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Princess of Asturias Awards Concert

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Concierto Premios Princesa de Asturias
Prince of Asturias Awards Concert.

Presided over by TM The King and Queen of Spain, the Princess of Asturias Awards Concert is held in Oviedo on the eve of the Awards Ceremony as part of a week characterized by intense cultural activity. The concert is organised in collaboration with Cajastur.

Over successive editions, this concert has been conducted by some of the most prominent names in the contemporary music scene, such as Vladimir Spivakov, Daniel Barenboim, 2004 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, Alberto Zedda, Maximiano Valdés, Gustavo Dudamel, Jesús López Cobos, 1981 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, and Riccardo Muti, 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. Prestigious formations have also participated in this event, such as the Orfeón Donostiarra, 1984 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, 2008 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra and the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra. 

The origins of this concert date back to 1992, when, as part of its efforts to disseminate culture, the Princess of Asturias Foundation created its "Music Week" with the aim of bringing the experience of concert music to different locations in the Principality. Concerts were held throughout the region over a period of seven days, culminating the day before the Awards Ceremony with the Finale Concert.  This cycle concluded in 2011.

Within the framework of this activity, a total of 405 concerts were scheduled over its twenty editions in 29 towns in the Principality. "Music Week" has featured musicians such as Purita de la Riva, Alicia de Larrocha, 1994 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, René Pape, the Moscow Virtuosi, the London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble, the Capilla Real de Madrid, the Rubin Quartet, the Capella Ministers and the Clara Schumann Trio, among many others.

In 2002, the Music Department began to work in collaboration with the RTVE label (Spanish Radio and Television Corporation) to publish recordings of the finale concerts. In 2008, it published a new volume of the "Prince of Asturias Awards" series, Symphony No. 2 by Mendelssohn, following the publication the previous year of a compilation containing the five albums recorded for this collection: Daphnis and Chloè by Maurice Ravel, Ode to St. Cecilia by G.F. Handel, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem Mass and Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Prokófiev.

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