Málaga will transform into a grand cultural stage with the Raíces festival.

SOUTH

Music, cuisine, and heritage come together again in Málaga through Raíces, a cultural project that will celebrate its second edition from June 1 to 20. Organized by the Málaga Cultural and Social Association, it will bring together concerts, recitals, culinary experiences, and workshops across various venues in Málaga and Nerja, “claiming the Malagan cultural identity from a contemporary, elegant, and deeply rooted perspective,” explain the organizers.

The event, whose program can be viewed on the website, will take place over three weekends in June featuring morning concerts and evening events where music and cuisine will coexist. The program will kick off on Saturday, June 6 at 19:00 at the Sala Fundación Unicaja María Cristina with the opening concert by the prestigious Capilla Instrumental de Sevilla, conducted by Valentín Sánchez Venzalá. The ensemble will perform a brilliant program consisting of works by Vivaldi, Johann Adolf Hasse, Mozart, and Edvard Grieg.

Also in Nerja

On Sunday, June 7, the Sala de Exposiciones de Nerja will host one of the program's musical highlights with the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Goldberg Variations' in Dmitri Sitkovetsky’s transcription, performed by the Lehmberg Trio, consisting of Violeta Peláez, Laura Ramírez, and Adriana Pulido. The choice of Nerja as one of the festival venues also responds to “the project's desire to extend its cultural proposal beyond the capital and culturally connect different points of the province.”

On Saturday, June 13, the Centro Cultural Fundación Unicaja de Málaga will host another major event of the series featuring the String Sextet of the Said-Barenboim Academy, which will perform works by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. “The proposal seeks to establish that dialogue between architecture, emotion, and chamber music that defines the project’s philosophy,” they emphasize.

One of the highlights will be the lyrical recital hosted by the old Cortijo Bacardí on June 14

One of the highlights of Raíces will be on Sunday, June 14 at the old Cortijo Bacardí with 'Flavors and Melodies of Rossini. A musical and gastronomic journey with Rossini,' which will combine a lyrical recital and cuisine. The musical program will include arias and excerpts from some of the great works of the Italian composer, performed by mezzo-soprano Carla Sampedro, tenor Quintín Bueno, and baritone Alejandro Von Büren, accompanied on the piano by Juanma Parra. The experience will be completed with a gastronomic proposal specially designed by Amador Fernández for that day.

The closing of the series will take place on Saturday, June 20 with a double cultural event. In the morning, the Church of San Julián will host a recital by pianist Alejandro Pérez, who will perform Erik Satie's three Gymnopédies in an intimate and contemplative format that connects music and sacred heritage. Later in the evening, El Balneario will host 'In vino veritas,' an initiative by Ministriles Hispalensis focusing on courtly and popular music from the 16th and 17th centuries, accompanied by the gastronomic proposal of Fran Rascado (Alaparte restaurant).

Notably, cuisine will play a very special role throughout the festival with the participation of numerous associated restaurants and leading chefs from the province, who will offer specific workshops. With a price of 10 euros, Javier Hernández (Candado Golf), Pablo Quiñones (Primitivo), Diego René (René, Beluga, Kraken, and Pez Wanda), Fran González (Ta-Kumi), Charo Carmona (Arte de Cozina), and Cristian Fernández and Pablo Zamudio (Base9).

Additionally, on June 15, the aforementioned Diego René, writer Antonio Soler, and Miguel Ferrer, director of the Hospitality Schools of Málaga La Cónsula and La Fonda (Benalmádena), will discuss creation in the fields of literature and cuisine. The gastronomic chapter is completed with special menus in different restaurants of the city: Beluga, Kaleja, Candado Golf, and Tragatá on June 6 at 14:00 (between 40 and 80 euros); Base9, Taró, Palodú, and El Balneario (between 40 and 70 euros), on June 13 also at 14:00; and Ta-Kumi, Primitivo, Promesa, and Uvedoble (between 30 and 65 euros), on June 20 at the same time.

Restaurants like Beluga, Kaleja, Base9, Tragatá, Taró, or Palodú will prepare special menus

Some of the chefs leading the sessions attended the official presentation of the Raíces program, which took place at one of the activity venues: El Balneario. Alongside them were institutional representatives, sponsors, artists, and cultural managers. In this regard, the president of the Málaga Cultural and Social Association, Manuel Navarro; the representative of the Málaga City Council, Jacobo Florido; the head of Performing Arts of Fundación Unicaja, Gema Domínguez; the president of Mahos, Javier Frutos; representatives of Utamed; the councilor for Culture and Tourism of the Nerja City Council; the head of cultural content of Raíces, Salomón Castiel; and the head of gastronomic content of the project, Fernando Rueda, spoke.

Raíces also has the sponsorship and collaboration of Fundación Unicaja, the Málaga City Council, the Tourism Council of the Junta de Andalucía, the Chamber of Commerce of Málaga, Viajes El Corte Inglés, Mahos, Utamed, and the Nerja City Council.

Historical and architectural value

During the presentation, the project leaders highlighted that this cultural initiative “emerges from a simple yet profoundly powerful idea: architecture and music share the same vocation for harmony.” In this dialogue between the artistic and the heritage, cuisine is incorporated as “a vehicle capable of completing a fully sensory cultural experience.”

Precisely this multisensory character is one of the pillars on which the project is based: “Raíces proposes a different way of approaching culture, activating heritage spaces of great historical and architectural value through concerts, recitals, and gastronomic experiences carefully designed for each venue.” Thus, churches, historic courtyards, natural spaces, or emblematic buildings become vibrant stages where heritage becomes a shared experience.

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