Concert - Ferdinand, the little bull
The Spanish Music and Dance Festival celebrates its fifth edition this April at The Horton (Epsom), in collaboration with the classical collective Alma Española and Instituto Cervantes London.
The concert Ferdinand, the Little Bull tells the story of a gentle young bull who would rather smell flowers and sit beneath his beloved cork tree than take part in bullfights. It is adapted from the classic 1936 children’s book The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson, which was later made into an Academy Award–winning Disney short film in 1938 and, more recently, the 2017 animated feature Ferdinand.
The music by English composer Alan Ridout, written for solo violin, delicately illustrates the different episodes of this simple story, which carries messages of peace, individuality, friendship, respect for difference, and a challenge to traditional expectations of strength.