It was
a Friday night in February, as beautiful and balmy as a Miami
night in February can be, and at the Knight Concert Hall in the
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts a sell-out crowd
had filled the 2,200 seat house for the second of three Flamenco
performances, part of the month-long “Flamenco Festival Miami.”
On a
stage bare but for five seats draped in black, the lights
dimmed, and the Gypsy guitarist José Fernández Torres – known as
Tomatito -- walked out and modestly took the center position.
The rest of the Tomatito Quintet followed: vocalist La Tana and
dancer José Maya taking positions to his right, guitarist El
Cristi and percussionist Lucky Losada to his left. All were
dressed in black but for a red scarf draped around La Tana’s
neck. And in this simplest of settings, with minimal
amplification, the Tomatito Quintet performed an hour and a half
of Flamenco setting off enough sparks to threaten the breakers
that kept electricity flowing through the orchestra and three
tiers of the brand new concert hall.
The
youthful-looking Grammy-winning Tomatito comes from a family of
outstanding Flamenco guitarists, and that this music rests deep
in his DNA was evident in a performance of supreme virtuosity
with masterly execution of complex compás (meters) that were
echoed in the intricate rhythmic clapping of the group. One
number flowed into another: solos by Tomatito, impassioned
singing by La Tana, and dances of dizzying rapidity and power
executed by the gypsy Flamenco dancer José Maya. Each revealed
the heart so essential to Flamenco, touching emotional chords
from piercing poignancy to fierce combativeness.

Considered one of the leading flamenco guitarists of his
generation, Tomatito is reputedly on his way to becoming one of
the greats of all times. This exceptional performance that kept
an audience mesmerized and ultimately on its feet with
long-lasting accolades would seem to vouchsafe such a
prediction. It was a night to remember.
Reportedly the nights before and
after were equally memorable. On Thursday, the legendary
Carmen Linares and contemporary Flamenco
stylist Miguel Poveda performed a range of songs that bridged
the generations accompanied by Grammy nominee guitarist
Juan Carlos Romero and dancer
Pastora Galvãn. On Saturday, a trio of outstanding dancers:
Merche Esmeralda, Belen Maya, and Rocio Molina, together with
singer Diana Navarro, performed a tribute to women via Flamenco
in a performance directed by the dancer and choreographer Mario
Maya.
Among the related events and activities that
accompany the Flamenco Festival is an exhibit of black and white
photographs by the extraordinary Gilles Larrain. Aptly titled
“Flamenco: Landscape of the Soul,” it reveals the dimensions of
Flamenco as it is lived and perpetuated in its home ground
Andalusia. (At the Centro Cultural Espanol in Coral Gables
through March 7).
The
Flamenco Festival is part of the Adrienne Arsht Center’s first
season. Conceived over a decade ago, the Center which staged a
gala four-day grand opening in October 2006, has provided Miami
with a brilliant jewel to add to its tiara of cultural
institutions. Spread across nearly six acres in the heart of
downtown, it is to Miami what Lincoln Center is to New York or
the Kulturforum to Berlin with one significant distinction – a
locale just a few blocks from Biscayne Bay.
Before
Adrienne Arsht’s $30 million gift, the center had been named for
another benefactor, the Carnival Corporation (which relinquished
naming rights in favor of Ms. Arsht after the announcement of
her extraordinary donation). But the cruise ship association
persists in the Knight Concert Hall – a white streamlined
structure that looks like one of the glittering sea palaces
lined up at the nearby Port of Miami. Within the hall, one has
the sensation of being on a luxury liner. The orchestra is one
level up from the lobby and accessed by a pair of grand divided
stairways lined with etched glass railings. Within, the three
tiers that overlook the orchestra are lined with small lights
reminiscent of those on the exterior of a cruise-ship. Soaring
roof lines, great spaces, terrazzo floors all add to the
sensation of being on a grand luxury liner; great coppery rings
on the ceiling from which theatrical lights are suspended and
seating upholstered in a velvet-like fabric of burnt coral
suggest a sunset at sea.
Directly across Biscayne Boulevard, the Ziff-Ballet Opera House
echoes the architectural and design features of the Knight
Concert Hall. The night of the Tomasito Quintet appearance,
Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” was on the Opera house stage.
Between the two venues, patrons can look forward to Michael
Tilson Thomas’ New World Symphony with guest star Itzhak
Perlman, “Tosca,” the Dresden Orchestra performing Beethoven’s
Fifth, “Monty Python’s Spamalot” and AvenueQ -- and in concert:
Christine Andreas, Bernaldette Peters, Martin Short. With such a
catalogue, the Adrienne Arsht Center is off to an impressive
start.
Photo by Jack Vartoogian