Music, dance, flamenco, theatre, outdoor shows... From 7 July to 24 August, numerous venues across the city will host the 41st edition of the year’s most eagerly anticipated festival, led by artistic director Joaquín De Luz. It’s the can’t-miss highlight of the season!
Puente del Rey
The 41st Veranos de la Villa festival will officially kick off at 10:30pm on 7 July, with renowned dancer and choreographer Joaquín De Luz all set to make his debut as artistic director. The Puente del Rey esplanade in Madrid Río Park will host the world première of Carmen: 150 Years, a La Fura dels Baus production marking the 150th anniversary of what is now a universal masterpiece. Under the baton of Maestro Jan Cober, the performance will feature soprano Maite Alberola as Carmen, dancer Sergio Bernal in the role of Escamillo the bullfighter, and Esmerelda Manzanas and Álvaro Madrid, both from the Antonio Gades Company. This unique show offers a sensational mise-en-scène and a distinctive combination of opera, dance and artistic elements created especially for the occasion, with the musical accompaniment of the Madrid Municipal Symphony Band (BSMM).
Conde Duque Cultural Centre
The programme at the theatre in Conde Duque begins on 10 and 11 July with comedian Edu Soto, who will give his first performance in Madrid of Wanted (Se busca), a monologue directed by Carles Alfaro in which the artist plays around ten different characters. His incisive words will make us laugh and, perhaps, reflect on our own contradictions (7pm). On 1 and 2 August (7pm), the same stage will welcome Marco Chenevier and Alessia Pinto’s company Les 3 Plumes as they present This Work About the Orange, which poses an interesting question: What happens when a dance performance is built as an experience instead of a language-based object? On the 5th (7pm), the theatre will welcome guitarist Yerai Cortés, whose debut studio album La guitarra flamenca de Yerai Cortés was released in December. The album inspired a documentary directed by Antón Álvarez (C. Tangana), which went on to win a Goya earlier this year. On the 8th and 9th (7pm), the Riva & Repele Dance Company from Switzerland will perform Time. Dance. Poetry. Each of the three choreographies in this triple bill—La Jeune Fille et les Morts, Old Land and I Meet You Where the Horizon Ends—explores a different facet of the human experience.
One of the festival’s long-time venues is the Central Courtyard at Conde Duque, whose programme will begin on 23 July (10pm) with Marcus Miller, one of the greatest jazz, soul, funk and R&B bassists of all time. Next up is the Astor Piazzolla Quartet (24th; 10pm), which has been keeping the legacy of the revolutionary performer and composer alive for over 25 years. On the 25th (10pm), the courtyard will welcome the renowned flamenco guitarist Tomatito, who will regale his audience with songs like Rondeña-Jaleos, Alegrías, Two Much, Bulería, Bolero, La leyenda del tiempo, Tangos cantaores, Rumba and Soleá. He will be followed on the 26th (10pm) by Julieta Venegas, who will present the songs from her latest album, Tu historia, on an evening that will also feature the young Cuban singer-songwriter Camila Guevara.
The good music will continue on 1 and 2 August with performances by the RTVE Orchestra and Choir, who will honour Freddie Mercury and his legendary band with the Spanish première of Queen: A Night at the Symphony (10pm); Martirio, who will present her recent album, Al sur del tango, with bandoneon player Marcelo Mercadante, pianist Jesús Lavilla and violinist Olvido Lanza (3rd; 10pm); flamenco singer Mayte Martín and flamenco dancer Patricia Donn (5th; 10pm); Valderrama and his show Historias de la copla (6th; 10pm); Pasión Vega with Pasión Almodóvar, a compilation of the most iconic songs from the Spanish director’s films (12th; 9:30pm); and Los Fresones Rebeldes, Lady Banana, Psilicon Flesh and The Killer Barbies at the Subterfuge Party (13th; 9pm). The final note will ring out on 14 August at the traditional surprise concert (9:30pm), where the musical guest’s identity will only be revealed when the audience hears the first chords that night.
Additionally, the Central Courtyard at Conde Duque will welcome the Paris Opera Junior Ballet on their first visit to Spain, featuring young artists aged between 18 and 23 (29 and 30 July; 10pm). Later, on 9 August (10pm), Opera Garage will treat us to a piano and voice arrangement of Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece La Bohème, followed by the Carlos Rodríguez Ballet Flamenco Company with Hilo de fuego: De albores. Suite Flamenca (16th and 17th; 9:30pm).
San Isidro secondary school. Cloister of the well
The programme of events at San Isidro, the oldest secondary school in Spain, will kick off on 24 July (9:30pm) with Wolf 1069, a metamorphic project that combines music and AI imagery and evolves over time, feeding on the experiences brought by Jacopo Baboni Schilingi and Christian Lavernier. From 25 to 27 July (9:30pm), the Teatro de Fondo company will perform Tirso de Molina’s play Marta la piadosa, directed by Vanessa Martínez.
