The Festival de las Artes de San Miguel de Allende (FASMA), will reach its fourth edition with a program that will offer more than 70 artistic activities, including the presentation of the Mexican soprano María Katzarava and the Spanish organist Josep Solé Coll.

To be held from August 7 to 23, the meeting will be dedicated this year to commemorate the 200 years of the Municipality and the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between Mexico and France, so there will be a presence of French culture in the program.

Born at the initiative of the civil society of San Miguel de Allende, and with the support of the municipal and state governments, the festival prepares a lineup that will include music, dance, theater, visual arts, literature, cinema, conferences and workshops.

Festival program

The opening concert will be in charge of the Banda de Música del Estado de Guanajuato, an iconic ensemble of the entity founded in 1855, which will perform a program of French and Mexican music in the Main Garden of the city, on August 7, at 7:00 p.m.

While on the 14th, at 6:00 p.m., the musical presentation Three cultures united by music will take place, with the participation of Svetlana Lougonova, Kazakh pianist, and Evgenia Nikitina, from Russia, in the Quetzal Room of the Public Library of San Miguel de Allende.

At the Angela Peralta Theater, among many other activities, the Singing and Piano Recital will also take place on Saturday, August 15, at the same time as the day before, which will unite the voice of Katzarava with that of the Texan singer Lluvia Vega, accompanied by the pianist Jozef Olechowski, of Polish origin.

Tickets for this concert can already be purchased at the venue’s box office and range between 400 and 300 pesos.

France, for its part, will be present through cinema with a selection of its outstanding productions, to be screened from August 10 to 21 at the Santa Ana Theater.

French culture will also appear with an exhibition that will bring together French artists in dialogue with Mexican creators, and through music, with the concert Entre sones y chansons, a tour by the Pro Música Choir that will unite the sounds of the guest country and its host.

The Pro Musica Choir, together with the San Miguel Philharmonic, Chorale San Miguel, and Capella Sanmiguelense choirs, will also offer Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, on August 15, at 7:30 p.m.

With a good part of the activities free of charge, the San Miguel de Allende Arts Festival seeks to contribute to the positioning of the Guanajuato Municipality as a benchmark for creativity, heritage and cultural dialogue.

On the last day of FASMA activities, Solé Coll, First Organist of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, will come into action, who will offer a concert in the Temple of the Third Order on August 23, at 12:00 p.m.

Music aside, at the other extreme, the closing concert will be FutuRock, with the participation of almost a hundred young local musicians; at 6:00 p.m. in the Main Garden.

The full programme can be found on page www.fasma.com.mx.