Saturday 18th of October the municipality of Bigastro will pay pay tribute to its Favourite Son.
Francisco Grau, a bigastrense by birth has won thirteen national and international prizes for composition, has been awarded innumerable decorations and composed more than 700 musical pieces, including the official version of the old March of Grenadiers which is the present Official Hymn of Spain.
Recently, D. Francisco Grau was promoted to General de la Brigada del Cuerpo de Músicas Militares. He is the first musician in the Spanish military history to be promoted to that rank.
The City council of Bigastro via its Council of Culture will pay a sincere tribute to Francisco Grau next Saturday, 18th of October with the following programme:
8:15pm - D. Francisco Grau will deliver his fajin* to the Patrona Ntra. Sra. de Belén in the Parochial Church of Bigastro.
9pm - A concert of music in honour of General Grau to be performed by the Municipal Band of Alicante under the direction of D. Jose Vicente Diaz Alcaina in the Auditorium.
During this concert, the band will perform two new works composed by General Grau ; "Recuerdo y Gratitud" (Memory and Gratitude) and "Concierto para una Reina", (Concert for a Queen) dedicated to Queen Sofia of Spain.
* The fajin is the ceremonial belt that denotes Francisco Grau as a general in the Spanish army.
PS For those of you who enjoy military music there are two CDs available online. They feature the musical unit of the Royal Guard conducted by Francisco Grau and include some of his compositions.
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