The Culture Show  - connecting music to visual arts, literature, film and theatre while discovering the delights of these arts in different parts of the world, all the while building cultural exchanges that will connect us and enrich our lives.

This month we present a 4-part series exploring a country that has one of the largest cultural heritages in the world - Spain. My studio guest is the Consul General of Spain in Hong Kong and Macau, Mr. Miguel Aguirre de Cárcer.

In this episode we talk about film and arguably the most well known contemporary Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. His “all-inclusive, anything-goes spirit, which celebrates all beings, emotions, and reasons…” is his appeal to a worldwide audience that has made him an Oscar-winning writer/director. We hear extracts from multi award-winning composer Alberto Iglesias' warm and passionate score to Pedro Almodóvar’s unforgettable film HABLE CON ELLA (TALK TO HER).

We talk Classical and about Cassadó and Casals, and hear the renowned cellist and pianist Blas Net in a historical recording of Cassadó’s Requiebros dedicated to Casals. It means flattery or compliment.

And we make connections to art and music and hear probably the most well-known piece from the suite Goyescas: Los Majos Enamorados (Goyaesques: the Majos in Love) by Granados  - El Amor y la Muerte: Balada (‘Love and Death: Ballade’) inspired by the tenth of Goya’s Caprichos - a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching. No. 10 depicts a maja holding a dying majo in her arms.