Muziekfeest sluit cultureel programma Spaans voorzitterschap af (en)

The cultural program of the Spanish EU presidency ended as it started: as an artistic and creative celebration open to all citizens. About 40 Belgian, Hungarian and Spanish musicians who participated in the festival "Europa en vivo 2010" signed the best of possible farewells in a free grand concert in Madrid, where some pages were written that will be fixed forever in the European cultural memory.

The closing ceremony was attended by Spanish Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Culture, Miguel Angel Moratinos and Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, respectively, along with other Secretaries of State and the ambassadors from Belgium and Hungary, two countries that, along with Spain, form the Trio Presidency.

The musicians came to Madrid after living together for three days in a kind of musical laboratory developed in the Real Sitio de San Ildefonso (Segovia), where they already expressed their artistic affinities and signatures. Cultural diversity as an integral element to European identity saw one of its best expressions in this experience, and its echo will be difficult to forget for a long time.

For a little over five hours, the 40 artists selected were one voice, vindicating the values upheld by Europe, and making this home we share more communal than ever. Culture has been one of the great banners of the Spanish Presidency, therefore the farewell had to be at the same creative height as the greeting. And it was: the "Europa en vivo 2010" festival reached the same artistic heights as those reached six months ago by photographer Daniel Canogar and the dancers Maria Pagés and Tamara Rojo.

In the gala there were captivating moments, like those of Belgians Pantha Rhei and the Galician piper and singer Mercedes Peon, and of flamenco guitarist Niño Josele and Hungarian singer Márta Sebestyén. Equally magical was the crossings between the guys from Cimbaliband, of Hungary, and the Madrid artists of La Musgaña, as well as the interventions of Belgian vocal trio Laïs and the Hungarian formation Plastic Septet

Deserving special mention was the dialogue of string and voice that kept the "Nostalgia" tango rhythm of the Belgian jazz guitarist Philip Catherine and the singer Estrella Morente, which raised the emotional temperature of the night with few words and lots of heart. "The new soundtrack of Europe is here," art directors Concha Hernandez and Luis Martínthey argued at the beginning of the festival, and after living it, their reasons were ours. They came from Europe.