Christmas music with Al Ayre Español

When Eduardo López Banzo goes looking for forgotten masterpieces of the Baroque era, he does not shy away from great distances. Much of what the harpsichordist, organist, conductor and music researcher, who was born in Saragossa in 1961, brings to light he found not in the archives of his Spanish homeland, but rather on the South American continent, in Guatemala or in Mexico. To bring what he has found to our ears in a historically appropriate way, the student of Gustav Leonhardt founded the vocal and instrumental ensemble Al Ayre Español (“in the Spanish way”) in 1988; its name refers to the title of a guitar fugue by the Aragonese composer Gaspar Sanz. In 2004 the musicians were awarded the Premio Nacional de Música from the Cultural Ministry of their home country – in recognition of more than 20 years of musicological precision and interpretation that sets standards.

“Delightful,” Berlin’s newspaper the Tagesspiegel wrote of the acclaimed Philharmonic debut of Al Ayre Español in late May 2012 in the Chamber Music Hall; that programme included works by Johann Sebastian Bach and José de Torres. Now Eduardo López Banzo is inviting you to a Baroque Spanish Christmas with the motto ¡Vaya pastores de fiesta! – again including works by José de Torres, whose oeuvre was appreciated in his day in Portugal, Great Britain and Italy, as well as the Christmas cantata “Nunca con más sosiego” by Juan Manuel de la Puente, who became music director at the cathedral in Andalusian Jaén when just 19 years of age.