Welcome from the Dean I would like to welcome you to an exceptional festival of music making. Natalia Ricci has dedicated her artistic life to the presentation of Spanish piano music and has ensured that a generation of important young pianists have come to understand this specific artform. Based on the music of De Falla, Granados and Albeniz, the musicians weave magic through the inherent melodic, harmonic and rhythmic material as they explore the relations between the piano and dance. Audience members will be in for a real treat as this special combination of music is brought together in a dazzling musical display. Professor Anna Reid Head of School and Dean Sydney Conservatorium of Music Encuentros Españoles, the International Festival of Spanish Music and Dance, was founded to celebrate the nexus between Spanish keyboard music and Spanish dance, with the objective of establishing the SCM as an important centre for Spanish piano research in Australia. The Festival is dedicated to exploring the links between Iberian flamenco and folk music – its aesthetics, spirit and characteristics-- and the piano music of the famous Spanish nationalist composers. The inaugural 2013 Encuentros Españoles International Symposium/Festival, involved some of the world’s leading scholars, artists and composers in the field of Spanish music and dance, including Walter Clarke, Albert Attenelle, Luisa Morales, Michael Christoforidis, Mac McClure and Elisenda Fabregas and encompassed 10 days of intense activity including a symposium, workshops, lecture-recitals and concerts in the Sydney Conservatorium’s concert halls. The 2022 edition of Encuentros Españoles, was dedicated to the triumvirate of Spain’s greatest nationalist composers: Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz. A follow up of the work and research done in the intervening decade between both Festivals, Encuentros Espanoles 2022 featured the piano music of these three Spanish musical giants in a series of concerts and lectures, also at SCM. The final concert showcased a fusion of works by all three composers in arrangements for 2 pianos with flamenco dance choreography. Highlights of the Festival included world premiere arrangements for 2 pianos of de Falla’s ballets, El Sombrero de Tres Picos and El Amor Brujo, as well as the great masterpieces of the Spanish piano literature rarely heard live and in their entirety: the complete 4 books of Albeniz’s Iberia and Granados’ complete Goyescas. The 2022 Festival, curated and directed by Natalia Ricci (Senior Lecturer, Piano Unit, SCM), showcased her students, past and present, from the tertiary and Rising Stars (pre-tertiary) programs at SCM. Natalia has taught and mentored a generation of piano students at the SCM since 2011, many of whom were involved as performers, transcribers and presenters in both the 2013 and 2022 editions of Encuentros Españoles. Both Festivals have been hugely instrumental in disseminating this important area of research and changing perceptions of Spanish piano music in Australia. Through her work and the creation of Encuentros Españoles, Natalia has encouraged amongst Australian pianists and audiences alike, exploration of the Spanish piano literature and fostered a deeper understanding, appreciation, and authentic performance of this vibrant and fascinating genre. Many of Natalia’s students have gone on to be notable performers and researchers of this unique genre of piano music. Performer Biographies bit.ly/46ipv5l Concert Programs bit.ly/3Pi3lZY