The 72nd Ljubljana Festival will soon be hosting a performance by ADDA Simfònica Alicante, the resident orchestra of the Auditorium of the Provincial Council of Alicante (ADDA), which has established itself as one of the most important orchestras in Spain, delighting audiences all over the world with the quality of its performances and the breadth of its repertoire. The orchestra and its conductor Josep Vicent were this year nominated for both a Grammy Award and a Latin Grammy Award for their album of music by Chick Corea. Entitled Ritmo: The Chick Corea Symphony Tribute, the album pays homage to the legendary Chick Corea, himself the winner of 27 Grammy Awards.

The American jazz pianist and composer played a key role in the birth of jazz fusion in the late 1960s as a member of Miles Davis’ ensemble. He later moved into free improvisation, founded the legendary jazz fusion band Return to Forever and worked with other jazz giants such as Gary Burton and Herbie Hancock. News just in from Spain confirms that ADDA Simfònica Alicante has won two of this year’s Premios de la Academia de la Música de España for Ritmo. These prestigious awards bestowed by Spain’s national academy of music are sometimes referred to as the Spanish Grammys. The young orchestra took the awards for Best Jazz Album and Best Instrumental Album.

Conductor Josep Vicent offered the following reaction to the news: “We have worked hard for years to achieve our sound and these awards are a well-deserved acknowledgement, above all for the members of the orchestra but also for everyone else in the team who has been part of this adventure, and for the Provincial Council of Alicante, whose support is of fundamental importance.” Ritmo was recorded live at the FIJAZZ festival in 2021. The live performance was conducted by Josep Vicent and features a number of special guests, including Emilio Solla, the winner of a Latin Grammy for Best Jazz Album. The Argentinian pianist was also responsible for the arrangements on this sixty-minute album paying homage to a jazz legend. ADDA Simfònica Alicante will present these compositions in Ljubljana on 23 July, with a concert that shares the album’s title. Orchestra and conductor will be joined by all the other musicians who participated in the making of the album, among them the celebrated jazz saxophonist and clarinettist Paquito D’Rivera, who returns to Ljubljana after an interval of 30 years. A concert not to be missed. After all, as Chick Corea himself famously said: “The sound of the orchestra is one of the most magnificent musical sounds that has ever existed.”