De ida y vuelta / Away and Back
Fahmi Alqhai was born in Seville, Spain, in 1976. As his father is Syrian and his mother Palestinian he spent the first 11 years of his life in Syria where he started to study music at a very young age.
Later he studied in Spain as a self-taught person until he entered the Conservatorio Manuel Castillo in Seville to study Viola da Gamba with Ventura Rico. He continued his education in the famous schools Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland) with Paolo Pandolfo and in the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) with Vittorio Ghielmi. During his musical studies he made his degree in Dentistry in the University of Seville.
With the age of 19 he started his career as a soloist: Performing the 3 Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach he received a great success from the public and from the criticism in the press. In 2004 he recorded these Sonatas with the Harpsichordist Alberto Martinez Molina for the Spanish Label Arsis. In 2001 he founded together with the Singer Marivi Blasco the group Accademia del Piacere and keeps directing it. Already now Accademia del Piacere is one of the most famous young groups performing Early Music in Spain. Together with his brother, Rami Alqhai, he founded the Cd label Alqhai & Alqhai in which they are producing all the Cds of Accademia del Piacere.
He is a frequent collaborator of Hesperion XXI (Jordi Savall), Il Suonar Parlante (Vittorio Ghielmi), Orphenica Lyra (Jose Miguel Moreno), he is a foundation member of the group More Hispano (Vicente Parrilla). This is to name only some of the groups he is regularly giving concerts with in all Europe, Japan, USA, Canada and Latinamerica.
As a soloist Fahmi Alqhai has performed with orchestras in the size of Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne (Michael Corbo), Sinfonica de Galicia (Franz Brüggen), Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Al Ayre Español and others.
He has done numerous recordings for Cd labels (Alia Vox, Glossa, Winter & Winter, Tactus, Arsis, Enchiriadis, etc) television and radio all over the world.
Although Fahmi Alqhai mostly works with the 17th and 18th century music he has realized different performances as a Soloist in Flamenco Shows (Bienal de Flamenco of Seville) and in the field of Jazz and Contemporary music.
Fahmi Alqhai is considered one of the most brilliant and prestigious young Gamba-players and performers of Early Music of his generation.
Arcángel While in his early twenties, Arcángel became part of a select group of flamenco singers. He maintains this position because he wants to, because he can and because he knows how to do it.
Francisco José Arcángel Ramos was born in Huelva in 1977. His family was originally from the town of Alosno, known as the birthplace of fandango and the main source of the province’s rich folklore. At a mere 10 years of age, Arcángel demonstrated an unprecedented command of the local fandango when he took First Prize in a children’s competition organized by a flamenco association in Huelva called “La Orden” (“The Order”). This trophy was the prelude to a long series of honours that would eventually encourage Arcángel to dedicate himself professionally to his passion for singing flamenco.
Arcángel is capable of maintaining control of his singing technique, including compás, voice tuning and musical structure, while broadcasting an endless reverberation of perfectly rounded tones. That’s how you connect! And we’re not talking about his influence in the feminine arena, which we know nothing about, but to his amazing ability to present a cante (flamenco song) in one go, at a slow radiant pace while barely taking a breath.
Without a doubt, he has an Olympic temperament, comparable to the bullfighter’s ability to ‘moderate, adjust and control’ a charging bull. One of Arcángel’s outstanding characteristics is the intelligent way that he updates the traditional styles from his homeland. He revives them by adding infinite melodic overtones and by minimizing constraints.
Accademia del Piacere was founded in 2004. His organicum varies from the trio to the small chamber orchestra. Accademia del Piacere is presented as one of the young Andalusian groups with more presence on the international scene of early music. Its members, who combine the strength of youth and the wisdom of experience, have performed at festivals and theatres worldwide. Accademia del Piacere has performed at prestigious events such as the National Auditorium of Spain, Luxembourg Grand Theater, Festival of Ravello (Italy), FEMAS (Sevilla), Festival Las Piedras Cantan, Radovlijka Festival (Slovenia), Early Music Festival of Peñíscola, Early Music Festival Aracena, Cantatas Cycle of Johann Sebastian Bach (Madrid), Festival Camino de Santiago, Early Music Festival in Malaga, Spanish Music Festival in Cadiz, Early Music Festival of Úbeda and Baeza, Cultural Almeria 2006, Teatro Villamarta ... Their concerts are usually transmitted by the most prestigious media such as Radio Clásica, of RNE.