The Adar festival seeks the best chamber music horreos
Guillermo Laporta, left, with a string trio, performs "Afilador", by Andrea Casarrubios, in a panera in Leiguarda. | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ADAR FESTIVAL
The event, whose main venue is in Leiguarda and which runs from August 4 to 17, launches a contest to reward the most unique and best preserved bread bakeries
Article written by Chus Neira, La Nueva España May 20, 2025, Oviedo
https://www.lne.es/occidente/2025/05/20/festival-adar-busca-mejores-horreos-117581643.html
Between New York and Belmonte de Miranda - the two poles between which Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca gravitate - the Adar festival for the development of art in the rural area devised by these two musicians found in the need to find spaces where music could be played in front of a group of spectators the virtue of colonizing small traditional venues with concerts. "It is difficult to find theaters in rural areas," admits Laporta. And that's why they have been trying new formulas every year: soundscapes in which the public walks through a garden and meets small concerts, a recital in a greenhouse or very small capacity sessions in granaries and granaries. This last formula, in which the lack of sufficient seating was made up for by multiplying the number of performances, allowed them to prove last year that these constructions, with a well-chosen repertoire for chamber ensembles, can become "wonderful" experiences. Convinced of this potential, the festival is now launching a competition to award three hórreos and paneras and incorporate them into its concert circuit.
Between New York and Belmonte de Miranda - the two poles between which Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca gravitate - the Adar festival for the development of art in the rural area devised by these two musicians found in the need to find spaces where music could be played in front of a group of spectators the virtue of colonizing small traditional venues with concerts. "It is difficult to find theaters in rural areas," admits Laporta. And that's why they have been trying new formulas every year: soundscapes in which the public walks through a garden and meets small concerts, a recital in a greenhouse or very small capacity sessions in granaries and granaries. This last formula, in which the lack of sufficient seating was made up for by multiplying the number of performances, allowed them to prove last year that these constructions, with a well-chosen repertoire for chamber ensembles, can become "wonderful" experiences. Convinced of this potential, the festival is now launching a competition to award three hórreos and paneras and incorporate them into its concert circuit.
The possibilities of the paneras as an auditorium for chamber music were discovered last year in Leiguarda, where the festival is headquartered. Between ten and fifteen people would enter the hórreo, listen to "Afilador", by the festival's resident cellist Andrea Casarrubios, a piece for flute and string trio, and then another group would enter to listen to the next pass while the first group of spectators continued strolling through the village, discovering more music and enjoying the local gastronomy. Classical music and cider. A successful combination.
The contest they have launched now simplifies the rules to achieve maximum participation, aware of the problems in the rural area. The owners of hórreos and paneras who want to participate only have to send an email (leiguardamusic@gmail.com) or a message to 663 604 030 with several photographs of the hórreo or panera (general view, environment and details), the exact location (address or coordinates) and a brief description or personal comment on the space and its history.
The call will remain open until June 30. The Adar festival will inspect the facilities that reach the final and will select three taking into account the state of conservation of the equipment, the use it is being given, its location and its artistic possibilities. The one with the highest score will also receive a prize of 500 euros, but the idea is that these three spaces will be incorporated into the festival and can host chamber concerts or artistic installations, as they have done in other editions. In the end, summarizes Guillermo Laporta, "it is a way to meet both owners who want to do things and to recognize the value of Asturian heritage".
The Adar festival will return to Asturias from August 4 to 17 in its fifth edition with the will to extend over more territory and have more activity. After its birth in Leiguarda, they have been incorporating venues in Llanes or Grado and adding other activities, such as interventions by visual artists. The list of this year's municipalities is not yet closed, but Laporta hopes to add new unexpected locations with which to achieve "a connection between space and art" and achieve "experiences that are not just about arriving, sitting and listening, but establishing a dialogue with the environment".
