'The UK's most exciting music society.' (Music & Vision)
ILAMS: Where the UK meets Iberian and Latin American Classical Music
Established in 1997, ILAMS is the first and only organisation dedicated to the study, performance and promotion of Iberian and Latin American classical music in the UK.
Committed to education and cultural integration, the Society has at the heart of its endeavours the desire to bring to the British classical music scene some of the colour, vitality and exuberance that Iberian and Latin American culture is famous for. Whilst mainstream classical music has largely lost touch with popular culture, its Luso-Hispanic relatives have developed a more dynamic approach which defies the traditional boundaries of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art and which has brought classical music back into contemporary society. We believe that Latin American art music therefore has a more important role to play than ever in reconciling the general public with classical music culture.
We hope that you will find our new website a useful source of information - a portal to a relatively undiscovered world of vibrant music, and a place to connect with a wider community. If you would like to know more about our forthcoming events, go to our Concerts page. You can also join our volunteers or become a member of ILAMS for added benefits.
Latest News
Echoes Festival 2025
The UK's first and only annual Festival of Latin classical music is back!
Banish those Autumn blues and let yourself be carried away to the sunnier climes of Iberia and Latin America at Echoes Festival 2025, where we bring you some sizzling music performed by the hottest talent in Latin classical. Now in its 10th year, the Festival brings unique classical Ibe/rican programming to some of the UK's most prestigious venues, whilst providing a platform to some of the most authentic and illustrious voices within Latin classical music today.
It seems difficult to believe that Echoes Festival has been going strong now for 10 years! We've been having so much fun putting it together, the time has just flown by. And for this special 10th birthday edition we have some very special events lined up.
We are beyond excited to be hosting a rare London appearance on 10th Nov for Spanish guitar legend, Pepe Romero, who will be stopping by the UK as part of his Farewell World Tour. Having now graced the stage for over 70 years, Pepe celebrates a lifetime of music-making whilst paying homage to his Andalusian roots, offering a retrospective, signature programme of colourful Spanish works from across his career. He will also be joined by students from the Royal Academy of Music in the performance of several quartets from the Romero family repertoire. You can also catch him at the Royal Academy of Music the following day where he will give open masterclasses followed by a book launch of his recent memoirs, co-written with Walter Aaron Clark.
We continue to shine a light on the musical fruits of British-Ibe/rican relations with our 'Anglo-Tango' series as we welcome Lilia Salsano back to the Festival to perform a piano recital of tangos by British composers at St Clement Danes on the 28th Oct. This will be the first live performance of this programme since the original digital performance in 2021 (which is still available to watch on our On-Demand channel!). This event is complimented by a second recital of piano tangos, taken from the International Tango Piano Collection, taking place at the University of Glasgow on the 23rd Oct, performed by the pre-eminent Argentine pianist, Haydée Schvartz.
As part of our ongoing Música y mujer series, we are delighted to be collaborating for the first time with the illustrious London Song Festival, whose Artistic Director, Nigel Foster, will be presenting songs by Latin American women composers on the 21st Nov at the Hinde Street Methodist Church in London alongside Anglo-Spanish soprano Ana Beard Fernández and Brazilian baritone Michel de Souza.
We also launch a new collaboration with Conway Hall, whose historic concert series stands as the oldest in Europe(!). On the 16th Nov we delve ever further into Afro-Cuban repertoire for guitar and strings as part of our African Diaspora strand of events with a recital by Ahmed Dickinson and the Kyan Quartet.
As ever, important anniversaries abound, and these are surveyed by our very own Ray Picot in his annual podcast, Journeys Through the Labyrinth. Tune in from the 8th Nov to hear music by Ernst Mahle, Angel Lasala, Carlos Guastavino, Gustavo Pittaluga, Conchita Badia, Floro Ugarte, Josep Cercós, Julián Orbón, Aurelio de la Vega, Carlos Riesco, Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Luis Antonio Escobar, Vicente Arregui, Ernesto Drangosch, Artur Napoleão dos Santos, José Ignacio Quintón, Juli Garreta, Julián Carrillo, Ricardo Viñes, Joaquín Valverde Sanjuán, João Domingos Bomtempo, Esteban Salas, Juan del Vado and Carlos Patiño.
The Festival closes with the presentation of a very special project promoting the re-appraisal of one of Spain's most important cellists and cello composers, Gaspar Cassadó, and the retrieval of his catalogue from hitherto inaccesible archives in Japan. Cellists Katie Tertell and Laura Peribañez Artero will perform a programme inspired by this most special of Spanish composers at the Instituto Cervantes in London on the 27th Nov, interspersed with spoken commentary from Prof. Rosi Song from the University of Durham.
We hope you will join us to celebrate our 10th birthday with some of the best music in town!
Check out this year's full programme at echoesfestival.co.uk.
We can't wait to see you there!
It's our Birthday!ILAMS Reaches its 25th Season
Join us to celebrate ILAMS' silver jubilee on the 27th April at SOAS as part of La Linea Fesival, with a recital by the illustrious classical guitarist and former ILAMS trustee, Morgan Szymanski.
We mark this special occasion with a programme of great Latin American classical guitar standards from Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.
For bookings and more information visit ilams.org.uk/silverjubilee.htm
We look forward to seeing you there!
Honorary Members
Clélia Iruzun | Paco Peña | John Williams l Craig Ogden l Miloš Karadaglić | Carlos Bonell | Celso Machado | Fabio Zanón | Leo Brouwer I Daniel Barenboim l Teresa Berganza | Ernesto Bitetti | Maria Isabel de Falla | Antón García Abril | María Garzón | Guillermo González | Alicia de Larrocha | Tomás Marco | Odaline de la Martinez | Carmen Bravo Mompou | Aurora Nátola-Ginastera | Marlos Nobre | Cristina Ortíz | Alfredo Perl | Marisa Robles | Patricia Rozario | Turibio Santos | José Serebrier | Andrés Ruiz Tarazona | Alicia Terzián | Jacinto Torres
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The Iberian and Latin American Music Society, all rights reserved.
ILAMS is a registered charity, No. 1092749


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