Gerardo Núñez, Antonio Rey, Álvaro Martinete, and Olga Pericet to Honor Sabicas at The Town Hall

WMI and Flamenco Festival New York will present a tribute to legendary flamenco guitarist Sabicas at The Town Hall in Manhattan. The performance will celebrate the closing night of the festival’s 25th anniversary.

Titled A Tribute to Master Sabicas: In Celebration of Flamenco Guitar, the concert honors Agustín Castellón Campos—known as Sabicas—who performed the first flamenco guitar recital as a solo concert instrument at The Town Hall in 1959. That performance helped establish the guitar as a featured instrument in flamenco, rather than solely an accompaniment to song and dance.

The program will feature three generations of flamenco guitarists: Gerardo Núñez, Antonio Rey, and Álvaro Martinete. They will be joined by guest artist Olga Pericet, whose work references the legacy of dancer Carmen Amaya, a longtime collaborator of Sabicas.

Born in Pamplona in 1912, Sabicas relocated to New York in the early 1940s after the Spanish Civil War. He remained in the city for four decades, recording extensively and contributing to the international recognition of flamenco guitar. His work in the United States helped establish New York as a center for flamenco performance and education.