Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez is perhaps the iconic guitar concerto and Capetonians are lucky to be able to hear it performed on 11 September 2025 by one of Spain’s foremost guitarists, Alvaro Toscano. This will be in the third concert in the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Spring Symphonies at the City Hall. Martin Panteleev will be on the podium.
For Toscano, who looks forward immensely to his debut with the CPO, this work, “it is devilishly difficult, but every minute of effort is worth it. It’s a universal piece of music, capable of moving anyone, no matter their culture, religion, or background.
What touches me the most is seeing audiences all over the world react to it in the same way. In the end, we’re all human, and Rodrigo’s music reminds us of that.”
He has been reminded a lot – in this season alone he has performed that concerto nine times.
Playing with sincerity
“There’s also something very powerful about the story behind the piece,” he continues. “Rodrigo wrote it after the death of his first child, and I think that deep feeling of loss and longing is something we can all relate to on some level. That emotion is always present when I perform it, and it changes the way I connect with the music every time I play.
“It forces me to be completely present, to play with sincerity, and to let the music truly move through me. When that happens, I feel the audience senses it too, and a kind of invisible but very real connection is created.”
Just 28 years old, Toscano’s journey began when he was 14 in his home town of Córdoba , when his 8-year-old sister was given a Hannah Montana guitar for Christmas. “She didn’t care much for it, but I picked it up and started playing around. One day, my dad jokingly said, ‘That sounds like the Concierto de Aranjuez’. I had no idea what that was, so I looked it up on YouTube… and that’s when I discovered the world of classical guitar. From that moment, I knew that was what I wanted to do.
Sound can paint landscapes
“I started out teaching myself, learning pop songs on an acoustic guitar through the internet. But once I discovered the classical repertoire, I fell in love with the sound of the guitar, with its colours… and with the idea that sound can paint landscapes.”
It took him just three years to win his first competition — the José Antonio Peñalosa Competition in Seville.
“That prize was a big deal for me, it was like a sign that I was on the right path and that my love for the guitar was something worth taking seriously. After that came more prizes, more opportunities, and more concerts… but that first one was the most exciting.” That says something because he has already won more than 20 major international awards such as gold medals at the Andrés Segovia International Guitar Competition, the Fernando Sor International Guitar Competition, the Permanent Competition of Juventudes Musicales de España, the Ciudad de Guimaraes International Competition, and the Changsha International Guitar Festival. He has also received numerous audience awards, reflecting his incredible ability to connect with listeners through music.
Music can inspire and transform
Today it is non stop – about 80% of his time is spent as a solo recitalist, with 20% being spent on concerts with orchestra, chamber music, and multidisciplinary projects collaborations with string and guitar quartets and Spanish dancers like Cristina Cazorla. He does give master classes around the world and one at UCT is under discussion.
He is also committed to performing contemporary music and gives regular premieres of new works by Spanish composers such as Antonio Blanco Tejero and María Jesús Amaro.
Toscano does give some private lessons – but only to those who “truly love and respect music”. The little spare time he has is spent practicing Chi Kung, working on computers, and playing tennis, but that has fallen a little by the wayside.
“Within music, what excites me the most is meeting people and experiencing firsthand how music can inspire and transform. That never gets old.”
Collaborations with renowned orchestras
He frequently collaborates with renowned orchestras such as the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra (RTVE), the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville, the Málaga Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic of Galicia, the Castellón Symphony Orchestra, the Córdoba Orchestra, and the AUKSO Orchestra and has performed in recital venues across Europe, the United States, and Latin America, venues such as the Teatro Monumental in Madrid and Uppsala Concert & Congress Hall in Sweden..
Toscano says he was deeply influenced as a guitarist “by Andrés Segovia; as composers, Frederic Mompou and Scriabin have had a deep impact on me. And as a musician, Daniil Trifonov. Interestingly, they all have something in common: a strong connection to colour, to shaping sound in the present moment, and to diving deep into what lies beyond the surface behind the sound itself. That’s where I put the most of my energy, and honestly, it’s what I’m most passionate about in music.”
There is a lot he would like to achieve – “One dream would be to play a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in New York. Another would be to play chamber music with the amazing Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández”
Toscano came to Cape Town fresh from a series of concerts in Spain (he has given more than 300 recitals across Europe) and “practising those Aranjuez scales so I can enjoy the concert as much as possible!”
He returns to five days of “proper vacation” in Córdoba and then back on tour to Málaga, Cáceres and Madrid in Spain!
Who: Guitarist Alvaro Toscano with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
Where Cape Town City Hall
When September 11 19:30; pre -concert talk 18:45
Concert tickets: Here
Dress rehearsal tickets: Here
WS
