Cosmic brotherhood lands in Alcudia
Friday, 8pm, Espai 36, C. Major 36, Sant Llorenç.
Saturday, 7pm, Alcudia Auditorium, Plaça Porta Mallorca, Alcudia.
El Petit de Cal Eril is Joan Pons. He and his band have released eight albums, the latest being entitled ‘N.S.C.A.L.H’, standing for - in translation - “You won’t know how the story will end”.
An intriguing outfit, whose music mixes folk, pop and psychedelia, they have branched out from just performing in Catalan to include Spanish, Italian and English. Pons says that “when singing in another language, we feel like we are playing a new instrument”.
When defining his group, he says that “we are more than a group, we are a cosmic brotherhood”. And they are a cosmic brotherhood who have been enjoying success for the past fifteen years.
A different Swan Lake in Palma
Friday, 8pm, Palma Auditorium (Sala Magna), Paseo Marítimo 18, Palma.
It can be a bit difficult to know which Russian ballet company is which. The Moscow Ballet, Ballet de Moscú, is the one which typically performs in Palma early in the New Year and includes Swan Lake in its repertoire. There is also the Royal Russian Ballet, and it is this company which will be performing Swan Lake this week.
The music for this ballet was of course composed by Tchaikovsky. The original choreographer was the Czech Julius Reisinger and it was first performed by the Bolshoi Ballet in 1877.
Marco Mezquida - Classical meets jazz
Saturday, 8pm, Teatre Xesc Forteza, Plaça Miquel Maura 1, Palma.
From Minorca, Marco Mezquida graduated from the Catalonia School of Music in 2009 and embarked on a career as a pianist that can’t be pigeonholed, as he is capable of moving seamlessly from genre to genre. Proof of this is that in two neighbouring Majorcan municipalities - Pollensa and Sa Pobla - he has performed at their major music festivals - the classical Pollensa Festival (with a Beethoven collage) and the Sa Pobla Jazz Festival.
His style therefore embraces these different genres, with influences coming from Schubert on one side and from Keith Jarrett on the other. His recordings have brought him awards, such as the Enderrock Best Jazz Disc for ‘Live in Tokyo’ in 2020, and he provides another highlight of the Palma Jazz Festival.