Festival Flamenco Alburquerque 39 Presents One of the Broadest Flamenco Programs Outside Spain

100+ artists, 1 world premiere, 11 U.S. premieres, concerts, tablaos, workshops, film, and flamenco experiences across New Mexico in June.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, UNITED STATES, May 21, 2026 /⁨EINPresswire.com⁩/ – Festival Flamenco Alburquerque returns June 19–27, 2026, for its 39th year, bringing more than 100 flamenco artists and creative workers to New Mexico for one of the most expansive flamenco gatherings outside Spain.

Presented by the National Institute of Flamenco, the Festival is distinguished by its scope. Rather than presenting flamenco through one format alone, Festival Flamenco Alburquerque brings together full company works, solo productions, music-centered concerts, tablao performances, workshops, youth programs, film, Fiesta Flamenca, and new juried platforms for students and professional artists.

The 2026 edition includes one world premiere and eleven U.S. premiere presentations. Susana Casas Compañía with invited artist Juan Fernández will present the world premiere of “Cómo Reluce.” U.S. premiere presentations include Carmen Talegona Compañía’s “Memoria: Capacidad de Recordar,” Daniel Ramos Compañía’s “conTRAcuerpo,” María Pagés Compañía’s “De Scheherezade,” Antonio Molina “El Choro” Compañía’s “In Situ,” Francisco Vinuesa’s “Viaje al Centro de Mí Mismo,” Miguel Fernández “El Yiyo” Compañía’s “A Mi Aire,” Miguel Ángel Heredia Compañía’s “Heredia,” Úrsula López Compañía’s “Comedia sin título,” Marta Gálvez Compañía’s “Dama de Noche,” and Planeta Jondo’s “Ingrávido 5.1,” along with the U.S. premiere presentation of Miguel Poveda’s “Recital de Cante.”

“Festival Flamenco Alburquerque is not only a performance series,” said Marisol Encinias, Executive Director of the National Institute of Flamenco. “It is a place where audiences encounter flamenco through company works, music, tablao, workshops, youth programs, mentorship, and community. That range is what makes the Festival distinct.”

Major highlights include María Pagés Compañía in “De Scheherezade,” a large-scale work created with El Arbi El Harti that reframes Scheherazade through contemporary flamenco, dramaturgy, and women’s voices; Daniel Ramos Compañía in “conTRAcuerpo,” a solo work moving through flamenco, danza estilizada, and escuela bolera; and Carmen Talegona Compañía in “Memoria: Capacidad de Recordar,” a theatrical work centered on memory and the act of remembering.

Music is a defining focus of the 2026 Festival. Francisco Vinuesa’s “Viaje al Centro de Mí Mismo” places the guitarist at the center while honoring the relational art of flamenco accompaniment. Miguel Poveda’s “Recital de Cante” offers a rare U.S. appearance by one of flamenco’s most recognized singers. Planeta Jondo’s “Ingrávido 5.1” brings a contemporary flamenco music ensemble to both Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

The Festival also presents Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company in “Flamenco Fandanguero: Primos de la Raza Cósmica,” a work that places flamenco in conversation with son jarocho and artistic lineages of the Americas. The production considers questions of identity, inheritance, and relation through forms shaped by Iberian, Andalusian, Indigenous, and West African influences.

A defining feature of Festival Flamenco Alburquerque is its late-night tablao series at Tablao Flamenco Albuquerque. Tablao performance depends on structure, improvisation, musical knowledge, and the ability of dancers, singers, and guitarists to respond to one another in real time. During the Festival, artists from different companies and lineages come together in performances that are immediate, collaborative, and different each night.

New in 2026, the Festival launches Puentes Flamencos, Concurso de Tablao, and Certamen Coreográfico. Together, these programs create space for young people, training institutions, tablao artists, professional artists, and choreographers to present work, receive mentorship, compete, and grow within the Festival.

Education remains central to the Festival. The 2026 program includes 32 workshops for students of many levels, as well as Flamenco Kids Camp, Festival Juvenil, and Flamenco en el Cine, a free film program presented at Guild Cinema in collaboration with the Bernalillo County Film Office.

Founded in 1987 through the vision of Eva Encinias, Festival Flamenco Alburquerque has grown into a national and international gathering point for flamenco. Its 39-year trajectory includes artists and companies from across generations of flamenco, Spanish dance, contemporary flamenco creation, cante, guitar, percussion, scholarship, and theatrical work. What began as a vision of access to extraordinary art has become a living ecosystem of performance, education, mentorship, community, and possibility.

“What began as my mother’s vision to give people here access to extraordinary flamenco has become something much larger,” Encinias said. “Thirty-nine years later, artists and students come from across the country and around the world to be part of it.”

Tickets, workshops, and full Festival details are available at FFABQ.org.

Kayla Winger National Institute of Flamenco +1 505-242-7600 Visit us on social media: https://www.linkedin.com/company/16251259/ https://www.instagram.com/ffabq_official/ https://www.facebook.com/Ffabq https://www.youtube.com/@NationalInstituteofFlamenco