The International Festival of Sacred Art (FIAS) will hold its 36th edition from 29 March to 20 April 2026, featuring Johann Sebastian Bach, sacred Baroque music and historical interpretation, with period criteria. 17 concerts can be seen at venues across the region, featuring names like William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, Josetxu Obregón and La Ritirata, Accademia del Piacere, the Seville Baroque Orchestra, Tiento Nuovo, Concerto 1700, Hippocampus, Forma Antiqva, Jácaras del Zéfiro and the Community of Madrid Orchestra and Choir.
The 2026 edition will focus on Baroque repertoires performed with period criteria. The programme presents 17 recitals at various venues, such as Teatros del Canal, the National Music Auditorium, the Chapel of the Palacio Real in Madrid, the Pontifical Basilica of San Miguel, the Royal Coliseum of Carlos III (San Lorenzo de El Escorial) and the Sierra Norte Regional Humanities Centre (La Cabrera).
This year, a highlight is the presence of the orchestra conductor, William Christie, considered to be a legend in French historic interpretation. The musician will conduct three recitals as part of the festival, including the opening concert (29 March at Teatros del Canal) with Requiem by André Campra, which is often considered to be the missing link between Lully and Rameau, at the helm of the Les Arts Florissants orchestra and choir.
Lecciones de Tinieblas by Couperin will be performed in a more intimate format on 31 March at Teatros del Canal. It is a key piece of French Baroque music and on this occasion, it will be performed by Lucía Martín-Cartón from Valladolid, accompanied by Rachel Redmond. Finally, William Christie will close the festival on 20 April at the National Music Auditorium conducting the ORCAM with a sacred programme devoted to Haydn and Mozart.
La Ritirata will give a recital focusing on the performance of St. John Passion, BWV 245 by Johann Sebastian Bach, alongside the Community of Madrid Choir and a group of vocal soloists, such as Fernando Guimarães, Guglielmo Buonsanti and Alicia Amo.
The presence of Accademia del Piacere also stands out, founded and directed by the viola da gamba player, Fahmi Alqhai, whose programme, In dulci jubilo, will offer a careful selection of chorals performed by a quartet of violas de gamba and organ, accompanied by the voices of the Las Veredas children’s choir.
The Seville Baroque Orchestra, founded in 1995, is one of the pioneering ensembles in Spain devoted to performance with historically informed criteria, which will present a journey through the spirituality of Italian Baroque, bringing two profoundly expressive works into dialogue: Salve Regina by Nicola Porpora and Stabat Mater by Antonio Vivaldi, with the voice of the mezzosoprano from Madrid, Beatriz Oleaga.
The veteran ensemble from Asturias, Forma Antiqva and its conductor, Aarón Zapico, invite the audience to explore the music held at the Oviedo Cathedral Archive with Sancta Ovetensis, a programme of historical recovery with the Basque soprano, Jone Martínez. Furthermore, Musica Boscareccia, the ensemble created by the soprano Alicia Amo and the violinist Andoni Mercero, will bring De profundis, one of the two programmes chosen to contextualise Bach by listening to German religious music.
The soprano María Espada, at the helm of La Madrileña orchestra, founded by José Antonio Montaño, will present Bach Universe, a programme that brings together two of the most contrasting and complementary sides of Johann Sebastian. On the other hand, Hippocampus, the project by the harpsichordist Alberto Martínez Molina, has a component recited in Jubilet tota civitas, in which the actress Gonzala Martín Scherman will perform the texts in Spanish that the sopranos Manon Chauvin and Agnieszka Grzywacz sing in Latin.
As a new feature, this edition will devote a concert to younger musicians thanks to the Euskal Barrok Ensemble which will invite the audience to discover the euskelele instrument, designed by Enrike Solinís and which combines music, tales and illustration based on a magical story suitable for anyone over the age of three.
See Full Programme
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