Three internationally acclaimed artists will be the stars in the 3rd edition of the Tío Pepe Festival: tenor Ismael Jordi, flamenco singer José Mercé and soprano Ainhoa Arteta. From 11-13 August, different spaces and gardens of the González Byass wineries will be the perfect setting for an event that goes beyond a mere show to become a multi-sensory experience.
It is along this double line –the presence of major international artists and a wide range of experiences connected to the winery as a space for wine tourism, food and culture, where the Tío Pepe Festival attains its full meaning: a singular and unique event in the summer festival calendar. Its format –successful and highly valued in its two previous editions– is reinforced and consolidated this year: it will not only expand its lifespan from two to three days, but also the spaces for non-artistic events.
A number of intimate and magical settings with limited seating capacity –such as wineries Los Gigantes and Los Apóstoles, the Villa Victorina Gardens and the Tonelería Courtyard–, as well as the tasting of unique sherry wines and some culinary creations, especially prepared for the occasion –what a better place to do son than the relaxed atmosphere of the terraces of the Tío Pepe Festival Club– are some of the highlights of a festival that has become a landmark summer event in the country.
The poster for the 3rdTío Pepe Festival is the work of Jerez-born painter José María Báez.
ISMAEL JORDI
Cellars Los Apóstoles and Los Gigantes. August 11, 2016
Since his presentation at the Villamarta Theatre in his hometown, Jerez, as Don Pasquale’s Ernesto, Ismael Jordi has developed an unstoppable international career that has led him to be acknowledged as one of the tenors with greater projection today, as shown by his regular presence at theatres like the Covent Garden (London), the Paris Opera, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples or, this year, the Fenice Theatre in Venice. He has also sung in the Operas of Vienna, Marseille, Bordeaux, the Deutsche Oper, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Liege, Berlin (Staatsoper), Zurich, Bern, Bilbao, Valencia, Dusseldorf, Dresden, the Opéra Comique (Paris), Strasbourg, Madrid (both at the Royal and the Zarzuela Theatres), Seville, Palma de Mallorca, Oviedo and Jerez: in all these locations he shined through his remarkable interpretations of the light bel canto repertoire. He has also broken into operetta with Le chanteur de México, a piece with which he obtained an overwhelming success at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
For this occasion, Ismael Jordi has an exclusive program that invites attendees to join him on a musical journey that will take them from the emotion of some of his greatest personal performances – such as Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Alfredo (Traviata), Nemorino (The Elixir of Love) or Fernando Soler (Doña Francisquita)– to a number of musical surprises in the form of some of the songs and popular music that are part of his life, which will be played for the first time in front of an audience.
On August 11, the Jerez-born tenor will have a special guest: flamenco singer David Lagos, awarded a “Mining Lamp” at the prestigious Festival de La Unión.
JOSÉ MERCÉ
Tonelería Courtyard-Lepanto. August 12, 2016
José Soto Soto (José Mercé) is the great-grandson of Paco Luz and the nephew of Manuel Soto “Sordera”, one of the patriarchs of Jerez flamenco. After singing as a child in the choir of the local Basílica de La Merced (hence comes his stage name), he took his first artistic steps in the Flamenco Thursdays of Jerez and the Cádiz tablao La Cueva del Pájaro. At 13, he arrived in Madrid (“I got 500 pesetas a day singing in Torres Bermejas”, he reported) and then recorded his first album, produced by Manuel Ríos Ruiz. He was part of the Antonio Gades Company; he participated in Carlos Saura’s film Blood Wedding, in 1981; he has also collaborated with the National Ballet; he won the National Contest for Flamenco Art in Cordoba, in 1986; he again worked with Saura in his 1995 film Flamenco.
With more than 600,000 albums sold in the last 15 years, this Jerez-born singer is an artist who has managed to convey, like few others, that flamenco is for everyone, by taking it to the peak of popularity without causing it to lose its inherent depth: he has kept the essence of flamenco singing, even when involved in the mixed versions by Manu Chao, Luis Eduardo Aute, Víctor Jara, Louis Armstrong, Pablo Milanés, the Pop Tops and Joan Manuel Serrat, to position himself as a key artist in Spanish music.
