El afecto ilustrado
Founded in 2012, El Afecto Ilustrado is a Spanish ensemble with a historicist profile, whose philosophy is to present and bring the audience a historically informed interpretation of repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to early Romanticism, in a close and tangible manner.
With concert formats that are little explored, the group is made up of professionals who stand out in the national and international musical scene. Its members, active in the main groups of the country, in teaching, or as soloists, represent a collection of ideas and perspectives that turn the ensemble’s projects into unique and inspiring experiences for the listener.
El Afecto Ilustrado develops and disseminates programs of a high level of interpretative quality, historical accuracy, and respect for original sources, resulting from a detailed process of musical and historical research. In addition to addressing European and Ibero-American repertoires, El Afecto Ilustrado also focuses on the recovery and dissemination of Iberian musical heritage.
With a decade of activity behind it, it is today one of the longest-standing and most well-established historicist musical groups in the Canary Islands, and it is also a member of GEMA, the Association of Spanish Early Music Groups. On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, El Afecto Ilustrado produced, as its second recording, a monograph of the String Quintets with two violas by José Palomino (1753-1810) for the specialized early and baroque music label Lindoro, which includes and recovers several works recorded sonically for the first time. In 2024, it will receive the Audience Award for Best Early Music Group at the VIII edition of the GEMA awards for creativity and innovation in early music in Spain.
El Afecto Ilustrado has been selected to participate in the exhibition about José de Viera y Clavijo, De Isla en Continente (2019), at the National Library of Spain, bringing to Madrid the melologue Que me escribe la vida. It also provided the musical dubbing for the film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928) by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer for the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. Additionally, it has recorded incidental music for prominent theater companies such as Unahoramenos and Delirium Teatro. In 2023, it took on the musical part of the exhibition Juan de Miranda, la travesía de un artista canario desde el Barroco a la Ilustración, organized by the Government of the Canary Islands, offering concerts in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Madrid. In 2024, it will be part of the program Barroco y Barrocos II: tras las aristas culturales de una época, organized by Museo Nacional del Prado.
El Afecto Ilustrado has performed in many national venues, such as the Tenerife Auditorium alongside Jone Martínez, Hugo Bolívar, and stage director and video designer Pedro Chamizo, as well as at the Canary Islands International Music Festival (FIMC), Valencia Cathedral Early Music Cycle, Galicia’s Cidade da Cultura Concert Cycle, the Vigo Philharmonic Society concert season, the Lugo Bal y Gay Chamber Music Festival, the Pontevedra Philharmonic Society concert season, Tenerife’s Sacred Music Cycle, Villa de la Orotava Music Festival, ULL Summer University Concert Cycle, Casa de Colón Early Music Cycle in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tenerife Fine Arts Museum Concert Cycle, A Coruña Fine Arts Museum Concert Cycle, Canary Islands Religious Music Festival, Royal Canary Academy of Fine Arts (RACBA) Concert Cycle, among others.
His concertmaster and conductor, Adrián Linares, received the Excellens Music Award 2020 from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of the Canary Islands in recognition of his work in research, interpretation, and dissemination of Early Music in the Canary Archipelago.