Elche, Alicante and Orihuela will host their inaugural festival edition this year, presenting a Great Composers Festival guided by the UNED center in Elche under the leadership of Francisco Escudero. Since 2021, the event has featured a dedicated choir and orchestra, with Manuel Ramos serving as conductor for both ensembles and also leading the Valencian Baroque Orchestra.
The festival marks its arrival as a permanent annual showcase. The event will unfold across the three cities—Alicante, Elche, and Orihuela—over the same week, from March 14 to March 21, with a premiere dedicated to the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Verdi’s Requiem, created in 1874, will be performed to celebrate its 150th anniversary this year.
The festival is a regional competition with national resonance, hosting prominent speakers and delivering three exceptional concerts in venues including the Co-Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Alicante, the Basilica of Santa Maria in Elche, and the Church of Saints Justa and Rufina in Orihuela. More than 200 musicians and artists will participate, featuring the UNED Elche Choir and Orchestra, the Valencian Baroque Orchestra, and Discanthus Coral, along with members of other choirs from Murcia and the Alicante province, reflecting the university’s strong commitment to sociocultural regional participation.
“This is not merely an orchestra festival or a commemorative event,” explains Manuel Ramos. “It is a week-long program with concerts, recitals, and lectures that will illuminate one of the three cities.” Ramos notes that city councils from the three municipalities, together with the Provincial Council of Alicante, have been approached to secure support for the project.
“The aim is to promote classical music through the greatest composers,” Ramos adds. He emphasizes that the festival will showcase music that has shaped the history of the art form, beginning with Verdi and continuing through other giants such as Mozart, Bach, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky, who will also be featured in upcoming editions of the festival.
Mozart’s Requiem to be performed at the Monserrate Temple in Orihuela
All future festival sessions will explore Verdi’s Requiem and related themes, with free and open access for the public.
The organizers considered a Puccini centennial in 2024 but ultimately chose Verdi. “A funeral would have been planned, and we pursued that idea last year as well. Mozart’s piece inspired thoughts of Verdi, and in a moment of history, Rostropovich conducted Verdi at St. Nicholas Cathedral. Verdi has always carried a certain prominence, and the idea to present it with the UNED choir and orchestra emerged,” explains the music director.
To illustrate the scale, Mozart’s elegy lasts about forty minutes while Verdi’s Requiem extends to roughly one hour and twenty minutes. “These works inhabit different styles. Verdi is dramatic and operatic, Mozart is classical, and the Verdi piece invites a large chorus and impressive force,” notes Ramos.
Participants and soloists
The staging calls for a choir of 150 voices and a reinforced orchestra of 50 players, along with several guest musicians. “From the fourth rehearsal, the forces will be combined. The repertoire is demanding, yet the main challenge lies in coping with the churches’ acoustics to avoid excessive reverberation,” explains the conductor.
Soprano soloists will join the performances, including Carmen Muñoz, mezzo-soprano Blanca Valdoten, tenor José Manuel Delicado, and bass David Cervera.