Dorantes-Spassov Project & Leonor Leal

• David Dorantes (piano)
• Theodosii Spassov (kaval)
• Javi Ruibal (percussion)
• Leonor Leal (dance)

Burning bright

Flamenco pianist and composer Dorantes fuses his traditional roots with an avante garde approach to create his trailblazing music.

One of the most inspiring flamenco pianists of our time…

Flamenco pianist and composer Dorantes fuses his traditional roots with an avante garde approach to create his trailblazing music. A multi-award-winning artist, David Peña Dorantes is acclaimed

worldwide as one of the most exciting and compelling flamenco pianists and composers around.

The musician has a strong background in this area of music. Born in 1969 in Seville to a prestigious flamenco family boasting a long line of legendary performers, Dorantes absorbed the roots of flamenco at home. He also studied piano at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música of Seville from a very young age. Consequently, he has always searched for a synthesis of traditional flamenco, classical and avant-garde music.

Scrupulous about technique, innovative in the composition and perfect in the execution, Dorantes’ approach has led to him becoming an important name in the word of flamenco piano, forging a new path in piano history; a voice nurtured by Spanish flamenco and yet all his own.

Dorantes made his professional stage debut at the age of 22 at The Royal Alcazar with the King and Queen of Spain in attendance. But it wasn’t until 1998, when his first musical creation, O_r_o_b_r_o_y_, was released, that the artist came to the attention of the public and critics, with purists praising his technique and fans applauding his courageous innovation.

In December 1998 he was invited to the Jazz Festival at Plaza de la Havana to share the bill with artists such as Jack deJohnette, Steve Turre, Roy Hargrove, Jane Bunnett, Michel Camilo, Danilo Pérez and David Sanchez. From this point on, Dorantes was declared “the flamenco of the twenty first century”.

Many successful projects followed. In 2008, Dorantes embarked upon a collaboration with the National Orchestra of Tokyo, performing his original work S_u_r_ _S_i_n_f_ón_i_c_o_, which saw him invited back for the 2009 season. Performances at WOMEX and MIDEM (Cannes – France) were met with extraordinary success, and by February 2008 Dorantes was performing at the ninth USA Flamenco Festival in New York and

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Washington – the first artist ever to take flamenco piano to this prestigious event.

In 2010 Dorantes was invited by The Montreal Jazz Festival to inaugurate the Latin section with two concerts; Carlos Saura asked the artist to participate in his latest film, F_l_a_m_e_n_c_o_,_ _F_l_a_m_e_n_c_o_, and Dorantes was also invited by Caesarea Festival to a prestigious contemporary jazz music event in Israel.

Dorantes has been named as Patron of the Gypsy Culture National Foundation by the Minister of Culture for Spain, a distinction only given to great flamenco musicians. In 2012, Montreal Jazz Festival invited him to close at Canada’s Maison symphonique de Montréal, and he was invited to play at 2012 Spoleto Festival USA in the Wells Fargo Jazz Series. In the same year Dorantes also released his third album, the forward-looking S_i_n_ _M_u_r_o_s_!_ _, which saw him inventing a new way of composing, combining his flamenco roots with his contemporary jazz background.

As well as a renowned musician and composer, Dorantes has also taken on other roles. He worked as director, producer and arranger for Hon. D. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, using texts from his creation, C_u_a_n_d_o_ _L_e_b_r_i_j_a_n_o_ _c_a_n_t_a_,_ _s_e_ _m_o_j_a_ _e_l_ _a_g_u_a_, winning an award for best production of the biannual period 06-08. As a composer for films and television, Dorantes has contributed music to the film M_ás_ _a_l_l_á _d_e_l_ _t_o_r_e_o_ _by Ignacio Sanchez Mejías, as well as for the inaugural concert of the fifth European Film Festival.

Ensuring his music can be heard by many, Dorantes performs at some of the biggest festivals in the world, including Festa Europea Della Musica, Montreal Jazz Festival, Connexions Festival in Barcelona and Bruges Jazz Festival. He is the winner of multiple awards, including most recently the 2012 Girandillo award for the best music for Contrabass (Renaud Garcia-Fons) and the 2014 Joaquín Master of the Order of Performing Arts in Andalusia.

Recent projects have been large scale, exciting works. In 2014 Dorantes was asked by the International Cervantino Festival Mexico to compose a piece of work for the musicians and orchestras of eight different countries, an event which brought together around 8,000 people.