FLAMENCO FESTIVAL LONDRES OPENS ITS 21ST EDITION TO THE RHYTHM OF A VIBRANT AND EVER-EVOLVING FLAMENCO
Following Olga Pericet’s performances this weekend in Greater Manchester, the festival kicks off in London on Monday 15th with a staging of ‘Paraíso Perdido’ by Patricia Guerrero and Fahmi Alqhai at the National Gallery
Running until 30 June, there will be 20 performances featuring artists such as Jesús Carmona, Rocío Molina, the Andalusian Flamenco Ballet, Gerardo Núñez, Antonio Rey, Eva Yerbabuena, Manuel Liñán, El Perrete and Califato ¾, amongst many others
Flamenco Festival Londres kicks off its 21st edition by celebrating flamenco as an artistic expression in constant evolution, capable of preserving its essence whilst continuing to embrace new forms of expression. Under the slogan ‘Flamenco: Expanding Roots’, the festival will run from the 13th to the 30th of this month, featuring a programme comprising 13 companies, 80 artists and 20 performances, spread across London and, for the first time, Greater Manchester. This year’s festival offers a journey through different ways of understanding contemporary flamenco, ranging from those who delve deeply into its most intimate codes to those who push its boundaries through new sounds, performance styles and contemporary sensibilities, featuring figures such as Jesús Carmona, Rocío Molina, the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, Gerardo Núñez, Antonio Rey, Eva Yerbabuena, Manuel Liñán, El Perrete and Califato ¾, amongst many others.
This year, the programme is expanding to Greater Manchester, broadening the festival’s reach. As a result, the performances will take place not only at the familiar Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London – a leading venue for dance in Europe and the festival’s epicentre – but also at Sadler’s Wells East, the Lilian Baylis Studio and the Jazz Café; all in the capital on the Thames; whilst in Greater Manchester, the scheduled performances will take place at The Quays Theatre and the Lyric Theatre, both located at The Lowry. In London, the National Gallery is also joining the Festival’s venues, in collaboration with the city’s Instituto Cervantes and following in the footsteps of the Flamenco Festival New York, which, in its most recent edition, hosted shows and performances at the Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim.
Indeed, over the course of its more than two decades of existence, the London Flamenco Festival has established itself as a key platform for placing flamenco at the heart of London’s cultural scene, promoting the international profile of its artists and contributing to their recognition at some of the most prestigious awards in the performing arts. In recent years, figures associated with the festival have received major honours, such as the dancer Eva Yerbabuena, who was awarded the 2025 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for a show presented at the festival, and Sara Baras, who received the same award in 2020. Similarly, artists such as Manuel Liñán have been nominated for the Olivier Awards for their recent creations presented in London, reflecting the festival’s sustained impact on the British performing arts scene. Added to this are other accolades, such as the recent nominations for the UK National Dance Awards for creators such as Liñán and Sara Baras, which demonstrate the current period of excellence and visibility enjoyed by contemporary flamenco, driven in large part by international platforms such as the Flamenco Festival London.
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Flamenco returns to the UK capital
Flamenco Festival Londres is one of the world’s leading platforms for flamenco. As well as showcasing the most representative and established artists in this art form, the Festival has regularly featured emerging talent and the new generations of dancers, guitarists and singers, providing a platform for them to make their mark on the international scene.
To date, Flamenco Festival has staged 1,436 performances and presented 190 companies at 182 venues around the world, featuring all the great names in flamenco from the past nearly 25 years: figures at the peak of their careers such as Sara Baras, María Pagés, Eva Yerbabuena, Carmen Linares, Estrella Morente, Tomatito, Manuela Carrasco, Miguel Poveda, Israel Galván, Mercedes Ruiz, Carmen Cortés, María Terremoto, Rocío Molina, Olga Pericet, Manuel Liñán, Rocío Márquez, Rosalía and Rafaela Carrasco; and geniuses who are no longer with us, such as Paco de Lucía and Enrique Morente.
The importance of flamenco – and specifically of the Flamenco Festival – as one of the greatest showcases for Spanish performing arts beyond our borders is evident from the more than 40 editions it has already staged in London and New York, having taken flamenco to 101 cities around the world and, consequently, to 1.6 million people.
Only in London, the Flamenco Festival has already attracted over 300,000 spectators and staged more than 300 performances, featuring some of the leading figures and rising stars of contemporary flamenco. It has thus established itself as a well-established event in the British capital and within its theatre season, and as a platform for discovering the new paths that flamenco is beginning to forge in search of new horizons.
