In mid-July, Alicante overflows with avant garde jazz at its Fijazz Festival, where both home grown musicians and musicians from all over the world gather together in the Alicante Regional Council Auditorium to offer their best compositions.
Musical giants come together in a unique festival for soaking up the rhythms of fusion jazz at the hands of acclaimed and experienced composers offering delightful fusions of traditional jazz with progressive rock, classical music or ideas such as that of the Valencian Ximo Tébar, who has even created his own genre by fusing jazz and flamenco with Mediterranean themes. A real treat for jazz lovers.
In its fourth year, this festival held in the city of Alicante grows in reputation and attendance year after year thanks to its avant garde programme. Composers of the calibre of Chick Corea, pianist and winner of 16 Grammy awards and trendsetter for over forty years, as well as the charismatic virtuoso Stanley Clark, one of jazz, fusion and funk's most important double-bass players, are some of the stars who have played at Fijazz Alicante in recent years.
Previous years have also seen new works from artists such as Dave Holland, renowned master of the genre and who has collaborated on many projects with masters such as Miles Davis, John Surman, John Mclaughlin, Thelonius Monk, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Stan Getz and Gary Burton, amongst others. In his thirty year career at the forefront of jazz, Holland has won two Grammys and since 1999 has been chosen year after year as Best Double-bass Player in the DownBeat Critics Poll
Performances from Mike Stern and saxophonist Bill Evans, both nominated many times for Grammy awards, as well as artists who have collaborated with jazz and pop greats like Mick Jagger, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz, Jaco Pastorius. Not forgetting the work of young Japanese jazz composer and pianist Hiromi, world renowned for her technical virtuosity and energetic performances.
With the charming city of Alicante as a backdrop, Fijazz is an unmissable event for lovers of jazz, fusion and music in general.
Altea's Castell de la l´Olla has been a tradition for over twenty years; a festival of light and gunpowder, which is unique in being the only festival in the world with a firework display at sea, with the pyrotechnics launched from 8 platforms each weighing 15 tonnes.
The month of October is when Calpe holds an event that people have been looking forward to all year: bands of music, the raising of standards in the Castle, the offering, the disembarkation or the great Parade are the highlights of the traditional Moors and Christians festivities in honour of the "Santísimo Cristo del Sudor" (the Most Holy Christ of Sweat).
The Bonfires of San Juan in Alicante, which coincide with the summer solstice on the 24th of June, are without doubt the best known of all the festivities that are held in this town. Internationally famous, not for nothing have they been declared a "Festival of International Tourist Interest", and each year they attract thousands of people from every corner of the world.