Over two hundred years of flamenco knowledge will be together on July 26 at the Fountain Theatre to concoct ‘un potaje flamenco” in concert for one performance. For each of the artists in this show, flamenco has a deep and long history. Brothers. Sisters. Three second-generation flamenco artists in one show, a timeless moment. Compañeros, friends, artists who together and separately, have created hundreds of productions, unique performances, recordings, concerts, theatre and historical moments of flamenco throughout the U.S., and given the blood, sweat and tears to an art form they love and respect to their core. What will happen on the stage during this performance, and with this ‘familia,’ each with their experience and interpersonal relationships, will neither be rehearsed to death nor taken for granted. FLAMENCO EN ESTADO PURO.
Artistic Director Yaelisa and the Fountain Theatre bring two extraordinary and important artists DIRECT from the East Coast to reunite with Guitarist Jason McGuire and Yaelisa in a powerful presentation of traditional flamenco. Pedro Cortes is a Gypsy artist from a dynasty of Gitano artists who emigrated to America and contributed greatly to the development of flamenco in the East. Like Yaelisa, Pedro is a second-generation guitarist and composer considered one of the most important of the last 50 years, working with every major artist in the U.S. and Spain. Pedro and Jason last played at the Fountain Theater in 1998, when Deborah Lawlor brought them together as a guitar duo. Pedro Cortes is an authority and now legendary arbiter of flamenco past, present and future, a living embodiment of all that is flamenco. Jose Moreno returns to the Fountain after his incredible performance in 2025, a quadruple-threat guitarist, singer, percussionist and dancer. Jose Moreno comes from a flamenco family of artists also emigrated from Spain. Yaelisa is a longtime fixture in early Forever Flamenco shows, and whose mother Isa Mura was a favorite performer during the early years of Flamenco at the Fountain, under Deborah Lawlor. Jason McGuire “El Rubio’, longtime partner and composer for Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos, considers Pedro Cortes his mentor and flamenco brother. Rounding out this cast is singer/dancer Reyes Barrios, from Sevilla, and who is also the Director of the current series of Forever Flamenco.
Forever Flamenco: En Familia
Featuring
Yaelisa: Artistic Director/Dancer
Pedro Cortes: Guest Artist/Guitarist
Jose Moreno: Guest Artist/Singer/Percussionist
Jason McGuire “El Rubio”: Guitarist
Reyes Barrios: Dancer/Singer
Pedro Cortes
Pedro Cortes comes from a family of Spanish Gypsy guitarists and began his studies with his father, Pedro Cortes Sr., and the esteemed Flamenco guitarist Sabicas. Having toured professionally since the age of 17, he is gaining international recognition as a soloist and composer. He premiered his work, En la Oscuridad de las Minas, at the Teatro Albeniz in Madrid and has had works premiered by the Carlota Santana Spanish Dance Company at the Joyce Theater in New York. He has two books on Flamenco, El Dron del Faraon and Cruzando el Charco, published by the American Institute of Guitar.
Cortes was commissioned by the Cohen Brothers to compose music for the film Paris Je T'Aime. He also wrote music for a children’s program on HBO called Fairy tale for Every Child.
He has toured with Jose Greco and Maria Benitez, La Conja and has performed with artists including Farruqita, La Tati, Merche Esmeralda, Manolete and the late Lola Flores. He has been guest artist with the St. Louis Opera and the New York Grand Opera, and has been commissioned by and performed as Musical Director with the Guthrie Theater In Garcia Lorcas BODAS DE SANGRE.
Pedro Cortes also starred in a documentary alongside Diego Amador and La Susi that won first place in the Madrid International Film Festival. The film is called Flamenco Pasion en Peligro and was produced by WakeUp Music in 2023. www.pedrocortes.com
Jason McCguire “El Rubio”
Flamenco guitarist Jason McGuire “El Rubio” began playing at the age of nine. He received formal training in Dallas, Texas from the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. While in high school he was given the prestigious "DEE-BEE" award from Down Beat magazine in the category of "Instrumental Jazz Soloist" and later was one of four finalists in the 1988 American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Classic Guitar Competition. He began performing as a flamenco guitarist in New York playing alongside the legendary Pedro Cortes Jr. In 1995, Jason recorded with famed Gypsy guitarist Carlos Heredia on his CD "Gypsy Flamenco," and released a recording of his own composition "Distancias" in 2005, which has received unanimous critical praise. He has accompanied and collaborated with many great artists, including Savion Glover, Yaelisa, Alejandro Granados, Andres Peña, Antonio El Pipa, Enrique El Extremeño, Carmela Greco, Jose Cortes, Manuel and Antonio Malena, among others.
