Thursday 19th October 2023: The Trip to Madrid
After much rehearsal and practical preparations, the time had arrived for us to set off to Madrid to perform in the 37th Festival Internacional Andrés Segovia. Rob and I, together with our ever loyal travelling companion, Dave, assembled with assorted luggage and just one instrument. We’d taken the decision to borrow both a classical and a steel stringed guitar in Madrid to avoid the unnecessary risk of sending our precious instruments through the airport baggage systems at Heathrow and Madrid Barajas airport. This left only the mandola. This we protected by placing and padding it securely with the hard case for a 12-string Taylor guitar.
The taxi arrived right on time and we piled in, three blokes, luggage and a very large guitar case.
The journey to and through Heathrow went smoothly and we were able to drop off the twelve-string case at the special luggage desk in good time to go through security and have ourselves a snack before our flight.
Stormy weather conditions meant that the flight was a ‘tad bumpy’ but, with the three of us having together survived a flight ten times worse going between Beijing and Chongqing in 2019, this was as nothing.
It took a wee while for the mandola in the twelve-string hard case to arrive at the special luggage carousel in Barajas airport, but an immediate inspection showed it had survived the journey unscathed. Phew. There are such horror stories. So, now complete, we were all set for the festival and raring to go.
The amount of luggage we had proved something of a challenge to our taxi driver (and his already half-filled boot) but we eventually squeezed it all in and, apart from it resembling a Ryan Gosling car chase film at times, the drive took us swiftly to our rented apartment in the Calle de Barcelona, just a short distance from the famous Plaza del Sol. Being a pedestrianised area, we had to wheel and carry our various things to the accommodation and, after some misunderstandings over how to retrieve the keys from inside a secure lock up area, our helpful host aided our gaining entry into our apartment. Up three flights of well-trodden wooden stairs, we reached our accommodation which was characterful and would certainly do us well for the duration of our stay.
We dropped off our bags and left immediately for a nearby restaurant called Ginger where we were to meet the Festival Director and long time friend of Rob’s, Pablo de la Cruz, members of his festival team, plus a number of Rob’s friends. This proved to be our first (of many) great meals whilst in Madrid. WE were greeted warmly and immediately felt at home.
After a splendid meal, characteristically late as is the Spanish way, we walked the short distance back to our apartment. To say that the narrow streets around our apartment were still lively would be a major understatement. As we unpacked and got ourselves ready for bed, we could hear a babble bordering on tumult from the streets below….. and I could still hear it as I tossed and turned in beds at 1.00am desperately trying to get some sleep. In the nights that followed we discerned a pattern to the street noise. There was the ‘before the revellers go home’ phase, followed by a ‘drag the tables inside and roll down the shutters phase’, then the ‘individual late night bawdies (or football fans going home)’ phase, before the early morning ‘roll the shutters up and drag the tables back across the cobbles’ phase. It wasn’t an easy first night but it got easier.
Friday 20th October 2023, Charlas at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Escuelas Pias, Calle Tribulete
This was a busy day for Rob as not only was he playing a concert with Na-Mara on Saturday 21st October, he was also giving three presentations or ‘charlas’ at the 7th Curso de Maestros Guitarreros y Compositores en la Música Española in the UNED Madrid, Escuelas Pias. Two of the presentations related to Schotts music and its relationship, first, with Andrés Segovia and, second, with José Tomás. His third presentation was about the use of the classical guitar in folk music and I was there to assist him in performing a couple of examples from our repertoire (Nancy from London and If I Had But One True Love).
The day began with breakfast at a nearby restaurant with Rob’s longstanding friend, Miguel Javaloy Serrano, whom it was a joy to meet. Breakfast finished, we walked the few blocks over to the Guitarrería Ramírez, the home of Guitarras Ramírez, in the Calle de la Paz, where we picked up our loaned classical and folk guitars for the day’s charla and the following day’s concert. Guitar makers since 1870, José Ramirez guitars are amongst the finest in the world and going into their shop was like entering a magic guitar wonderland. Beautiful instruments, wall to wall.
A helpful assistant laid our two guitars on the counter and we both took our seats to try them out. My steel stringed guitar was sublime. Less your usual folk acoustic guitar, more a cross-over from a classical to a folk instrument. It sat beautifully in the hand. The action was superb. For me, the only slight problem was that I usually stand to perform and this guitar was not made to be played with a usual strap around the neck. There was no strap button and I quickly rejected the offered noose-like strap that clipped onto the sound before running underneath the guitar and being slipped the head. I decided I was perfectly happy to sit if it meant I could play this wonderful instrument.
Once we had signed for the guitars, we set off on another short walk across central Madrid to participate in the charlas.
We arrived in good time to listen to talks on, first, music therapy and emotional management, and, second, the relationship between Andrés Segovia and Alirio Diaz. Then Rob and I took to the floor. The talk was all in Spanish and Rob and I had identified a few passages for me to give in Spanish. Rob is completely fluent in Spanish but what they made of my Middlesbrough Spanish accent, I don’t know. Our two songs both went down very well, as did the presentation as a whole. So much so, in fact, that a representative of Ramirez guitars asked Rob and I to make a special film of Nancy from London in a location elsewhere in the building that had better acoustics. We were naturally honoured and happy to do this once Rob and others had finished their subsequent charla presentations.
