Al Ayre Español

Al Ayre Español was founded in 1988 by Eduardo López Banzo, in an effort to challenge the pervading clichés that often surrounded the performance of Spanish baroque music at that time. The spirit of the ensemble has always been to refute these clichés with musicological rigour, performance excellence and by striving to insufflate new life to music from the past, thus opening them up to contemporary audiences. The name of the ensemble was inspired by the title of a guitar fugue by the Aragonese composer Gaspar Sanz. With the years, Al Ayre Español has become not only a prestigious ensemble, but also a performance philosophy that Eduardo López Banzo has progressively established with his musicians and which is now recognizable, in demand, and widely acclaimed the world over, as bears witness the 2004 Spanish National Music Award, bestowed upon the group by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. The fact that Al Ayre Español has not settled for becoming a specialised early music ensemble, but chosen instead to create a musical philosophy "al ayre español" (à la espagnole), has allowed the project to be flexible enough to adapt itself to different formats; as a baroque orchestra -internationally acclaimed by its performances of Handel and Bach- and lately, as a classical-romantic orchestra -with opera and concert performances of Haydn and Mozart. Al Ayre Español performs at the most prestigious concert halls: Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Vienna's Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Düsseldorf's Tonhalle, Berlin's Konzerthaus, the Théatre des Champs Elysées and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, Madrid's Teatro Real and Auditorio Nacional, Barcelona's Palau de la Musica Catalana and Gran Teatre del Liceu, Valencia's Palau de la Música, Hamburg's Leiszhalle, Washington's Library of Congress, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Metz's Arsenal, Lisbon's Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Bilbao's Palacio Euskalduna, Rome's Teatro Olimpico, etc. Al Ayre Español has also been invited to some of the most important festivals: Baden Baden Easter Festival, Bachstpiele Leipzig, Oude Muziek Utrecht, Internationale Festtage Alter Musik Stuttgart, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Dresdner Musikfestpiele, Toulouse les Orgues, Festival de Música Religiosa de Cuenca, Festival de Música Antigua de Aranjuez, Festival d'Ambronay, Handel Festspiele Halle, Festival International d'Opéra Baroque de Beaune, Festival de Saintes, Festival Internacional Cervantino (México), Festival Monteverdi de Cremona, Israel's Authentica, Festival Via Stellae de Santiago de Compostela, Moscow's Antiquarium Festival, etc. Al Ayre Español's recordings have been produced by labels such as Almaviva, Fidelio, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Harmonia Mundi, Naïve-Ambroisie and Challenge, and have received awards like the Choc du Monde de la Musique, Diapason d'Or, 10 Répertoire and Telerama (France); Editor's Choice (Gramophone, London), CD Compact (Barcelona) and Fono Forum (Germany). The ensemble concluded in 2011 a successful tour of Asia, with concerts in Singapore and Hong-Kong. In 2012 Al Ayre Español made its debut at the Berlin Philarmonie and also performed the unpublished Oratorio "Il Martirio di Santa Teodosia" by A. Scarlatti in many Festivals as Sevilla, Zaragoza, El Escorial, Handel Festspiele Halle, MA Festival Brugge or Laeizhalle from Hamburg. In 2013 Al Ayre Español produced an opera tour with Handel´s opera Agrippina including Madrid, Brussels and Paris venues. The ensemble has premiered on 2014-2015 in a tour of nine concerts in Europe, the unpublished cantadas by José de Torres, a tour of three concerts in Spain with unpublished cantadas by Juan Manuel de la Puente, the complete Handel´s op.5 and op. 2 trio sonatas, The Chandos Anthems by G. F. Handel, a seven concerts EU tour with neapolitan flute concerts and a project with the duetti by Francesco Durante with a great sucess. Al Ayre Español is sponsored by the Gobierno de Aragón (Aragonese government), Axial Wines, Industrias Químicas del Ebro and the Ministry of Education, Heraldo de Aragón, Ministry of Culture of Spain, and maintains a residence agreement with the Auditorio de Zaragoza. The ensemble has been Zaragoza's ambassador since 2011.