Like every winter, since 1985, the best of world classical music heads to the 28 degrees north latitude and 16 degrees west longitude of the Canary archipelago: the Canary Islands International Music Festival (FIMC), which celebrates its 42nd edition, will once again be the meeting point for the great orchestras, conductors and soloists from all over the planet, with a program deployed simultaneously on the eight islands. There are more than 800 musicians who will gather for the celebration of 61 concerts, some in large auditoriums and others in island settings as exceptional as that of the island of La Graciosa, with barely 700 inhabitants.
“The Canary Islands become the international epicenter of music every year,” underlines the Minister of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands, Migdalía Machín, who claims this model as a way of understanding access to classical music as a right. The presence of the festival on all the islands responds, as he explains, to a clear desire to adapt the programming to the characteristics of each place without giving up artistic excellence. “Art has no borders; music is a universal language capable of uniting cultures, territories and people,” defends Machín.
International prestige and commitment to local talent
Its international projection has been one of the keys to the sustained growth of the FIMC. But the festival would be absolutely different without its roots and without its “decided” commitment to local talent. Island musical creation occupies an increasingly visible place in the programming, with absolute premieres and commissions from composers from the archipelago.
In this edition, the festival will premiere two works by Canarian authorship: Oratorioby Gonzalo Díaz Yerro, and sand angelby Cecilia Díaz Pestano. The latter will also see the light of day in a setting as unusual for a world premiere as the auditorium on the island of La Graciosa. For the counselor, this gesture symbolizes what differentiates the FIMC from other similar events: the desire to bring great music to every corner, without exceptions.
The growth of the festival has also translated into progress in terms of territorial equality. After four decades in which passes could only be purchased in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the last edition marked a turning point with its implementation in the rest of the islands. The enthusiastic response from the public, says the cultural manager, confirmed that “when conditions are balanced and culture is brought closer to all territories, it is experienced as one’s own.”
Fill the stalls with young people
Another of the festival’s strategic axes is attracting new audiences, especially young people. Through initiatives such as the En Paralelo festival, the FIMC explores the links between classical music and other genres, from jazz to popular music. In this edition, the cycle will feature internationally prestigious groups such as the American Snarky Puppy, a jazz fusion band led by bassist Michael League, or the Metropole Orkest, from the Netherlands, along with proposals that put Canarian creation in dialogue with global languages.
The objective, concludes the counselor, is to consolidate the festival not only as an international benchmark, but as a common home for new generations of musicians and listeners. A cultural history that, for more than four decades, “has been written”, every winter, in the words of Machín, “from the Canary Islands to the world”.