Guitarist and composer Cañizares is arguably one of the most important and influential flamenco artists worldwide, and he is just as comfortable with classical repertoire and his own compositions.

Cañizares’ career spans over four decades, and is the first and only flamenco guitarist to have been invited to perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker – along with he played the Concierto de Aranjuez under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle in Madrid’s Teatro Real. He has collaborated with the main orchestras worldwide, including Staatskapelle Dresden, NHK Synphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya etc.

Cañizares has won many prestigious awards, including ‘Premio Nacional de Guitarra’ (1982), ‘Premio de la Música’ (2008), and ‘Premio Flamenco Hoy’ (2000, 2011, 2013). For ten years Cañizares was a close collaborator of Paco de Lucía, and he has also worked with many other leading artists – Enrique Morente, Camarón de la Isla, Serrat, Alejandro Sanz, Mauricio Sotelo, Leo Brouwer, John Paul Jones and Peter Gabriel, among others.

Cañizares’ work as a composer includes works for the Spanish National Ballet Company and soundtracks for several movies, including “La Lola se va a los Puertos” with Rocío Jurado and Paco Rabal, Flamenco and “La Jota” by Carlos Saura. He has participated in over 100 albums and has published 15 albums as main artist.

© Amancio Guillén

Owing to the importance of the event, it is necessary to emphasize the world premiere of the Flamenco Concert entitled “Al-Andalus”, for guitar and orchestra; “Al-Andalus” was dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía and was premiered in the National Auditorium of Madrid. This work was commissioned by the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir (OCNE), and was performed under the direction of Josep Pons provided musical direction. In the words of the renowned composer and critic Tomás Marco: “The work was received with universal public acclaim”.

Besides his career as an interpreter, Cañizares spends a great deal of his time investigating and teaching flamenco. Since 2003, he has been teaching flamenco guitar at the prestigious Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), and he also imparts masterclasses both in Spain and internationally.

Recent and upcoming highlights include Mauricio Sotelo’s opera El Público at Teatro Real in Madrid, and performances in Palau de Música de Catalana, Auditorium di Milano, Festival de Granada, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier and La Folle Journée.

SOLO ALBUMS

Orchestral Repertories

• Concierto Al-Andalus (Cañizares, 2016)
• Concierto Mediterráneo (Cañizares, 2018)
• Concierto de Aranjuez (Rodrigo, 1939)
• Fantasía para un Gentilhombre (Rodrigo, 1954)

Collaboration

• Berlin Philharmonic
• City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
• Staatskapelle Dresden
• Dresden Philharmonic
• Spanish National Orchestra
• Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra
• NHK Symphony Orchestra
• Nagoya Philharmonica Orchestra
• Luxemburg Philharmonic Orchestra
• Stavanger Sympony Orchestra
• The Hague Philharmonic
• Orqueste Lamoureux
• Sinfonia Varsovia
• Orquestre d’Auvergne
• Vallès Symphony Orchestra

• Yokohama Sinfonietta
• Japan Century Orchestra
• Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
• Orchestra National du Capitole de Toulouse
• Grupo Instumental de Valencia
• Cadaqués Symphony Orchestra
• Navarra Symphony Orchestra
• Cordoba Symphony Orchestra
• Moscow City Symphony – Russian Philharmonic
• Milano Symphony Orchestra La Verdi
• Orchestra Les Arts de Valencia
• Balearic Symphony Orchestra
• Extremadura Symphony Orchestra
• Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

• Sir Simon Rattle
• Maestro Josep Pons
• Maestro Juanjo Mena
• Maestro Pablo González
• Maestro Cristian Vázquez
• Maestro Jean-Jack Kantorow
• Maestro Fayçal Karoui
• Maestro Kazuki Yamada
• Maestro Yasuo Shinozaki
• Maestro Roberto Forés
• Maestro Jordí Bernácer

• Maestro Joan Cerveró
• Maestro Mauricio Sotelo
• Maestro Yakov Kreizberg
• Maestro Gustavo Gimeno
• Maestro Ruben Gimeno
• Maestra Mei-Ann Chen
• Maestra Yoko Matsuo
• Maestro Eduardo Portal
• Maestro Edmon Colomer
• Maestro José Antonio Montaño
• Maestro Sergey Tararin
• and more…