Serra hosts from July 12 to 20 the fifth edition of the Calderona Chamber Music Festival under the artistic direction of Salvador Bolón. This year’s edition of the festival is born with a renewed spirit: that of awakening. Awakening: a journey through the essence of music is the title and guiding thread of the program we present this year. Awakening curiosity, active listening, emotion and the link with music from a perspective that integrates natural and monumental heritage, international creativity and local community. With a program designed to excite, educate and inspire, the festival takes us on an artistic journey that takes us from the roots of New York jazz to the sophistication of German lied, through the “Brahmsian” heritage, chamber music, the rediscovery of forgotten musical heritage and new contemporary creation. All this, in dialogue with the Sierra Calderona as a living and inspiring stage.
As a common thread, the concept of “Awaken” – the title of the first concert with the trio of the renowned trumpeter Tony Glausi – becomes the perfect metaphor to articulate the story of the 2025 festival. Each concert is a way to leave silence, oblivion and routine behind and open oneself to the discovery and beauty of sound presented in diverse formations, where instruments and voice come together to transport us into the world of chamber music.
The festival begins on July 12 with a shake of energy and modernity. From New York comes Tony Glausi, one of the most powerful figures of the new generation of jazz. His Awaken project not only marks the start of the festival, but invites us to step out of the everyday sonority and enter a world where creative freedom and tradition merge elegantly. His performance represents the opening of doors and sensibilities towards music as a transforming force, accompanied by Russell Hall on bass and Andreu Pitarch on drums. A concert in the fresh air, at the foot of the tower of the Lord (S.XII).
If Awaken opens the ear, the program of the second concert of the Dohnanyi Sextet opens the memory. Brahms is the gravitational center of a program where Mahler, Kahn and Dohnányi orbit. A tribute to the chamber music of the 19th century and to the transmission of knowledge, mastery and emotion from generation to generation. This concert is an intergenerational dialogue on the European musical heritage, performed by first class soloists from all over the continent, mainly from the London Symphony Orchestra.
The third concert, Oblivion – Music between memory and oblivion, represents a turning point in the program, from memory to oblivion. Oblivion is a sonorous reflection on what history has silenced or marginalized, from the music of Bach -which was forgotten for decades- to the resignification of tango with Piazzolla. Central European, Hungarian and Argentinean music, in a dynamic and explanatory format, in which each piece is a small story narrated and interpreted with pedagogical intention and commitment. A concert at sunset, with the imposing views of the Calderona on the esplanade of the hermitage (XIX century) and the Tower of the hermitage (XII century).
The two school concerts, as a parallel activity, is the most necessary awakening: that of childhood. This concert is the fundamental link of the festival with the local population and its future. With the participation of the students of the chamber music courses, we bring classical music closer to the little ones, we make them participate, awakening vocations, looks and, perhaps, future musicians. It is a direct action of social and educational impact in the territory.
After awakening and remembering, sublimation arrives with the Valencian group, Kairos Project Ensemble. Two great quintets -Mozart and Brahms- that represent the culmination of the form, the expression of musical plenitude. In the natural context of the Calderona, this concert is almost mystical: two masterpieces that elevate the spirit and symbolize the balance between form and emotion, classical and romantic, human and transcendent, and in the setting of the church of the convent of the Discalced Carmelites (20th century) on the centenary of the founding of the house that moved to Serra.
The penultimate concert of the festival culminates with the voice: the most direct and human of musical tools. Alicia Amo proposes a journey through love -tragic, desired, lost, combative- from the 18th century to the current creation. With works by Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Arvo Pärt and Jesús Torres, this concert puts the skin on fire, combining vocal delicacy, poetry and musical narrative. A concert in the church of the Virgin Mary of Angels (XVIII century) with Kairos Project Ensemble.
The last concert, eagerly awaited by the local young population, is the awakening of many of them to chamber music, that of young talents, which includes the repertoires worked in chamber music courses by young professionals.
In conclusion, the Calderona Chamber Music Festival 2025 is much more than a succession of concerts: it is an emotional, pedagogical and artistic journey designed for the cultural growth of the community and for the enjoyment of an intergenerational audience. With a strong international component, a commitment to the training of young local musicians, a meaningful programming and an intelligent use of natural and monumental heritage, the festival consolidates its place as a reference event in the Valencian territory and to the quality music scene.
