More than 3,000 people attended the performances and concerts during the 54th International Festival of Music and Dance held from July 24th to July 27th 2013, according to the president of the Nerja Caves Foundation Jorge Hernández Mollar.
The performances by Steiner, Ullate, Pastora Soler and Manolo Sanlúcar, which took place inside the Nerja Caves, attracted a total audience of 2,028 people. It was a full house for each show. In addition, an estimated 1,000 people attended the free concert given by pianist Daniel Ligorio on the Balcón de Europa on July 20th, an event being considered part of the music festival.
The concerts in the Nerja Caves began back in 1960 and were originally held over three days. In 2009 the concerts spanned six days, but this was reduced to five days the following year and to four days in 2013.
Seating capacity for the Caves Concerts was also reduced by 300 this year after the removal of part of the stands for security reasons. It will be decided at a later stage whether or not to try and recover this lost capacity.
Overall, Jorge Hernández Mollar, said he was ‘very satisfied’ with the outcome of this year’s festival, both in terms of the quality of the performances and the meeting of objectives.
The budget for this year’s festival was €230,000, down from €285,000 in 2012, not such a significant decrease when one considers the shorter length of the festival. Work has already begun on the 55th International Festival of Music and Dance, according to the president of the Nerja Caves Foundation.