María Obrador is the spokesperson and coordinator of Cap Rocat Festival, as well as general secretary of the Madina Mayûrqa Foundation. The musical event will return on the 4th, 5th and 6th of August with a luxury line-up designed by the renowned artistic director Ilias Tzempetonidis and featuring Pablo Mielgo, maestro and conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica. Names such as Arcadi Volodos, Pretty Yende and Elina Garança, among many others, will perform. The event aims to consolidate itself as an essential date of the cultural summer on the island. Tickets are available at www.caprocatfestival.com.
How has the Cap Rocat Festival been built?
“My father (Antonio Obrador) has invested many years, in time and dreams, to turn Cap Rocat into what it is now, an Asset of Cultural Interest recovered from its former ruinous state, which has received the Europa Nostra award for its restoration, and a place he always saw as an opera stage. It was always his dream and he has finally achieved it. Cap Rocat was a dream that became a reality, but he had to settle down to fill it with music, theatre and opera. He is a great scenographer, a passionate music lover, two years ago we started with the first concert and this year we are presenting a festival open to everyone.”
The first concert was very exciting.
“It was, we were still under the restrictions of Covid, but we were very excited to start with local artists like Simón Orfila and Irene Mas. Maestro Pablo Mielgo gave one hundred percent, he is a wonderful man. The place is magical, the presence of the sea so close and the sunset, the colours it gives us, make this moment unique and unrepeatable. Last year was also wonderful with the concert of the great diva Sondra Radvanovsky, together with the Orquestra Simfònica de les Illes Balears under the musical direction of maestro Pablo Mielgo. We call it The Night of the Senses. We achieved it thanks to the involvement of the great Ilias Tzempetonidis (artistic coordinator of the Teatro San Carlos in Naples) as artistic director, who immediately fell in love with the project.”
What does Ilias Tzempetonidis mean to the festival?
“I wouldn’t say everything, because we are a team of people dedicated to the project and we all give the best of ourselves so that this genius, a fully-fledged festival, can go ahead. Ilias is indispensable because of his knowhow, his contacts and his ability to bring together artists of the highest level in three days. There are theatres that need years to organise something similar. Ilias’ success has been to create a very attractive and powerful programme to bring it closer to the Mallorcan public, which is what we dream of. We want the Mallorcans, the citizens of the Islands, to feel it is theirs, to enjoy it.
This is the first year that we can talk about a festival and not just one concert.
“That’s right, before it was the Night of the Senses, because it’s a whole experience, the walk along Cap Rocat, the sea, the breeze, the torches. Now it has become the Cap Rocat Festival, which is a huge leap. Three nights that we hope will become more when we feel the embrace of the Mallorcan public and those who visit us.
What are the pillars that have made the festival a reality?
“Of course, it was born out of the determination of my father Antonio Obrador. Everything is the fruit of his determination, of his vision. An illusion that he has been able to pass on to us, to Pablo Mielgo the first, who in turn passed it on to Ilias, and he has also passed it on to all of us. In the end we are like a big excited family. Let’s see if we can pass it on to the Mallorcans.”
How do you feel when you deal with music faces of this level?
“They are close people, I won’t say normal, but people who are not problematic at all. They are all very hard workers, with very lonely lives. She told me.”
Pablo Mielgo is another face of the festival.
“He is a fundamental part of the festival. We should be very proud to have such a character in Mallorca. With him we will make music reach people of all ages, that’s what he strives to do, to make people fall in love with music. The Madina Mayurqa Foundation is very grateful to him and thanks to this festival and people like him, we are hopeful for the continuity and future of the festival, we see that it will have continuity