Tuesday 2008 May 6^th, 7 PM

Great Guild Hall

FLAMENCO  PASSION

Miguelete (flamenco dancer)

Ramon Jaffe (cello, Germany)

Gerald Gürtler (flamenco guitar, Germany)

    A variety of different cultural backgrounds have accompanied Ramon Jaffé throughout his biographical and therefore also his artistic life. Born in Riga, Latvia, he and his family emigrated to Israel in 1971 and he has been living in Germany since 1974, where he also completed his studies.

            From the beginning and up to his diploma, his artistic mentor was his father, Don Jaffé. In his quest to broaden his musical horizons, Ramon found models in D. Geringas, Sandor Végh, B. Pergamenschikow and Daniel Shafran. Under the patronage of these masters, he took part in a number of competitions with success. His subsequent career as a soloist took him to famous concert halls in Berlin, Munich, Colone and London. At the Vienna Music Festival he played a concert with the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which has been broadcast several times on radio and television. With the Bavarian Radio Orchestra conducted by R. Abbado, he appeared at the Hercules Hall in Munich in 1995 and, with the famous jazz singer Bobby McFerrin in Gasteig. He also played chamber music with Sandor Végh at his last great performance as a violinist at the big hall of the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

            Making the acquaintance of the Andalusian flamenco guitarist Pedro Bacan, who died in 1997, turned out to be one of Ramon Jaffé‘s most exciting cultural encounters. Preliminary inquisitive experimentation led to his being initiated into the secrets of this fascinating world. Further development towards perfection finally found its culmination in performances with guitarist Stephan Schmidt at festivals as the Expo ,92 and the Biennale’96 in Seville, the MIDEM’95 in Can­nes, the M. Ohana Festivals in Paris, flamenco festivals in Madrid and Mt. de Marsan, and in many other concerts. He is continuing this path with Miguelete.

Miguelete was born near Dresden in Germany. He studied  stage dance  at the  Staatliche Ballettschule (National Ballet School) in Leipzig and at the Folkwangschule in Essen.

His enthusiasm for flamenco emerged already during his dancing studies.  After a short debut as a ballet dancer in Berlin he went to Seville in 1995, following the invitation of a contemporary dance production. After seven years, he returned to Berlín as a professional flamenco dancer. The intensity of his expression and his dancing flexibility quickly persuaded the local flamenco scene of his dancing capacities.

His sensibility for theatre and his hard work as a dancer enabled him to make his mark as a choreographer and manager in a couple of dancing productions. He developed flamenco projects with international and Spanish flamenco artists, where he also participated as a solo-dancer.  So he put into effect  „La Fragua“ and „Así  sentimos“ as applicators for his most important mentor in flamenco, „El Torombo“ www.torombo.com.