Carmen Linares

Carmen Linares ranks among the foremost flamenco vocalists on the global stage. For almost twenty years she has matched her command of the jondo idiom to symphonic and chamber ensembles whose arrangements lean toward the classical. She became the inaugural flamenco singer invited to appear with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, yet she has delivered performances of equal intensity alongside nothing more than a single acoustic guitar in traditional flamenco settings. The New York Times lauded her “extraordinary and expressive power,” while El Mundo observed that “she possesses three invaluable virtues: power of communication, purity without purism, and all-around competence.”

Her distinction has been recognized through multiple honors, among them the Prize Icaro of the Music and the Prize of the Culture Ministry in 1988, the French Academy Prize in 1992, and the Silver Medal of the Junta de Andalucia in 1997.