Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra

Spanish Guitar

Mabel Millán, guitar

Banner text reads: Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Spanish Guitar. A caucasian woman with blond hair wearing a green dress and a classical guitar.

Friday, March 24

7:30pm

Capitol Theater

Age Recommendation

6 and up

Runtime

Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission

Spanish Guitar features two women performers and a forgotten gem from the early twentieth century. Mabel Millán performs the guitar concerto by Manuel Ponce, and flamenco dancer Tania Tandias accompanies the two opening works. Ernesto Halffter’s Sinfonietta of 1925 is a forgotten gem for chamber orchestra.

Prominent Mexican composer, Manuel Ponce and Spanish composer, Ernesto Halftter, are celebrated in this concert. Manuel Ponce, wrote a number of works for guitar, and we introduce Spanish guitarist, Mabel Millán for this performance. Ernesto Halftter was a contemporary of Stravinsky, and you can hear the heavy influence of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella in his Sinfonietta from 1925. Boccherini’s famous Fandango for Guitar quintet opens the program followed by the six Romanian Dances by Bartok, accompanied by local Flamenco dancer, Tania Tandias.

Meet the Artist

Guitarist

Mabel Millán

Mabel Millán studied guitar at the Conservatorio Superior de Baleares with Pedro Mateo, achieving Matrícula de Honor y Premio fin de Carrera. She has also studied with teachers including María Esther Guzmán, José Luis Rodrigo, Emilio Romero and Gerardo Arriaga.

Millán graduated in June 2015 from la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and completed a Masters of Legal Practice in January 2017, and a postgraduate degree with Paolo Pegoraro at the Segovia Guitar Academy de Pordenone.

She has been an ambassador for the David Russell Foundation, and has taught masterclasses at the Festival Internacional Ciudad de Trujillo, the Festival Internacional de guitarra de Varsovia, at the Universidad Mayor de Santiago de Chile, and at the Festival Internacional de Culiacán, México.

As a concert artist, she debuted at 15-years-old, launching her career and resulting in a tour of more than 30 concerts with Juventudes Musicales de España throughout the country. She was accompanied by her sister, Celia, which was the start of the Millán duo.

Millán has performed in some of the most prestigious venues in Spain, including el Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla, el Teatro Monumental de Madrid, la Fundación Juan March, Real Academia de San Fernando, Teatro de la Granja de San Ildefonso, la Biblioteca Nacional de Cataluña, and el Palau de la Música Catalana.

Internationally, she has performed at the National Theater of Oslo in 2011, in Italy at the Caroso festival, and in Rome. She has performed with the International Festival of Varsovia; in Budapest, Hungary, with the International Festival in Szeged; the  London Guitar Festival, North East Guitar Festival in Newcastle, Tampere Guitar Festival in Finland, in México, during el Festival Internacional de Culiacán, and similar performances in prestigious venues in Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

She has represented Spain with the ambassadors from many countries, performing in prestigious venues in front of ambassadors, consulates, and in Malta for the president in her palace.

She has performed as a soloist with the Orquesta Chicano Muñoz, the orchestra of the Universidad Mayor de Chile, Orquesta de Radio Televisión Española y la Joven Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid with which she toured Italy.

In her career, she has won 34 prizes. Of these, 19 are first prize. In her duo with her sister, pianist Celia Sánchez Millán, the two have performed a number of concerts and won four first-prizes together. She has won a Grammy for her collaborations and recordings with other artists as well.

Between her projects, she performs concerts in Chile, Colombia, and Granada, and teaches classes for the University of California.

Mabel Sánchez Millán (Festival Segovia)

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