FLAMENCO FESTIVAL NEW YORK HEADS INTO THE FINAL STRETCH OF ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY WITH TRIBUTES FEATURING GERARDO NÚÑEZ, ANTONIO REY, ÁLVARO MARTINETE, AND OLGA PERICET

In addition to these stars, the festival continues through March 15 with performances by Sonia Olla & Ismael Fernández and the Manhattan Wind Ensemble.

This week, artists like Gerardo Núñez, Antonio Rey, Álvaro Martinete, and Olga Pericet, among many others, are keeping the love story alive, bringing flamenco to over 180 participants from 16 companies—including singers, guitarists, and dancers.

The young guitarist Álvaro Martinete will open the final week of shows on Wednesday, March 11. The Instituto Cervantes New York will host Mario Escudero & New York, marking Martinete’s Flamenco Festival NY debut. He will perform some of Escudero’s most iconic works, accompanied by a brief talk on the guitarist’s life and his years in the city. Mario Escudero, the artist’s son, will join the conversation, sharing personal memories to offer an intimate perspective on his father’s legacy and deep connection to New York, giving the audience insight into both the music and the story behind it.

Following that, on Friday, March 13 at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, New York-based flamenco dancer Sonia Olla and singer Ismael Fernández will present Vínculo, a performance that captures the electric tension of a meeting where emotion, artistry, and memory intertwine to create its own world. Every movement, sound, and pause sparks an open dialogue where flamenco tradition meets the creators’ personal vision.

Flamenco Festival will also continue honoring great figures of Spanish music with a concert dedicated to Manuel de Falla on the 150th anniversary of his birth. On Saturday, March 14, the Centennial Memorial Temple will host Tribute to Manuel de Falla – 150th Anniversary, performed by the Manhattan Wind Ensemble. The ensemble will explore the Cádiz-born composer’s universe from a contemporary perspective, reinterpreting his works for wind and percussion and infusing them with renewed energy.

That same evening, flamenco rhythms will move to Town Hall to pay tribute to another legend: Sabicas, who transformed the genre from this very theater in New York, giving the first solo flamenco guitar concert in history after arriving in exile in the 1940s. Tribute to Sabicas brings together three generations of guitarists: virtuoso Gerardo Núñez, two-time Latin Grammy winner Antonio Rey, and rising star Álvaro Martinete. Renowned dancer Olga Pericet adds her bold and elegant interpretation, reinventing flamenco with ingenuity, strength, and intensity. Pericet also honors Carmen Amaya, Sabicas’ artistic partner, performing some of her signature pieces, including Embrujo del Fandango and Soleá.

This show will also be performed a day earlier in Boston, at the Berklee Performing Arts Center, one of the festival’s satellite cities.

Finally, the Metropolitan Museum of Art joins the festival’s roster of venues with a unique proposal: From Carmencita to Pericet, a meeting between dancer Olga Pericet and the iconic portrait of the dancer Carmencita by John Singer Sargent. Co-presented with the Instituto Cervantes—which has maintained a close partnership with Flamenco Festival since its first edition in 2001—the performance highlights over two decades of collaboration that have helped consolidate and project flamenco in New York.

Taking place on the festival’s final day, Sunday, March 15, the performance emphasizes the artistic and historical importance of Carmen Dauset Moreno, originally from Almería, who arrived in New York in 1889 and quickly became a prominent figure in American vaudeville. The event connects audiences with the memory of a pioneer who brought flamenco and Spanish dance to international stages.