53rd International Santander Festival
Dates: 1 - 31 August, 2004.
Venue: Santander, Cantabria, Spain.
Description: Enjoy a month of Opera, Ballet, Theatre and Dance in Santander, the ancient capital of Cantabria overlooking the Bay of Biscay during August.
Along with the more famous Festival of Granada,which took place in June, this is the oldest of Spain's fiestas, and the longest. The 2004 programme reflects the international breadth and quality of this festival which rivals any other European festival for itsd international quality. It includes performances by the Argentine Ballet, Beijing National Opera, Berlin Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Helikon Opera Theatre of Moscow, Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra & Chorus, Gala Flamenca, pianists Grigorij Sokolov and Lucille Chung, soprano Angela Gheorghiu, viol soloist Jordi Savall.
As well as the impressive Festival Palace in Santander, a number of churches, monasteries and other buildings of architectural and historic interest and beauty in and around the city are used as venues for performances, bringing much of Cantabria within the festival's embrace.
Santander, is situated on the beautiful Bay of Biscay with long stretches of beach in both directions. Built on the site of a 9th century abbey, it became an important mediaeval trading centre and became a favoured and elegant resort at the turn of the 20th century. The city's Museum of The Arts has works by Goya, Zubarán and Mengs and local regional artists.
Cantabria has a rich Neolithic and later Iron Age background and the Museum of Prehistory and archaeology has interesting collections of these artefacts. It is not often realised that this part of Spain was once Celtic.
The north coast of Spain is known as 'Green Spain' and remains unspoilt by the concrete horrors that have desecrated so much of the Mediterranean coastline and is consequently very popular with the Spanish as a summer vacation destination away from the hordes of foreign tourists and their Big Mac culture.
For further Information contact Festival Internacional de Santander, C/ Gamazo, s/n - 39004 Santander (España). Tel.: (34) 942 21 05 08 - 942 31 48 53. Fax: (34) 942 31 47 67.
Tickets: Prices range from $12 to $160 with tickets for most concerts costing 32 euros, (about $38.50). See my related links for online booking. If you become a Friend of the Festival you can obtain 15% discount on tickets.
Getting there: P&O ferries have regular sailings from Portsmouth UK to Santander and Bilbao. Brittany Ferries have regular summer sailings Plymouth UK to Santander.
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