.
Furthermore, this year FIMUCITÉ will be offering two activities as part of ‘Spectator School’ / ‘Escuela del Espectador’ in the Auditorio de Tenerife. The first will be held on Wednesday 25th September at 18:00 under the title ‘My Favourite Fears’. This event is moderated by film music expert Dan Goldwasser who will be accompanied by Christopher Young and Harry Manfredini. The second will be held on Thursday 26th September at 18:00 under the title ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ / ‘Drácula de Bram Stoker’. Once again, it will be moderated by Dan Goldwasser who will this time be accompanied by conductor Diego Navarro and the record producer Robert Townson.
FIMUCINEMA
A total of 25 short films, 6 documentaries, and 6 fiction feature films have been shortlisted for Fimucinema, the official competition of the Tenerife International Film Music Festival that is coordinated by Manuel E. Díaz Noda. All shortlisted films will be screened from Saturday 21st – Friday 27th September in El Espacio La Granja, which is located on the ground floor of the Casa de la Cultura in La Granja park.
This year, the jury whose task it is to judge these works is comprised of musicians Osvaldo Montes (also the official competition president) and Harry Manfredini, Canarian film makers Vasni Ramos and Mercedes Afonso, and founder of the specialist film music website SoundTrackFest, Gorka Oteiza. Award-winners will be announced on Sunday 29th September in the Auditorio de Tenerife ‘Adán Martín’, during the concert ‘Champions of the Silver Screen’.
FILMOTECA CANARIA
From the 17th September until the 24th October FIMUCITÉ and Filmoteca Canaria will be offering audiences a superb film cycle entitled ‘The Vampire’s Reflection’ (El Reflejo del Vampiro). The programme includes a selection of screenings of some of the most famous films dedicated to vampire mythology, such as ‘Dracula’ (George Melford, 1931), ‘Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht’ (Werner Herzog, 1979), ‘The Addiction’ (Abel Ferrara, 1995), ‘Interview with a Vampire (Neil Jordan, 1994) and ‘The Hunger’ (Tony Scott, 1983). Film screenings will be held in La Granja Espacio de Creación in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and in the Guiniguada Theatre in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
FIMUCITÉ 13 runs from 20th – 29th September with the support and sponsorship of the Cabildo de Tenerife, the Canary Islands Government, Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council, Audi Canarias, Dorada Especial and the Teleférico del Teide, and the collaboration of SGAE – the Spanish General Society of Authors and Publishers, amongst others.
