La biennial of Flamenco from the Netherlands celebrates its twenty years of exploring the world from October 8 to 26, 2025 flamencoThis anniversary edition offers three weeks of the flamenco more incisive with dance performances and concerts in more than fifteen theaters and eight cities across the country. For another five years, the International Biennial of Performing Arts is an exceptional sanctuary where radical creators, young talents, and guardians of tradition explore the frontiers of the genre. With the presence of Rocío Molina e Israel Galvan, the iconoclastic artists who accompanied the Biennial from the beginning, the latest crop of renovators of the flamenco like the flamenco dancers Luz Arcas, Yinka Esi Graves y Sara jiménez and the vocal artist Child from Elche. The Nederlands Blazers Ensemble performs the world premiere of Winds Flamencos, commissioned by Festival 2025. Three generations of guitarists: Yerai Cortés, Dani de Morón, Raúl Cantizano, the 80-year-old teacher Pepe Habichuela. And legends of the cante-dance like The Pele y Manuela Carrasco They show how an ancient popular art continues to excite and bewitch in 2025.
"This anniversary edition focuses on a generation of new creators who, as an 'ancestral vanguard', radically revisit tradition, roots as a constant source of inspiration for innovation," declared the festival director. Ernestina van de Noort.
The tenth edition opens with a celebratory gala at the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam: a pure tradition with flamenco dancer Manuela Carrasco and flamenco singer Manuel Moreno Maya 'El Pele': two living legends of Romani art, each with a fifty-year career. In Amsterdam, and for the first time, they will share the stage with their own show: an exceptional partnership forged especially for and by the festival with the flamenco dancer. Antonio Molina 'The Thief' as a special star.
The rebel and precursor flamenco Israel Galván returns to the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, where he performed his innovative work in 2006 The Golden Age, already a classic in his repertoire that, like the Biennial of Flamenco and the Muziekgebouw, celebrating its twentieth anniversary. It will perform with a new line-up that includes the young singer Maria Marin and the guitarist Rafael Rodríguez 'The Head'.
Rocío Molina, undisputed figure, "Madonna" of the flamenco contemporary, winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale (2022), closes the festival at Amare The Hague with Carnation, his most radical work to date. With the singer and performer Niño de Elche as an ally, electronic soundscapes and religious choral music performed by the Dutch chamber choir VU Kamerkoor, he explores the essence of flamenco and the desire.
«The biennial pays tribute to the guitarist Pepe Habichuela, patriarch of the famous dynasty of Granada guitarists, whose guitar embodies 60 years of history of flamenco»
Since 2017, the Biennial of Flamenco has brought the vibrant Spanish jazz scene to the Netherlands flamencoThe brand-new project Carried by the Wind unites Arin Khesishi's Marmoucha Orchestra with saxophonist and singer Antonio Lizana: the ideal lineup for an evening of East-West jazz. Dancer Ahmad Joudeh adds the mystical Sama dance from the Sufi tradition.
The biennial pays tribute to guitarist Pepe Habichuela, patriarch of the famous dynasty of Granada guitarists, whose guitar embodies 60 years of history. flamencoAs a special guest with his son Josemi Carmona's jazz trio, he demonstrates how the unmistakable "Granada touch" combines with a sound flamenco contemporary jazz in Two Guitars, Two Generations. Dancer Niño de los Reyes adds rhythmic touches.
Under the motto This is (not) Flamenco, the Biennial of Flamenco presents original creations and co-productions in which the flamenco enters into dialogue with other musical worlds. In Vientos Flamencos, a collaboration with the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, singer David Lagos and dancer Úrsula López bring their tradition to new compositions by Florian Magnus Maier and guitarist Tino van der Sman, among others: the flamenco meets the contemporary. World premiere at the Muziekgebouw, nine-city tour in the Netherlands.
The tenth edition shows how the Dutch flamenco scene stands out with new productions and world premieres. Spanish-Dutch singer Raquel Kurpershoek takes a musical journey through Latin America and Spain with her latest project, Bienaventurada. In Wood Nymphs, Amsterdam-based Bulgarian percussionist and marimba virtuoso Tatiana Koleva combines the rhythms of flamenco with the Balkans. With Rotterdam-based Greek dancer Claudia Karapanou, she engages in a fascinating percussion battle: heels and marimba challenge each other in "twelve beats." Choreographer Tamar Porcelijn presents the premiere of her debut choreography, Falling Apart Together, a thrilling interplay of contemporary (urban) dance. flamenco, movement theatre and live music.
Flamenco4kids: The Dancers Collective entered the world of flamenco with, among others, Luz Arcas and shows the first advances of his family show Klop Klop Boem Boem. Israel Galván makes children (over 2 years old) dance with Bailas Baby: in a park full of rhythms and objects, the first-class choreographer invites the little ones to experience the flamenco.
The performances and concerts of the X Biennial of Flamenco 2025 will be part of a comprehensive program featuring workshops, public rhythm classes, jam sessions, master classes, lectures, artist talks, films, Tiny Desk concerts, nightlife, and a discussion program: Flamenco, the Roots and the Radical.