After four years without releasing a record (and a long absence from Jerez too), José Mercé lands in the 3rdTío Pepe Festival on August 12 to present his new album, one that will certainly become a turning point in his extensive career. The record, named ‘Doy la cara’ (I Show my Face) is made up of classic songs from the popular repertoire interpreted trough duo versions with the most outstanding Spanish pop personalities (Joaquin Sabina, Pablo Alborán, Alejandro Sanz, Los Secretos, among others). This, undoubtedly, repositions the Jerez singer at the forefront of the music scene and expands the brilliant career of the greatest flamenco master of his generation to even newer horizons.
AINHOA ARTETA
Villa Victorina Gardens. August 13
After winning the opera competitions “Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions” and “Concours International de Voix d’Opéra Plácido Domingo”, Arteta began a brilliant international career at theatres such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Carnegie Hall, the Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Arena di Verona and the Deutsche Oper, among others, where she has performed some of the greatest operas: La Traviata, La Bohème, Romeo et Juliette, Faust, Manon, La Rondine and Turandot.
Some of her latest international performances were Cyrano de Bergérac (with Plácido Domingo) in San Francisco and Madrid’s Royal Theatre; La Bohème at the Metropolitan and La Scala; Turandot, Carmen and La Bohème at Barcelona’s Liceo; Le dernier jour d’un condamné (with Roberto Alagna) in Paris and Don Giovanni at Madrid’s Royal Theatre again. She triumphed last season as Falstaff’s Alice Ford (with Bryn Terfel) at the San Francisco Opera and the Covent Garden. Her future engagements include her return to Tosca in Dusseldorf and Sydney, Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and Pagliacci at Brussels’ La Monnaie.
Arteta holds numerous prizes and internationally prestigious awards: a Gold Medal for Talent in the Fine Arts, the Hispanic Society of America’s Award for her Contribution to the Arts, the award to the “Best Performer of Classical Music” in the 5th edition of the Premios de la Música, and the Ondas Award for the Most Outstanding Work in Classical Music, among others.
For her presentation in the 3rdTío Pepe Festival, on 13 August 2016, the soprano has prepared an exclusive program that will include the interpretation of some of her most famous arias as well as some popular songs from the Spanish lyrical repertoire. She will be accompanied by renowned pianist Rubén Fernández-Aguirre, Ópera Actual Award “for his dedication to lyrical singing and his growing prestige in this field.”
Tickets for the 3rd Tío Pepe Festival can be purchased over:
Phone (+34) 956 357 096
The Tio Pepe Festival website
Mail address Tiopepefestival@gonzalezbyass.es
The Tío Pepe Festival was born in 2014 as a unique cultural event in Spain. It is an exceptional occasion to live a multi-sensory experience, closely connected to the González Byass Winery, its wines, its family traditions and its gastronomy.
This innovative wine-tourism proposal is a commitment to quality, which reflects on the artistic contents of the event and the variety of the musical spaces set up within the González Byass Wineries, as well as in the sherry wines that will be tasted and the gastronomy that will be prepared especially for the occasion.
The 3rd Tío Pepe Festival has the support of sponsors such as CajaSur and Coca-Cola; supporting institutions such as the City of Jerez and the Cadiz Provincial Council; partner companies such as Bus Tours City Sightseeing, printing centre Guede, Covey, Empark (Parking Alameda, Enea, Flor de Caña, Fueste, Hipotels, Hotel Jerez, La Cartuja de Seville, Limasa, Makro, Más que Sonido, Montesierra, Promarketing, Sabico, Tipsa and Ybarra); as well as media partnerships with Cadena Ser, Diario de Cádiz, Diario de Jerez, Diario de Sevilla, Diez Minutos, Global Flamenco, Onda Cero, Opera World and Woman.an.