05 September 2010

Tomás Jiménez and María José García


Tomás and María José met in their home town, Cartagena, in the region of Murcia on the South East Mediterranean Coast of Spain. Tonight, they will present a recital of solo flamenco guitar compositions and duets with castanets.

Tomás Jiménez

Tomás Jiménez learnt to play flamenco guitar from his father whose teaching instilled in Tomás a respect for flamenco together with the understanding that his playing should communicate the true meaning of each piece without using unnecessary superfluous effects.
Much later Tomás attended master classes with Gerardo Núñez and Paco Cruz.
Tomás has performed as a soloist in Spain at the prestigious flamenco festival: Festival Nacional del Cante de Las Minas, La Unión, Catedral de Santander, Centro Cultural Ramón Alonso Luzzy, Festival Nacional del Cante por Cartageneras, Teatro Circo, Cartagena.
In Britain he has performed at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Purcell Room, The Fairfield Halls, Croydon, The Brighton Festival, Dundee International Guitar Festival, Northumberland International Guitar Festival, Durham University, Sunderland University, Surrey University, Embassy Theatre Swiss Cottage, London, South Hill Park, Bracknell and for many guitar societies as well as Paris, France and Damascus, Syria.

María José García

María José studied flamenco dance in Cartagena and took all her dance exams in the Conservatorio de Danza in Murcia, Spain. She studied Flamenco and Classical Spanish Dance and gained the title of Bailarina Profesional (Professional dancer) from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Madrid.
She later bought the academy where she had studied and ran it for several years.
María José has attended classes with several renowned flamenco dancers such as Ángel Muñoz, Rafaela Carrasco, Alicia Márquez and Virginia Dominguez among others.

Tomás Jiménez and María José have given sell out concerts at Royal Albert Hall, Norwich Castle Museum Francis Cheetham O.B.E Memorial Concert, Canning House (Latin American and Spanish Cultural Centre) Chelsea, London, Dorchester Festival, Dumfries and Galloway Festival, Arts Depot and the Buckingham Festival.