After the formalities of the morning were complete, a dozen or so of us repaired to a nearby restaurant for a hearty lunch and some beers. In the Spanish way, lunch was much later than might be imagined in the UK and, by the time we had returned to the apartment to drop off our instruments after it, it was pretty much time for us to return to the UNED Madrid Escuelas Pias building to listen to a powerful and moving concert by world-renowned guitarist and educationalist, Carlos Bonell. The evening concluded with more beers and tapas in a nearby restaurant before returning home to try and get some sleep before our concert the following day.
Saturday 21st October 2023: Espacio Ronda, Ronda de Segovia
A tad bleary eyed after another noisy night, we were up in good time to breakfast in what was now our ‘local’ breakfast place. We then returned to the apartment for some rehearsal ahead of our concert at the Espacio Ronda, near the Puerto de Toledo. Satisfied and excited, we then walked across central Madrid to the venue, arriving in plenty of time to get ourselves comfortable with the auditorium, the green room and our instrument tuning. The staff at the Espacio Ronda were extremely helpful. The venue itself is a beautiful, modern, space with excellent acoustics. Seating for 60-70 people was already nicely laid out.
As we prepared, our fellow performer, Sardinian guitar maestro, Simone Onnis, arrived and introduced himself. Having got ourselves comfortable with the stage, we withdrew to allow Simone to do likewise. Even in his pre-concert preparations, it was clear that he was going to provide a dramatic and powerful performance.
As the clock ticked towards our start time at midday, the venue filled up and, after a brief introduction from Festival Director, Pablo de la Cruz, we took to the stage. Questions about how a classical guitar festival audience might receive our music had kept me thinking for weeks, but I really shouldn’t have worried. They absolutely loved it! Our set had been constructed to present mainly traditional songs and tunes, and it was clear that the audience particularly liked the lilting melodies of songs like Nancy from London, The Verdant Braes of Screen and Only For Three Months, and the beauty of tunes like Star of the County Down and Javier Tejedor’s wonderful Añada Pa Julia. Rob did most of the introductions but, in my broken Spanish, I was able to make some small contribution.
The time on stage passed in a trice and, to our joy and amazement, as the final applause after our encore continued, audience members began to stand. We were having our first ever standing ovation. The response will stay in our minds forever. Thanks to all involved in facilitating such a memorable occasion.
We then ceded the stage to Simone Onnis who proceeded to perform an utterly blistering concert, covering music by a wide range of composers for classical guitar. He too was very well received by the audience and, having now secreted ourselves at the back of the auditorium, it was a privilege to watch him.
After Simone had finished, we spent time talking with a range of audience members who were extremely complimentary about our performance and our music. Over on the ‘merch table’, CD sales were brisk. Many thanks to Dave for his sterling efforts on our behalf…….And then it was time for lunch! Another wonderful and varied meal with Festival organisers, Simone, fellow Italian guitar maestro Ciro Carbone and others. Rob and I could not have been more satisfied with what we had achieved. We had rehearsed hard and it had paid off handsomely.
After lunch, we crossed central Madrid back to the apartment for a cup of tea with Miguel Javaloy Serrano at our flat before setting out to meet Rob’s cousin and her husband in the Plaza Mayor for a very interesting stroll around the many different historical areas of central Madrid. It was the best possible way to wind down from our earlier exertions.
With our music adventures now largely complete, we could relax into more ‘holiday’ mode.
Sunday to Wednesday, 22nd to 25th October 2023
On Sunday 22nd October, we all visited the fabulous Museo Arqueológico Nacional in the Calle de Serrano, had lunch at a Basque restaurant with Rob’s cousin and partner, and then attended a lovely concert in the evening given by the Cuarteto de Guitarras Nonius at the Espacio Ronda which included the Spanish premiere of a Julian Anderson guitar piece published by Schott Music. This was followed by a merry session with Pablo de la Cruz in a nearby bar on what was a very rainy night in Madrid.
The following day, Monday 23rd October, we visited the staggeringly good Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum on the Paseo del Prado before celebrating a birthday in the group at a nearby Catalan restaurant. That evening we attended a brilliant concert by guitar maestro and Rob’s friend, Ignacio Rodes, at the Teatro Infanta Isabel in the Calle Barquillo, before repairing to an excellent local taverna and a lively restaurant afterwards.
On Tuesday 24th October, the group had to split up. Rob was tied up in business meetings that day. So, Dave and I tried (and ultimately failed) to book a train to Toledo and, instead, spent a splendid day at, first, the Real Jardín Botánico in Plaza de Murillo, and then the Museo de America on the Avenida de los Reyes Catolicos, calling in on the way to the Faro de Moncloa (Plaza De Moncloa), a 92-metre-high transmission tower with an observation deck providing panoramic views over the whole of Madrid and out to the surrounding mountains.
After a hearty meal in a local tavern in Moncloa, Dave and I returned to the apartment before meeting up again with Rob and going to visit other members of his family in Madrid.
Our day concluded with a return to the Plaza del Sol area and a meal in a busy restaurant.
The return to the UK on Wednesday 25th October went very smoothly indeed. After a final breakfast in our ‘local’, we were able to catch a suitably sized taxi with space for all our gear back to Barajas airport. The IBERIA flight was again on time, the baggage collection went fine (including the safe return of the mandola to the UK) and the journey round the M25 was slow but ultimately steady.
Many thanks to Pablo de la Cruz for the invitation to perform at the festival and to María Torre Núñez for all her assistance. Thanks also to Amalia Ramirez, Luthier and Director of Guitarras José Ramirez for loaning Rob and me two superb examples of José Ramirez guitars for our concert. Finally, many thanks to Miguel Javaloy Serrano, Laura Rossi and many others for their support and company throughout our time in Madrid.