ORGAN CONCERT

18th June 2007.

Fundación Fuerte recovers the organ of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación Church

On Friday 15th June a concert was offered within the activities organised for the Grupo El Fuerte 50th anniversary.

On Friday 15th June a concert was offered within the activities organised for the Grupo El Fuerte 50th anniversary, attended by some 750 invited persons, among which the following personalities were present: Diego Martín Reyes, President of the Marbella Council Management Team, Baldomero León, Head of the Fiestas Department of the Marbella Council Management Team, the new Manageress, Mrs. Mª Ángeles Muñoz and Count Rudi, Honorific Chief Brother of the Santa Marta Brotherhood, who has been an active member for 32 years and advisor for the Marbella Club hotel.

The original organ of the parish Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación in Marbella was burnt in 1936 as a result of the unfortunate events occurred in this church during the Civil War. It was only after a period of 40 years without this instrument when a group of residents of the town of Marbella started to raise funds for the building of a new organ. The raising was headed by the parish priest, Father Rodrigo Bocanegra, the hotelier Mr. José Luque Manzano and the head of the Brotherhood Santa Marta, Mr. Agustín Picazo, who counted with the initiative and encouragement of the German music lover Mr. Michael Reckling, and commissioned the Blancafort-Capella organ factory the building of the parish’s current instrument. The order was officially signed on 29th December 1971.

The building of this new instrument was started in early 1972 and was completed by 1974, with the exception of the fitting of the last sets of pipes. Once finished, the results achieved by the master organ builders responsible for this construction were really extraordinary. Indeed, it is a historical fact that even today the organ built in this church of Marbella remains one of the largest organs in Spain with a mechanical keyboard whose sound is highly valued by lovers of good music. Because of this and other features the organ was named the Grand Marbella Organ or ‘Órgano del Sol Mayor’. Since then it has more than fulfilled its duties in spreading the Christian word and has been the protagonist of concerts that have contributed to the spread of classical music, the universal culture. During the 70’s and 80’s, Michael Reckling was in charge of maintaining the instrument and organising the concerts that were to lead the organ’s reputation as a first-class reference within the Marbella cultural heritage.

Fundación Fuerte decided to take charge of restoring the organ of the Parish Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación in Marbella, which has lost its acoustic conditions over the years. No organ concert has been held in the church in the last five years although the organ has been used in some religious services at a very low performance. The concert was held on Friday 15th June at 21’00 hrs. to show the restoration work of the instrument, and it was offered by the concert performers Adalberto Martínez and Javier Villero.

This concert is one of the events organised by Grupo El Fuerte to commemorate its 50th anniversary. One of the main goals of this concert is to sponsor the creation of the association “Friends of the Órgano del Sol Mayor”, consisting of professionals from the music world, businessmen and keen music technicians. Similarly, in a gesture of gratitude to the town of Marbella, Fundación Fuerte wishes to contribute to the town’s historic heritage and the spread of its culture.

The concert was performed by Adalberto Martínez and Javier Villero. Martínez received the Premio de Honor from the Real Conservatorio de Madrid, the Premio Nacional de Música Fin de Carrera and the First Prize in the International Organ Contest in Ávila, Spain. Besides Adalberto Martínez was awarded the position of Official Organist of the Madrid Cathedral and Profesor of the Real Conservatorio de Música. Javier Villero has taken part in recitals held in Spain, Germany and Portugal, to substantial public acclaim and currently is a teacher at a high school and organist of the Órgano del Sol Mayor in Marbella. Both musicians played works by Johan Sebastian Bach, Jesús Guridi or Antonio Valente, among others.

In 2006 Fundación Fuerte decided to take charge of restoring the organ and commissioned the organ specialist, Albert Blancafort the recovering of all the organ acoustic features, deteriorated over the last few years. The works were accomplished in two separate phases: the first aimed at repairing, cleaning and tuning the organ and the second designed to replace the bellow mechanism feeding the chambers with low voltage electric blowers, a voltage regulator and completing the other chambers required to obtain the final product.

Grupo El Fuerte.

At present Grupo el Fuerte has six hotels in Spain located in Marbella, Conil, el Rompido and Grazalema; a hotel on the Mayan Riviera, and the Hotel Secrets Montego Bay is under construction in Jamaica. Within the real estate market Grupo El Fuerte has a residential complex known as Calaceite in Torrox and is seeking to open the All Suites Hotel Fuerte La Herradura in 2009 in Almuñecar. EID interior design also belongs to Grupo el Fuerte, and was created with the aim of covering the demand of the group. Finally, the Fundación Fuerte created with the aim of cooperating in solving the problems of its social environment.

Grupo el Fuerte mainly stands out for quality tourism, preservation of the environment and the continuous training of human resources, apart from the familiar treatment, privileged location of the hotels, gastronomy and the respect for history.