MARIA JOÃO PIRES

We're honoured to have the great Portuguese pianist, Maria João Pires performing on the open-air stage at La Donaira on Tuesday, August 22. as part of the pause festival. The night's programme also includes performances by Julien Libeer (piano), Miloš Popović (piano), Julien Brocal (piano and composer), Lilit Grigoryan (piano), all young, talented international musicians, and members of a collaborative project founded by Maria, the Partitura Movement. One of Partitura's shared objectives is to take classical music out of the concert hall – and they are certainly doing that here on a mountainside in the Serranía de Ronda.

The Partitura Movement plays a big part in the inaugural five-day festival (Aug 18-22), with artists from the group performing every night with the exception of Sunday, August 20, which is a flamenco night featuring the famous cantaora, Mayte Martín. In a radical move, the selection of pieces to be played each night will not be revealed ahead of time; a musical equivalent perhaps, to eating in the dark.

Each night starts with a gourmet tapas dinner at 8pm and continues after the main concert with jazz and improvised music sessions into the early hours (for those who need no sleep). Visit pausefestival.com for details and tickets.