Festival de la Guitarra (Comunidad Madrid)
- La Comunidad de Madrid’s Festival de la Guitarra did not start on May 5. Its 2026 edition ran April 21-26 at Teatros del Canal. - This was the festival’s third edition, dedicated to flamenco master Niño Ricardo, with concerts, talks, and artists including Alejandro Hurtado and Rafael Rodríguez. - That matters because the event is now a defined regional flamenco program — not a vague monthlong guitar series across Madrid.
The key thing here is that the premise floating around this event is off. The Comunidad de Madrid’s own Festival de la Guitarra is not a regionwide series that kicks off on May 5 and runs through May. In 2026, the official festival ran from April 21 to April 26 at Teatros del Canal, and the whole edition was built around one figure — the flamenco guitarist Niño Ricardo. (comunidad.madrid) ### So what is this festival, exactly? This is the Comunidad de Madrid’s own flamenco guitar festival, launched in 2024 and now in its third edition. It is not the same thing as the separate Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Madrid, which begins on May 5 and stretches into June with a broader classical and international guitar focus. That mix-up is easy to make because both events use almost the same words in their names. (comunidad.madrid) ### What happened in 2026? The regional government announced in March that the 2026 edition would be dedicated to Manuel Serrapí Sánchez, better known as Niño Ricardo, one of the foundational names in flamenco guitar. The program then ran April 21-26, with concerts, performances, and talks gathered at Teatros del Canal in Madrid. (comunidad.madrid)l-guitarra-artista-nino-ricardo)) ### Why Niño Ricardo? Because this edition was designed as a tribute. The festival has been using each year to center a major guitar figure — Ramón Montoya in 2024, Sabicas in 2025, and Niño Ricardo in 2026. That gives the event a pretty clear identity: it is less a generic guitar showcase and more a curated flamenco history-and-performance series. (expoflamenco.com) ### Who was on the program? The Comunidad de Madrid’s materials highlighted a mix of performers and related programming rather than just a stack of recitals. Names tied to the 2026 edition included José and Joselito Acedo, Alejandro Hurtado, and Rafael Rodríguez, alongside a cycle of conferences. So the shape of the festival was part concert, part interpretation, part homage. (comunidad.madrid) ### Was anything actually happening on May 5? Yes — but it was a different festival. The VIII Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Madrid opened on May 5, with programming through June 14, and one of its opening stops was in Rivas with recitals by Tom Hodgkinson and Filip Miskovic on May 5, then Sohta Nakabayashi(comunidad.madrid)ival. (festivalguitarramadrid.com) ### Why does the distinction matter? Because the wrong framing changes the story. If you call this a monthlong regional festival now getting underway, readers expect a live calendar they can still catch this week. But the official Comunidad de Madrid event has already finished. What remains current is the broader guitar season in Madrid, including the international festival (festivalguitarramadrid.com). (comunidad.madrid) ### Where did the confusion come from? Mostly from overlapping names and roundup pages. A general May agenda can mention guitar events happening around Madrid, while the Comunidad’s own festival page points to a completed April program. Put those side by side and it can look like one continuous festival when it is really two different things. (comunidad.madrid)Comunidad de Madrid’s Festival de la Guitarra was a six-day flamenco tribute to Niño Ricardo that ran April 21-26 at Teatros del Canal. The guitar event starting May 5 is the separate Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Madrid. (comunidad.madrid)
