© sadler's wells Sadler's Wells' fourth annual Flamenco Festival London. Ballet.co Magazine coverage: March 2007 April 2007 more Carole Edrich reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

When told that David Peńa Dorantes would be accompanied by a dancer I was intrigued to find out how. Although he has a reputation for using flamenco as the basis of his compositions I couldn’t imagine this kind of piano performance lending itself to dance. My source had been misinformed and the only artist on the stage was Dorantes himself.

This didn’t matter, his music is uplifting, inspiring and intellectually challenging. He melded together many other musical disciplines such as classical, Celtic, Brazilian, Latin, Gallic, jazz and even Bulgarian music and each piece was a pleasant voyage of discovery. My favourites were the Rondena “Ojos de luz” (Eyes of light) within which I seemed to hear echoes of English country dance music and the Bulerias “Tiempo en los caminos” (Time on the roads) which stayed true to the exciting and intense rhythm.

His performance at the Royal Festival Hall two years ago coupled with the prize of best instrumental recording from Premio Flamenco Hoy in 2003 set expectations very high. Those who knew his work were more than happy with the performance. Somehow a few of the audience had come expecting the evening’s Gala!

I wish they had been more considerate of others as they discussed what to do and stomped in and out.