Ian Gibson - Machado - Luis Santana, Producciones Lastra

Ian Gibson - Machado

'Singing what is lost'

Ian Gibson, an internationally renowned Hispanist, explores in this exciting and heartfelt tribute the final, tormented years of Antonio Machado’s life in a beautiful recital alongside pianist Antonio López and baritone Luis Santana. Marking the eightieth anniversary of his death, Gibson brings us closer to one of the many tragedies left behind by the Spanish Civil War. We will witness, deeply moved, Machado’s inner turmoil, his flight across the border with his mother, and his death just weeks later at the age of 64. This is the story of one of Spain’s most admired and widely read intellectuals, whose remains still rest on French soil.

As always, as passionate as he is well-researched, Gibson portrays all facets of Antonio Machado, the poet in wartime. Antonio Machado (1875–1938) is one of the most widely read and beloved Spanish writers of all time. But what is his story? How did the character and personality of this pivotal figure in our literature take shape? Ian Gibson sets out to unravel the life of the author of Soledades (1903), Campos de Castilla (1912), and Juan de Mairena (1936) in an intense yet fluid account that revisits the events that shaped his remarkable journey.

In this concert-lecture, featuring images from his life and work, we will also hear a selection of songs by composers who have written about Machado, masterfully performed by Santana, considered one of the finest baritones on the national scene. These performances are interwoven with Gibson’s narration, creating a unique spectacle.

Ian Gibson was born in Dublin in 1937, but became a Spanish national in 1984. After teaching at universities in Belfast and London, in 1957 he made his first trip to Spain, to Madrid, knowing nothing about the dictatorship or who Franco was. And there he fell in love with Spanish culture and landscapes, with «an entire peninsula full of secrets and enigmas».

In 1960, Gibson earned a degree in Spanish and French Literature from Trinity College Dublin. In 1962, he began his university career as a contracted Spanish professor at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland. To gather material for his doctoral thesis on García Lorca, he made his second trip to Granada in 1965, accompanied by his wife, before beginning work at the University of London in 1968. There he taught Hispanic literature and, from 1972, worked as a reader (the grade immediately below full professor) of Modern Spanish Literature. During his university life, he published two works: La represión nacionalista de Granada en 1936 y la muerte de Federico García Lorca (Paris, 1971) and The Death of Lorca (London, 1972), an expanded and corrected English version of the previous book.

In 1975 he settled in Spain, becoming one of the best-known Hispanists in the country. He graduated in Spanish and French Literature from Trinity College Dublin in 1960. After living in Madrid for a few years, he moved to El Valle (Granada), from where he returned to Madrid in 2004.

His best-known works are the biographical ones, focusing on the figures of poets Federico García Lorca (he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1989 for La represión nacionalista de Granada en 1936 y la muerte de Federico García Lorca, which was strictly censored during Franco's regime) and Antonio Machado, although he has also dealt with other artistic figures such as Salvador Dalí, Camilo José Cela or Rubén Darío. In addition to his work as an essayist, he has also written novels (Viento del Sur, 2001) and historical research essays (Paracuellos. Cómo fue, 2005). He has collaborated with various media outlets, such as El País and El Periódico de Cataluña, and has been director and presenter of several documentaries for the BBC.

This Zamoran baritone began his musical studies at the age of five, studying with some of the greatest masters such as Juana Peñalver, Consuelo Barrio, María Teresa Manzano, Miguel Zanetti, and currently with the eminent Spanish tenor Pedro Lavirgen and with Teresa Berganza. He has performed in the most important theaters and concert halls in our country: Gran Teatro del Liceo, Auditorio Nacional de Música, Fundación Juan March, Auditorio de Zaragoza, Maestranza de Sevilla, Principal de Alicante, Cervantes de Málaga, Miguel Delibes and Teatro Calderón de Valladolid, Romea de Murcia, Auditorio de León, Fundación Príncipe de Asturias, Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, Gran Teatro de Córdoba, Gran Teatro de Huelva, Falla de Cádiz, Batel de Cartagena, Principal de Vitoria, Victoria Eugenia de San Sebastián, Palacio de Congresos de Granada, Mérida, Circo de Albacete, Auditorio de Cuenca, San Lorenzo del Escorial, Maestro Padilla de Almería, etc.

Cities such as Rome, Paris, Milan, Naples, Budapest, Toulon, Bucharest, Donetsk, Iasi, Brașov, Lviv, Rousse, Riga, Porto, Lisbon, Vienna, Eisenach... have been conducted by batons of the stature of García, Roa, Frizzi, Osa, Wilson, Alapont, Lencko, Vasilenko, Diadura, Monsalve, Abelló, Sainz Alfaro, Ortega, Popa, Mesa, Todorov, and many others....

Memorable concerts at the Basilica of Pilar in Zaragoza in the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Auditorio Nacional de Música alongside the legendary Orfeón Donostiarra in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen, Mozart's Requiem at the Cathedral of Seville, Brahms' Requiem at the Old Cathedral of Salamanca, Tribute to Victoria de los Ángeles at the church where she was baptized, Tribute to Teresa Berganza and Antón García Abril. Tribute at the Lleida Auditorium to Ainhoa Arteta. Concert tour with the great Nati Mistral, and the late Paco Valladares on Spanish poetry. Inauguration of the Soriano Musical Autumn festival under the baton of Odón Alonso. Robles de Laciana Festival alongside Rosa Torres-Pardo, International Festival of Úbeda, Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, etc... Specialist in Rossinian repertoire and Spanish chamber music. One of his latest concerts took place in Valdediós for the premiere of Antón García Abril's Asturian songs for baritone and piano, in the presence of the composer.

Descargar dossier de prensa

Notas de prensa