Unión Musical symphonic band will offer a special concert for Saint Cecilia this Saturday at the Cultural Center

Benidorm Musical Union will offer its traditional extraordinary concert this Saturday in honour of Saint Cecilia. The event will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Benidorm Cultural Centre, featuring the union's Symphonic Band, conducted by Rafa Gómez Parra.

The concert is part of the events organised by the UMB to commemorate its centenary, which began on November 24th with a Christmas card contest and continued on Saturday, December 13th, with the opening concert of the 44th Musical and Cultural Days in honour of Saint Cecilia. The program for these Days was presented this morning at a press conference attended by the Councillor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez, and the president and secretary of the union, Mari Carmen García and Elena Antón.

Thus, Saturday's events will begin at 4:00 PM with the departure of the Symphonic Band from its headquarters to Neptune Square to pick up the new members. From there, they will parade to the Church of San Jaime. At 5:00 PM, a mass will be celebrated in honour of the patron saint of musicians.

At 7:00 PM, the extraordinary concert will take place.

The program, which will begin with a performance of ‘Yakka’ by José Rafael Pascual Vilaplana, will continue with the premiere of ‘Caminant cap al Centenari’ by Frank J. Cogollos. This will be followed by ‘El jardín de Hera’ by José Suñer-Oriola and ‘Libertadores’ by Óscar Navarro. “There will be about one hundred musicians on stage,” stated Mari Carmen García, the president, who also highlighted the program prepared for these days.

In that regard, he referred to the Christmas concert by the Choir, together with the UMB string ensemble, which will be held in the Church of San Jaime on Sunday, the 21st at 8:00 p.m., conducted by Joaquín García Fernández. The program will include the works ‘Fuentecilla que corres’, ‘A la media noche’, ‘Sant Jusep se va vellet’, ‘Noel’, ‘Te deseo feliz Navidad’, ‘En la más fría noche’, ‘Hacia Belén va una burra’, ‘Cantique de Noël’, ‘Tamborilero’, ‘Navidad’, ‘Jesus bieibet meine Freude’, ‘Adeste fideles’, ‘Ave María’, and ‘Alleluia’ (from Messiah).

All these events will culminate on January 1st with the New Year's Concert performed by the UMB Symphony Orchestra at the Cultural Centre, conducted by Rafa Gómez Parra and featuring soprano Pepi Lloret.

Elena Antón, secretary of the Unión Musical, expressed her "pride in being able to celebrate the organisation's centenary, something that is very exciting." Antón invited "everyone to participate in all the events that have been organised with care, hard work, and dedication," and thanked "those who are still with us and those who are no longer with us" in the Unión Musical.

Saturday's event will also serve to welcome the six musicians joining the Symphonic Band: Mario Ferrer (trumpet), Amaia Lucía García (flute), María Luisa Arenas (saxophone), Vladyslav Koval (saxophone), Yennifer Esther Mesa (bassoon), and Mireia López (bassoon). “We are also very proud of the recent recognition given to Jaume Antón and Rafael Doménech, long-standing members of the UMB who have lived for and dedicated themselves to the organisation,” the president stated.