Antonio Gómez “El Turry” brings Love Flamenco to San Antonio Sept. 30 with a young cast he believes represents the next generation of flamenco.
by Marco Aquino
The Granada-born cantaor has spent much of his career looking back to Enrique Morente, one of flamenco’s great modernizers, but not to imitate him. Morente pushed cante into poetry, orchestral music, rock and other forms without abandoning the tradition underneath it. Turry has followed a similar path through projects including Misa Flamenca and the revival of Morente and Antonio Robledo’s Alegro-Soleá.
That work brought Turry to New York in 2025 for his solo debut with La Búsqueda del Duende. Now Love Flamenco puts him alongside a younger group of artists, including guitarist Marcos de Silva, recipient of the Paco de Lucía Foundation’s Grammy scholarship, and cantaor Iván Carpio. Turry says they were chosen because each has something distinct to bring to the stage.
That matters in flamenco, where a performance is never completely fixed. Cante, guitar and dance move off one another, and some of the best moments happen because nobody planned them.
San Antonio is also not an empty stop on the tour. Flamenco has been performed here for generations, while the city’s Spanish, Mexican and Indigenous histories make the arrival of a Spanish production more complicated and interesting than simply another touring show.
Ahead of the performance at the Jo Long Theatre, Turry spoke about Morente, the young artists traveling with him and why flamenco can still surprise him after years onstage.
Morente appears throughout your career, from Misa Flamenca to Alegro-Soleá. What affected you most about him, and how do you carry that influence into your own singing?
Morente is a fundamental pillar of flamenco and has always been one of my greatest influences because of the way he approached flamenco singing — always connected to poetry and melody, transforming its concepts without ever losing the roots.
You’re touring with a fairly young cast. What did you see in these artists, and what do you think they’re bringing to flamenco today?
The entire cast has exceptional quality, and every artist was chosen very deliberately. Each one shines on their own. The idea is for each artist to have their own space within the show so the audience can experience them at their best. They are the great figures of flamenco’s future, and that is why they are part of Love Flamenco.
San Antonio has a flamenco history spanning several generations, as well as five 18th-century Spanish missions recognized by UNESCO. Spanish, Mexican and Indigenous histories intersect here. Does that context interest you when you arrive to sing in a city like this?
Our roots and connections with this country — how could they not interest me? For us, performing in San Antonio for the first time is both an honor and a responsibility. We want to live up to the expectations of the flamenco audience here and present our art at the level it deserves.
After so many years in flamenco, what can still surprise you onstage?
The magic — and the best thing about flamenco — is that it is alive at every moment. Intuition and improvisation are not simply part of the performance; they are fundamental to it. I always hope that inspiration will lead my fellow artists, and myself, to surprise one another and take us somewhere new. That tension created by flamenco’s spontaneity is the magic that captivates audiences around the world.
Love Flamenco, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, Jo Long Theatre at the Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry St. $80, thecarver.org