Under the stars in the school’s Cloister of the Well, Portuguese musician Pedro Mafama will recall the all-inspiring Arab universe (29th; 9:30pm), and Olga María Ramos will remind us of a genre with strong ties to our city that never goes out of style in El cuplé, la joya de la música madrileña (30th; 9:30pm). On 2 and 3 August (9:30pm) the spotlight belongs to Sara Calero, a key figure in the renewal of Spanish and flamenco dance who is bringing her show La finitud to the festival. All eyes will be on Álvaro Sola—the singer and multidisciplinary artist who blends flamenco, copla and Spanish folk with experimentation—on the 5th, as he presents the Madrid première of Sombras (9:30pm). From 7 to 9 August, La Chivata Teatro invites us to participate in Lavanderas, an artistic and cultural mediation project that honours the memory of Madrid’s traditional laundry women (9:30pm).
The entertainment will continue with concert pianist Marcos Madrigal in Raíces y resonancias, a survey of the expressive and stylistic richness of 20th-century Ibero-American music (10th; 9:30pm); a spectacular jam session with Cuban pianist Pepe Rivero (12th; 9:30pm); Fran Doblas, a very promising young star in the world of copla and Spanish folk song (13th; 9:30pm); pianist Moisés P. Sánchez, a versatile musician without borders (14th; 9:30pm); double bass player Pablo Martín Caminero, a leading force in the renewal of Spanish jazz (15th; 9:30pm); La Tania, who is on a mission to reinvent and liberate the traditional Spanish songbook (16th; 9:30pm); and Bikôkô, a singer who blends West African rhythms with experimental electronic and contemporary pop music (17th; 9:30pm).
Matadero Madrid
On 17 and 18 July (8pm) in Matadero's Nave 11, Marcos Morau, director of the La Veronal company, will lead Centro Coreografico Nazionale / Aterballetto in Notte Morricone. This tribute to the music of the great Ennio Morricone will incorporate digital elements to support the performance and blend styles in a way that preserves the show’s unique character while boldly exploring the cutting edge. But before that, on the 15th and 16th, audiences will take an incredible outdoor journey with Mobius by Rogu: Art of Fire, featuring three of Ireland’s most talented fire artists (9pm).
Espacio Cultural Serrería Belga
Ernesto Ventós was a perfumer, collector and, above all, an artist who, through his foundation, bequeathed a substantial collection of visual artworks which he associated with specific scents. The exhibition To the Beat of Summer invites us to explore the capital using our least visible but most evocative sense: smell. Featuring selected pieces from the olorVISUAL collection created by Ventós, the display—on view from 10 July to 3 August—strikes up a dialogue between contemporary art and the olfactory interpretation of the city as envisioned by the Perfume Academy. Notes of lemon, blossoms, chocolate and leather prompt us to rethink Madrid’s multifaceted identity from a sensory perspective.
Pinar del Rey Park
This year’s Veranos de la Villa festival will come to an end in the auditorium of this park in the Hortaleza district. At 9pm on 24 August, singer Lucrecia will offer her own personal tribute to Celia Cruz, timed to coincide with the centenary of the Queen of Salsa’s birth. Celia vive is a thrilling musical production in which many of her greatest hits, like Quimbara, El Yerberito Moderno, Bemba Colorá and La Negra Tiene Tumbao, will be brought to life by the vocal stylings of the undisputed heir to the Cuban legend’s throne.
And that's not all...
This 2025 edition will also see a number of activities take to the streets of the city. On 12 and 13 July, be sure to head to La Vaguada Park and Vallecas (8pm and 10pm) for the Trocos Lucos company’s show Tartana. In this production, a van becomes the stage for acrobatic compositions and wild games, as the company blends research into the Korean teeterboard technique, handstands and humour.
In 1925, Maestro J. Texidor premièred a paso doble called Amparito Roca in the Valencian town of Carlet which would go on to become one of the most famous festive tunes in the history of popular Spanish music. On 12 July, more than two hundred musicians from different Valencian ensembles will play the very same piece, which turns 100 this year, in a parade that will set out from Plaza de Oriente at 8pm and head towards Puerta del Sol, before finishing in Plaza Mayor.
Later, on 16 and 17 July, make your way towards the Paco de Lucía Auditorium in Aluche and the Municipal Council of the Usera District (8pm) to enjoy Plaza. Brought to us by La Pez Company, this play features characters that say and do things they’ve been bottling up inside them for a long time and even read the letters and diaries of many grandmothers who wrote in secret. Improv is served! From 19 to 21 August (8pm), Berlin Park, Paraíso Park in the San Blas district and Plaza de Galicia in El Retiro Park will set the stage for Sienta la Cabeza’s highly original show, which revolves around one simple idea: You never really forget your first drastic haircut, right?
The Veranos de la Villa festival also includes workshops and other events, like the now-classic open-air Cine Caliente film cycle at La Bombilla Cinema. From 15 July to 19 August, different pictures will be screened and discussed by well-known creative talents, artists, journalists and celebrities—all accompanied by music.
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