china_cat

We will be in Barcelona the first week in September. I would like to go to a performance at the Palau de la Musica.

I went to the official website and found only one performance that fell into my timeframe here:
http://www.palaumusica.cat/en/progra...xpired=&cycle=

This is a flamenco performance, part of the San Mguel Mas i Mas festival. So my first question is can anybody tell me a little something about this concert? I know nothing about flamenco, so I'm not sure I will like it or not, but may give it a try.

So then I googled, and came across another website, that appears to sell tickets to classical concerts in different European cities:
https://www.classictic.com/en/specia..._catalana/632/

This site kind of looks like a reseller to me. Although I am uncertain. However, it lists a concert at the Palau on the 2nd of September:
https://www.classictic.com/en/barcel.../26454/239236/

This Spanish guitar concert is really more up our alley than the flamenco. But I feel concerned about the website. Why isn't this listed on the official Palau website/calendar. And does anybody know anything about the classictic website?

thanks in advance for any advice!

annhig

I agree that's weird, china_cat, but if you look at other dates in that week on the classictic.com website you'll see that there are other concerts e.g. one of catalan music on the Friday, which aren't listed either.

I think that i would take the risk and go for it.

the other alternative is to book a tour of the palau and look elsewhere for a concert.

Christina

Hard to say if you'd like it or not, if you've never seen it.

I don't really like flamenco much, it gives me a headache and seems like a lot of atonal screeching which I don't care for. I appreciate the art form to some degree, but a little goes a very long way with me. And the stomping also gets on my nerves after a while.

I've heard of classictic, of course it's a reseller as it isn't a venue. So is Ticketmaster, but that doesn't mean it isn't real tickets. The event could simply be where they are renting the venue, and the venue isn't putting it on, so they don't mention it on their calendar. That isn't unusual for outsiders to rent concert halls. It happens in Paris all the time (ie, renting Ste Chapelle for a concert, Ste Chapelle isn't the one putting it on).
It appears this is that same kind of thing, it must be a deal they only they/their agent will sell tickets, not the venue. It is on their own website, also, looks real, at least they link you to classictic
http://www.maestrosdelaguitarra.com/...a-guitar-trio/

Clearly they are their official ticket agents.

I isn't clear to me if that performance on the Palau's calendar is only flamenco singing/playing or if it includes dance, it doesn't mention a dancer. It's almost 2 hours, also.

kja

Although I can't answer your question (sorry), I'll second annhig's suggestion that you might want to book a tour of the Palau. It is very well worth seeing, IMO.

china_cat

Thanks annhig, I may well take a chance, but doing a tour and skipping the performance is definitely plan b.

Christina, thanks for the answer. You're right, of course, no one can tell me if I will like thecflamenco or not. I was hoping one of our lflamenco fans ( and I know we have one or two) could tell me if this was a good representative performance, and maybe a little about it. And thanks for the info on classtc. It doesn't sound like a reseller, at least not in the sense I meant. Ticketmaster is an official teller, and sells "original" tickets, if you will. When I say reseller, I'm talking scalpers, like Ace Tickets, and ticketsnow. So it's good to now this is the official site.

My only other issue with classtic is it won't let me pick specific seats, it only offers two categories of seating. That leaves a pretty wide variety of seats I could get arbitrarily. Oh well...probably still worth a chance.

jent103

I ordered tickets through Classictic a few years ago for a concert at Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and had no problems.

I went to a flamenco performance at the Palau last year, actually - part of the Gran Gala Flamenco. I purchased the tickets directly from the Palau, so can't speak to the calendar issue, but I enjoyed the performance. There was some dancing and some musical performances, so you got a bit of both. But like Christina said, the event page for this doesn't mention dance specifically, so it's possible it's just the music.

Betsy

I'm looking for tickets for a Spanish guitar performance at Palau de la Musica in October, and while there's nothing we want to see listed now, I've noticed that performances are added from time to time, so I plan to continue to check. You may want to try the same strategy, china cat.

If nothing comes up closer to the time we'll be there, I may try using Classictic. We saw a lovely Spanish guitar concert there two years ago when we were in Barcelona.

kimhe

This could be a flamenco night to remember. Rocío Márquez is out of this world and perhaps the greatest talent in flamenco singing since Miguel Poveda in the 1990's. Very far from one of the many standard concerts in the Palau that goes on year after year and draws a steady crowd but lacks any artistic edge. The Spanish guitar concert (Barcelona 4 Guitars) is one of those. Had an awful experience here with them a couple of years ago. Excellent artists, but they will also try very hard to make you laugh every five minutes.

Rocío Márquez is a totally different ball game. She will be joined by legendary guitarist Pepe Habichuela. The performance "El Niño" premiered during last years Bienal in Sevilla, the most prestigious flamenco festival in the world. I could have travelled to Barcelona for this concert alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojsCbseRiR4

About Rocío Márquez on Brook Zern's page, the #1 flamenco expert in the US, "Her duende [intense emotive power] is nearer to that of the singers La Niña de la Puebla or Pepe Marchena than to those flamenco singers of the last thirty years, who believed that to sing was to rip one’s throat to shreds": http://www.flamencoexperience.com/blog/?p=688

"...gifted with one of the best voices in the current flamenco scene. Her captivating style combines retro cool, modern elegance and an impressive passionate vocal delivery". http://worldmusiccentral.org/2014/12...lamenco-voice/
http://www.flamencoexperience.com/blog/?p=688

annhig

you've sold it to me, kimhe [but sadly I won't be in Barcelona to see it].

china_cat, if you have never been to a flamenco concert, this might be the one to choose. we've only been a few times but when done well it has a passion and intensity which is difficult to rival. I know what Christina means about the timbre of the voices but then again, the best ones are compelling listening, like masters in any art. We went to a flamenco night in Madrid and there were three singers there who were quite extraordinary; even 10 or so years later, I can remember the impression they made on me.

so I would say follow kimhe's suggestion and go for the flamenco.

kimhe

And the Rocío Márquez concert "El Niño" is a homage to the flamenco singer Pepe Marchena (1903-1976): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Keg7k9rv1-I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_Marchena