Tomorrow, Friday, December 17, the RTVE Choir will hold its traditional Christmas Concert in the Chapel of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The concert can be seen again on TV in channel La 2 RTVE on December 25. We talked about the keys to this special gala with Marco Antonio García de Paz, recently nominated conductor of the RTVE Choir. – By Benjamín Núñez

©Beatriz Montes
  • You have joined as main conductor of the RTVE Choir on September 1, after conducting other prestigious choirs. How do you value your experience directing it so far?
  • It has been a very exciting and intense time. This initial period usually serves to get to know each other and to establish a new work system. The RTVE Choir is an extraordinary instrument, both in vocal and musical aspects. I am very lucky. We are still at the stage of the ‘sweet start’ and I just hope to give back with my contribution all what the people in the group is giving me. It’s a mutual enrichment.
  • Do you think the public is looking forward to enjoy this year’s Christmas concert?
  • I truly believe that this is a long awaited concert because, unfortunately, last year it had to be suspended for reasons related to the health situation. It will be a very festive, brilliant program, full of masterpieces.
  • The works of this concert can be divided into two groups: on one hand, known pieces of Bach and Handel; and, on the other, Latin American baroque carols. Can you explain the differences between the two?
  • Both blocks are within the Baroque style. Their starting point is to serve the purpose of welcoming and celebrating the arrival of Christmas. In addition to the organic difference in each piece, which gives a great variety to the concert, I estimate that the fundamental difference is the language of each block. More casual, luminous and direct in the case of the Christmas carols coming from our ‘New World’, and a small compendium of the best European Baroque sacred music of the ‘Old World’, by the hand of geniuses like Bach or Haendel.

Read the rest of the news on the Music Lover page in this link (in Spanish)..