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7. RESTORATION OF THE GREAT ORGAN OF THE REAL ACADEMIA DE BELLAS ARTES DE SAN FERNANDO

The mission of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando—one of the eight royal academies active nationwide that comprise the Instituto de España—is to encourage artistic creativity and support the study, promotion and protection of the arts and cultural heritage, particularly painting, sculpture, architecture, music and the new visual arts. It currently has fifty-six academicians, all acknowledged as prestigious figures in the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, music, film, graphic arts, photography, design, and art theory and history.

Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson exclusively sponsored the restoration of the academy’s organ, thereby fulfilling several of the purposes set out in the foundation’s charter, such as preserving and restoring Spain’s cultural heritage and promoting music and the arts in general. To celebrate the restoration of this instrument, Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando organised an organ recital in the academy’s auditorium on 19 September 2023.

Aarón Ribas, an organist and organ builder who was actively involved in the restoration process, played an extremely varied programme of pieces, selected to show off the many registers and technical possibilities of the Real Academia’s organ.