John, Paul, George, and Ringo... and Antonio and Arturo

A few months ago, Antonio Banderas introduced to the media the Espacio Sohrlin Andalucía, a performing arts and cultural entertainment center. Together with his partner, the CEO of Producciones Merlín, Domingo Sánchez, they aim to turn La Misericordia into a talent incubator, especially for technicians needed to face the scenic and audiovisual development of our country. The center also includes an auditorium for staging plays and concerts, such as the one inaugurating today, a symphonic tribute-show to The Beatles' repertoire, directed by Arturo Díez Boscovich (leading the Soho Larios Pop Orchestra) and under the artistic supervision of Banderas himself. The recital will also be available tomorrow and the day after.

"The idea comes from Antonio, who is a big fan of The Beatles," tells us Díez Boscovich, conductor of the mentioned orchestra and Banderas's musical right hand at his Soho-CaixaBank Theater. For him, also a composer, songwriters like All You Need Is Love, Hey Jude, Yesterday, Yellow Submarine, or especially Michelle, his favorite, possess that "melodic gift" that makes their repertoire timeless, unfading: "Those songs have an eternal melody. Since the times of Donizetti or Verdi's opera, melody has been the way to transcend all time barriers. And being music with such recognizable melodies makes the group what it already is: indestructible and eternal."

Antonio Banderas and Arturo Díez Boscovich. / l.o.

And perhaps precisely because of their melodic power, their themes are flexible, capable of enduring the most diverse stylizations. The concert's arranger, Antoni Mairata, plays with this: "Many of them have been retouched. For example, Yellow Submarine has been turned into a kind of parade march. So, all the songs have some kind of stylistic change," advances Díez Boscovich, who explains that translating the melodies into a symphonic environment has been "arduous work."

Prejudices and Distinctions

The songs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney (and to a lesser compositional extent, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) show that pop can be as complex, artistic, and thrilling as the finest classical music. In fact, the orchestra of Antonio Banderas's theater, led by Arturo Díez Boscovich, is named Larios Pop del Soho, perhaps also to break the prejudices and distinctions between high and low culture: "The name of the orchestra makes sense because, just like the great orchestras that have played popular music in the United States, they are orchestras that do not only play classical music but also music related to any type of field, such as video game music, for example."

Tickets for the symphonic tribute concert to The Beatles by the Larios Pop del Soho (ranging from 30 to 53.50 euros) are available on the website of the Soho-CaixaBank Theater, its box office, and all sales points of El Corte Inglés, as well as at the box office and website of Espacio Sohrlin Andalucía (C/ Almonte, 6).

Subscribe to continue reading