Ensemble Tramuntana goes pop
Saturday, 8pm, Teatre Xesc Forteza, Plaça Miquel Maura 1, Palma.
Violinists Barry and Mayumi Sargent are members of the Ensemble Tramuntana, for which Barry was the driving force when it was founded in 2014. Highly established in Majorca, the ensemble is obviously known for its classical performances, and while their latest concert is part of a Palma Classics season, it crosses over into the pop and rock world.
This version of the Ensemble Tramuntana is a six-piece with cellist Sureymis Tapanes, double bassist Pablo Moreno, percussionist Jaume Ginard, and viola player Enric Pastor, who himself crosses over into other genres - folk and jazz.
The programme for their concert includes works by Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin and others - versions of pop and rock classics from the sixties to the eighties.
Masked ball opera for Carnival time
Saturday, 8pm, Teatre Principal, C. Riera 2, Palma. (Also Monday, February 28 and Wednesday, March 2.)
Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, A Masked Ball, is a nod in the direction of Carnival, although the setting isn’t Carnival itself. The masked ball in question was held in Sweden in 1792. While attending this ball, King Gustav III of Sweden was shot. He died of his wounds thirteen days later. The libretto for the opera, by Italian Antonio Somma, was based on an original by French librettist Eugène Scribe.
The opera had its premiere in Rome in 1859. This was after it had been subject to censorship.
Papal censors objected to a royal assassination being played out on stage. Verdi was furious, but the location for the opera was shifted to Boston
Children’s Carnival in Palma
Sunday, 11am to 2pm, Sa Rueta Palma - La Rambla, Plaça Espanya, Plaça Cort and elsewhere.
Carnival in Mallorca is older than the Fira del Ram in that the first reference to Carnival was in 1230, soon after the conquest by Jaume I. As to festivities vaguely resembling those of today, these were around by the sixteenth century and quite probably earlier.
The Rua parade in Palma is of comparatively recent origin - early twentieth century. There will be no Rua in the city this year, the town hall having decided to call it off for Covid reasons. However, there is Sa Rueta, the children’s parade, something that was developed after Sa Rua was properly restored in 1980 after the Carnival ban by the Franco regime.
Parades have been called off or postponed in certain municipalities. Among those going ahead are Alcudia (Sunday, 5pm) and Calvia (Saturday, 4.30pm).