The presentation to the media of the Tío Pepe Festival this year marks the beginning of the countdown to the opening of its third edition. Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Andalusian Regional Government Francisco Javier Fernández Hernández, Mayor of Jerez María del Carmen Sánchez Díaz, tenor Ismael Jordi and President of González Byass Mauricio González-Gordon presented this wine and tourism proposal that intends to highlight the cultural heritage of Andalusia.
Three figures of international recognition will star at the 3rd Tío Pepe Festival: tenor Ismael Jordi, flamenco singer José Mercé and soprano Ainhoa Arteta. During August 11, 12 and 13, different spaces and gardens of Bodegas González Byass in Jerez will be the venue for an event that, in each of its shows, transcends the boundaries of a performance and becomes a multisensory experience.
It is in this double line –the presence of major international artists and a wide-ranging experience, connected to the winery as a space for wine tourism, culture and gastronomy– where the Tío Pepe Festival acquires its full meaning, as a singular and unique event in the summer festival calendar. Its format, successful and highly valued in its two previous editions, is strengthened and extended this year, from two to three days and with the enlargement of the spaces for non-artistic purposes.
Raquel Naranjo from Master Chef at the Tío Pepe Festival Club
Jerez-born Raquel Naranjo, a contestant in the latest edition of the La 1 TV show MasterChef, will present a series of culinary proposals especially created for the occasion at the Tío Pepe Festival Club. With limited seating capacity, attendees will enjoy some intimate and magical settings such as Cellars Los Gigantes and Los Apóstoles, the Villa Victorina Gardens and the Tonelería Courtyard, together with some memorable Jerez-wine tasting and some unique dishes especially prepared by MasterChef’s Raquel Naranjo.
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. A guest now of the Tío Pepe Festival, the tenor returns to the city where he was born: his voice will certainly break the silence of these cellars.
Ismael Jordi will offer an exclusive program for the occasion which will make the audience 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 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.
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, 2016
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.
For her performance at 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 edition of the Tío Pepe Festival can be purchased over:
Phone (+34) 956 357 096
The www.tiopepefestival.com website
Mail address Tiopepefestival@Gonzálezbyass.es