La Laguna Hosts Third International Plucked String Festival
The third International Plucked String Festival returns to La Laguna from July 1 to 8, featuring sixteen artists across eight concerts alongside educational workshops and competitions to foster musical talent in the Canary Islands.
The third International Plucked String Festival (Ficup) returns to La Laguna from July 1 to 8, aiming to establish the city as the heart of plucked string music in the Canary Islands. Supported by the local City Council and the CajaCanarias Foundation, the festival balances high-level performances with a focus on education and supporting new talent.
Directed by musicians David Duque and Luis Alejandro García, this year’s lineup features sixteen diverse artists. Highlights include guitarist Carlo Marchione, theorbo player Nacho Laguna, London Symphony Orchestra violinist David Ballesteros, and soprano Marta Heras, alongside timple masters like Germán López, Derque Martín, and Duque. The festival will host eight concerts across five historic city venues: Casa Anchieta, the Los Sabandeños House-Museum, the Leal Theatre, the Cristino de Vera Foundation, and the former Convent of Santo Domingo. Six of these performances will be free to the public.
Beyond the stage, Ficup emphasizes professional development through masterclasses, workshops, lectures, and a lutherie fair. The festival also hosts competitions for composition, guitar, and timple, providing a platform for young musicians to challenge themselves. The composition contest, in particular, fosters new music; this year will feature the premiere of works by Jonás García and Celia Rivero, which showcase the timple alongside the clarinet and viola.
To ensure long-term sustainability, organizers are looking to diversify funding by seeking private sponsors and encouraging public support through a "Friend of the Festival" program on their website. Looking ahead, the team hopes to launch a scholarship program and shared housing for students, modeled after other successful music gatherings in Spain.
The festival is already making a mark on the local cultural scene, having helped spark the creation of groups like A 3 Tiempos. By connecting academic training, new repertoire, and professional opportunities, Ficup is proving to be more than just a concert series—it is a vital ecosystem for the next generation of musicians.