Foto di scena di El sueño de la vida, ceduta dal Teatro Español
MADRID - The city government of Madrid is paying tribute to poet Federico Garcia Lorca with an initiative called "Lorca Year", to mark the 100th anniversary of the poet's arrival at the city's Residencia de Estudiantes in 1919.
At that time, the 21-year-old student wrote: "I'm continuing happy here in the Residence. Now there are stormy days and I almost don't go around Madrid at all. My room is bathed by the sun from the time it rises to the time it sets, it's large and has magnificent views on Madrid...The living room of this house is splendid. It's where we residents gather in the evening to chat and make music..." The Residencia was an intellectual greenhouse of the generation of 1927, a temple of creation of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (The Free Educational Institution), where Lorca would start his training and career as a writer. In the Residencia, the poet met people who were fundamental in inspiring him, his work, and his life, such as Salvador Dalì, Luis Bunuel, and Pepin Bello.
The City of Madrid's "Lorca Year" is a cycle of theatre performances, concerts, exhitibitions and an international conference on the author of "La Casa de Barnarda Alba", a century after his arrival in the capital.
It begins with the premiere of "El Sueno de la Vida", a pièce written by dramatist Alberto Conejero, starting with the "Comedia Sin Titulo", an unfinished play written by Lorca.
The project, appointed in 2016 by the regional assessorate for culture, tourism and sport, with the direction of Luis Pascual, was presented on Friday at the Teatro Español, where it will run from January 17 through February 24.
One of the big events of Lorca Year will be an international conference in February, in which the world's foremost Lorca experts will take part.
In all, there will be 16 conferences divided across six days in some of the places most linked to the poet from Granada: the Residencia de Estudiantes, the Paraninfo Historico of Complutense University, the Real Casa de Correos, the Canal Theatres, and the Café Gijon.
For theatre lovers, the regional government is also offering a non-stop tribute from May 3-5 at the Canal Theatres, with 12 plays.
The Night of Books and the Night of Theatres, on April 19 and March 30, respectively, will have special programmes, and there will also be music and art.
