The Autumn Festival 13 oct – 16 nov
Many visitors to Madrid come for the world-class art palaces but find themselves seduced by the ramshackle and idiosyncratic museums that pepper the city. Others come in search of old-school tapas bars and are surprised to find a gastronome’s paradise. Some will be drawn to the late-night buzz and find that mooching around cafés in the afternoon can be just as enjoyable. One thing’s for sure – most leave surprised and few leave disappointed.Madrid sprouted suddenly out of a little-known 16th-century backwater after Philip II decided it would make a good capital. This gives it a rather grand architectural coherence, and, with city walls that only fell in 1860, it also has a remarkably compact old town. This is where you’ll find most of its government buildings, major cultural institutions, restaurants and nightlife. Madrid has three reference points: the Puerta del Sol, the city’s absolute centre; the Plaza Mayor, the Golden Age core; and the glorious Plaza de Cibeles, with the most extravagant architecture.
What’s going on next week?
“The Autumn Festival†celebrates its silver wedding anniversary and Madrid embodies the essence of performance arts .
An exquisite programme to arouse the audience’s artistic curiosity. That was the purpose set by the organisers of the Festival de Otoño de la Comunidad de Madrid back in the Eighties when it started out. This year, between October 13 and November 16, the festival will be staging its 25th edition. This long-awaited cultural event continues to promote the same objective, and this year with a view to commemorating its special anniversary, it will be presenting 44 shows, 36 of which are from 13 different countries, from Brazil to Japan to the United Kingdom.
The proposals will be performed in 27 venues, accommodating dance, theatre, circus and music, brought to us by some of the most important contemporary creators, including Peter Brook , or Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, which will present their virtuosity and sense of humour at Teatro Albéniz, from October 21 to 25. The curtain at Teatro Español will stay up for the duration of the Festival: Vicky Peña and Joan Crosas star in a new version of Sweeney Todd,el barbero diabólico.
