Chief Conductor Jaime Martín and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra will be joined by a very special guest artist when they take to the stage on Friday, 23 October. Rebecca Sanchez, a healthcare worker from County Cavan, will sing and dance flamenco with them for Falla’s El amor brujo.

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the orchestra looked for an artist closer to home. They discovered Ms Sanchez who works at the Oak View Nursing Home in Belturbet.

She said, “I was at work in the nursing home and somebody called me and said: ‘I am from RTÉ. Can you sing El amor brujo for us?’ And I was just silent and my husband had to ask me what had happened. And since then everything has happened so quickly. But it’s very, very exciting. I have always been listening to this music, these songs, since I was a small child in Seville. It’s like mother’s milk to me since I was born.”

Ms Sanchez is an accomplished flamenco singer and dancer who has performed in numerous projects, but this is her debut with a symphony orchestra.

Mr Martín said he was “excited” by Ms Sanchez’s talent. He tells RTÉ, “When we met for the first time a few days ago, I couldn’t believe it. She is so good. Her story is a bit like Billy Elliot meets Covid. I mean if it wasn’t for Covid, there’s no way that she would be singing with us. We just wouldn’t know about her.”

Watch tonight’s concert, live-streamed in HD on rte.ie/culture and broadcast live on RTÉ lyric fm.

Programme

Falla: El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) Suite No. 1
GranadosIntermezzo from Goyescas
Falla:  El amor brujo (Love the Magician) (1925)
Chapí: Prelude from La Revoltosa