Festival Internacional de Santander

Each year, during the month of August it presents two to three operas as well as performances from visiting ballet and theatre companies, solo recitals, and choral, symphonic, and chamber music concerts.

[1] The auditorium is named in honour of the Spanish conductor Ataúlfo Argenta, who played a major role in the establishment of the festival.

The festival had its beginnings in 1948 as a programme providing cultural entertainment to the foreign students at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo.

The RTVE-Música label has issued eight of these performances on CD, including the 2003 production of Simon Boccanegra and the Berlin Philharmonic's 2004 concert of works by Mahler, Bruckner and Beethoven.

[3] Amongst the many distinguished conductors, musicians and singers who have appeared at the Festival Internacional de Santander over the years are: Zubin Mehta, Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Arthur Rubinstein, Alicia de Larrocha, Daniel Barenboim, Diletta Rizzo Marin, Montserrat Caballé, Teresa Berganza, Samuel Ramey, Juan Diego Flórez, Mirella Freni, José Carreras, and Plácido Domingo, who made his Kirov Opera debut in the title role of Otello when the company performed at the festival in 1992.