Cristina Candela, Barbara Martinez & Raphael Brunne -Flamenco

Join us for an evening of flamenco where Cristina’s expressive dance meets the warm voice of Barbara Martinez. With guitarist Raphael Brunne and a solid group of accompanying musicians, they bring a thoughtful and intimate approach to flamenco in a night of rhythm, song, and dance.

7:30 pm to 8:30 pm(First Set)

9:30 pm to 10:30 pm(Second Set)

Admission: $20: Cover at Mezzanine.

Featuring:

• Cristina Candela / Bailaora

• Barbara Martinez / Cantaora

• Raphael Brunne / Guitar

About Cristina Candela:

Cristina Candela has been dedicated to flamenco since 2007, performing in tablaos such as El Patio Andaluz in Barcelona and touring internationally in Malaysia and Singapore with Chalachi. She has collaborated with companies like María Carrasco Cía and Apuchelando Cía, taking on roles as dancer, choreographer, and producer.

Her artistic curiosity has led her into fusion projects, notably with Anlage Cía in Granada, and into educational initiatives such as Voices of Tomorrow under the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, where she served as a cultural ambassador.

Cristina’s work also bridges cinema and performance — she has acted, danced, and participated in the production of short and independent films. Deeply engaged with both the stage and its creative processes, she sees dance as a language for expressing her vision of the world. As she recalls the words of Pina Bausch, “Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost.”

About Barbara Martinez:

Bárbara Martínez is a flamenco singer, dancer, songwriter, and interdisciplinary artist whose career began at age 11 with The Children’s Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera. She is one of the few flamenco artists in the United States who performs regularly both as singer and dancer with leading flamenco companies, including Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, A Palo Seco, Pasión y Arte, and EntreFlamenco.

Her work bridges flamenco with jazz, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Sephardic musical traditions. She leads several original projects, including a Latin jazz/flamenco ensemble that debuted at Carnegie Hall, the flamenco fusion project ALBA MUSIK with Albert Alabedra, and Barbarella, a new body of original songs in English and Spanish. She is also the creator of TrashBata, a one-woman performance work addressing the environmental crisis through flamenco and theater.

Coming from a celebrated artistic family, Bárbara is the granddaughter of Argentine tango singer Morenita Rey and grandniece of legendary vocalist Libertad Lamarque. Her work has been featured in the documentary Sobre Las Olas – A Story of Flamenco in the U.S. and the exhibit 100 Years of Flamenco in New York. The New York Times praised her ability to make “something fresh of the Latin style.”

Bárbara holds degrees from Brown University and Berklee College of Music and currently teaches music in New York City.

About Raphael Brunn:

Raphael Brunn is a flamenco guitarist and composer born on December 19, 1973, in Hackensack, New Jersey, into a family of performers whose roots span juggling, dance, and trapeze. Raised in an environment where performance was a way of life, he developed an early sensitivity to rhythm, beginning his musical path on the bass guitar at the age of ten.

At fourteen, Raphael moved to Europe to join his father, a renowned juggler and acrobat whose work had long incorporated live flamenco music. Through this connection, Raphael was immersed from an early age in the flamenco world, gaining exposure to respected artists such as El Manzanita, El Recortao, and Pepe Márquez, among others.

His debut as a flamenco guitarist took place during the opening festivities of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, marking the beginning of a professional path deeply tied to the tradition. Over the years, he has performed alongside many of the artists who influenced his development, including collaborations with El Farruquito and El Torombo in the production Incognito in Frankfurt, Germany.

Now based in New York City, Raphael Brunn continues to perform with a range of flamenco artists while developing his work as a composer. He is currently working on his second album.