The known Cuenca Religious Music Week turns 55 next Easter. The schedule for this year's edition has already been known. Great performers and orchestras will meet in the capital of Cuenca, as is the case of the director, William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Raquel Andueza, the Leipzig Quartet, La Grande Chapelle or Fahmi Alqhai with his Accademia del Piacere.
Every year there are a guest country, and this time it is Germany. German music will be the protagonist, and each day of the program there will be a German musician in concert. The program starts on March 19, although from next week some activities will take place.
This year's edition commemorates the fourth centenary of the death of Cervantes, with "The Conquest of Jerusalem." The author of the ingenious man from La Mancha always made musical annotations in his work, and the theater group Antiqua Scene uses these musical connotations. In addition, this year 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the declaration of Cuenca as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, as well as 300 years of death of Sebastián Durón.
Another peak moment is the arrival on Thursday, March 24, of the famous director William Christie, with the Les Arts Florissants formation, with the interpretation of the Mass in E minor by Bach. Christie will take the opportunity to have a musical meeting with those who come to the city to talk about music. It is tradition in the festival to perform premieres; this year 2016 the Berlin Vocalconsort will perform Lamentations by James Wood and Breathing by Héctor Parra.
The doors of the festival will open the Saturday of Passion with the music of Vivaldi, and will close on March 27 at the Church of the Assumption of Tarancón, where Raquel Andueza and her ensemble La Galanía They will commemorate the third centenary of Sebastián Durón with fragments of his work.