The Community of Madrid is wrapping up the inaugural edition of the Escena Escorial festival with a cultural agenda featuring theater, dance, and exhibitions across various venues and municipalities in the region. The event will culminate with a recital on Saturday, September 19th, at the Teatro Auditorio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, for which tickets are already sold out.
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, is internationally recognized for its work in promoting intercultural dialogue through music. The concert program will include works by Wagner (Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde), Schubert (Symphony No. 8 'Unfinished'), and Beethoven (Symphony No. 3).
The festival's program also features the concert Triple Impacto on Friday by the Trio Zénon, comprising Abigél Králik, Lydia Shelley, and Emmanuel Christien, who will perform works by Mendelssohn and Ravel. The festival, under the artistic direction of Alondra de la Parra, has brought together over 200 artists since late August.
Other cultural offerings in the region include the Teatro de La Abadía, which will present LIBRES!!!, a production inspired by the anarcho-syndicalist organization Mujeres Libres, directed by Andrés Lima and written by Esther F. Carrodeguas, starring Alba Flores, Laura Galán, Nüll García, and pianist Eva Valdelomar. The play revisits the memory of women who fought for emancipation in 20th-century Spain.
In the same theater, El imperativo categórico by Victoria Szpunberg will be staged. This black comedy, which reflects on labor precarity and the housing crisis, is performed by Sandra Monclús and Xavi Sáez and returns to Madrid after receiving the National Award for Dramatic Literature 2025.
The Teatros del Canal are presenting Los locos de Valencia, a version by José Luis Alonso de Santos of Lope de Vega's comedy, directed by Pepa Pedroche. Also showing is Electra jonda, a co-production with the Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Mérida, directed by Manuel Canseco, which relocates the classic Electra myth to an Andalusian farmhouse.
The Sala Negra at Teatros del Canal will host the premiere of Eclipse, by Chinese dancer Chun Zhang, a co-production that merges movement, sound, and visual language to explore themes of identity, resilience, and female empowerment.
The offerings are complemented by performances at cultural centers such as the Centro Cultural Pilar Miró with El universo de las primeras veces by Nokaut Teatro, and the Centro Cultural Paco Rabal with Yo nací en un surco de judías by the company Almealera. The Centro Comarcal de Humanidades Sierra Norte will present Homenaje a los hermanos Álvarez Quintero.
The Red de Teatros de la Comunidad de Madrid (Network of Theaters of the Community of Madrid) will bring performances to municipalities including Alcalá de Henares (Panorama desde el puente), Torrelodones (Dulcinea, starring Paloma San Basilio), Alpedrete (Play Time), Chapinería (Un mundo perfecto), and Torrelaguna (La doncella guerrera). On Sunday, Villanueva del Pardillo will host Una rana en el hielo.
The exhibition program includes Bitácoras. El valor de lo invisible at the Sala de Arte Joven, Mitologías modernas: Ouka Leele & Co at the Sala Alcalá 31, and Ana Locking. Nostalgia / Utopía at the Sala Canal de Isabel II.
The Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M) in Móstoles features El cielo y la tierra by Antonio Ballester Moreno and Tetuán, Tetuán by Adrian Schindler. The Sala El Águila is exhibiting Madrid en construcción, 1940-1985.
The Museo Arqueológico y Paleontológico de la Comunidad de Madrid (MARPA) in Alcalá de Henares continues its exhibitions 25 años de restauraciones en el MARPA: El vidrio and Dientes de sable. The Red Itiner 2026 brings temporary exhibitions to various municipalities.