Jason has been awarded a California Arts Council Music Fellowship and has been nominated three times for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award. Jason currently serves as Music Director for both Caminos Flamencos and The New World Flamenco Festival. He is also an accomplished recording engineer and producer. He shares producer/engineer credits with David Schiffman (Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash etc.) on the latest Powerslave Records CD release "What's In Your Mind" from the band Zeromind. Jason released his second album in 2016 with the new progressive flamenco group Terceto Kali, entitled “Terceto Kali,” to rave reviews by music critics nationally and internationally. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote that “McGuire’s solo managed to be atmospheric and fiendishly complex at the same time.” In 2021 he produced and arranged a new album titled “Pathetique,” mixing genres such as flamenco, classical, rock and blues, and a second album entitled “Zardoz” which was up for a Grammy nomination. Jason is considered by many in Spain and the U.S. to be the most accomplished guitarist and musician currently in flamenco. His performances and teaching videos are very popular on YouTube, with over 3 million views.
Yaelisa
Yaelisa (Artistic Director/ Choreographer) is one of the most gifted Flamenco artists of her generation. Raised by a Spanish flamenco artist, she was surrounded from birth by the rhythms, gestures and vocal laments of the art in its purest form, where her unique improvisational abilities began to flourish. At the age of 4 she danced on the stage of the famous Casa Madrid, and her immersion in flamenco culture became a part of her life because of her mother, the renowned singer/dancer Isa Mura. She has performed with many of Spain’s finest artists, including Alejandro Granados, Antonio “El Pipa,” Manuel and Antonio Malena, Domingo Ortega, Enrique “El Extremeno,” Yeye de Cádiz, Mateo Soleá, El Junco, Juan Ogalla, Geronimo, Felipe Maya and others. Since 1986, Yaelisa has spent extensive periods of time living and performing in Spain, presenting her choreography there and in the U.S. Her choreographies have been commissioned by several modern dance companies, including John Malashock & Company, Rose Polsky and Collage Dance Theatre, and she choreographed and performed in the San Jose Repertory Theater production of “Twelfth Night.” In 1995, she was one of eleven international choreographers in Spain invited to present her choreography at the prestigious Certámen de Coreografía in Madrid, and the only American choreographer chosen among them. In 1996, she returned to the U.S. where she continues to develop and train dancers for her company. She has choreographed and appeared in several feature films and music videos. Internationally recognized as a master teacher, Yaelisa has developed a teaching style that emphasizes cultural understanding and knowledge of the cante. Her unique improvisational knowledge and history lend an authority to her workshops and classes, and many of her students and dancers have gone on to study and perform in Spain and the U.S.
She is the recipient of an Emmy Award for Choreography in 1993 for the PBS program, "Desde Cádiz a Sevilla," and an NEA Choreography Fellowship. In 2005, Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for excellence in the category of “Best Company Performance,” and in 2006 she was chosen as one of ABC-7’s “Profiles in Excellence” Hispanic leadership awardees. In 2007, Yaelisa choreographed and consulted on a production of Garcia Lorca’s ‘Blood Wedding’ for Shotgun Players Theater group. Yaelisa has been honored with 4 Izzie Dance nominations over the two decades she has been producing new work and collaborations in the Bay Area. As a choreographer, she has worked in film, music video and television, and also choregraphed for the Pacific Symphony in Irvine and the California Symphony orchestras.
Yaelisa is the co-founder and artistic director of the New World Flamenco Festival held at the Irvine Barclay Theater in Irvine, California. Since its inception in 2001, the Festival has been recognized as a international model of success, both critically and artistically. Yaelisa’s vision and curatorial skills provide the groundwork which makes the NWFF unique from the majority of flamenco festivals as an artistic project with a point of view, one which explores concepts, themes and uncovers new talents for American audiences to discover. After a 3 year hiatus, the Festival returned in 2011 with Yaelisa at the helm, directing a 14 artist international ensemble in “Semana Flamenka”, an outstanding production which was critically acknowledged by the LA Times as “something Bach would have admired.” Following that success, she was asked byt the Irvine Barclay Theater to create a community project featuring California artists and Flamenco Abierto was presented two years in a row as a successful homage to the cultural aspects of flamenco and Spanish dance with great attendance. In 2014 she was selected as choreographer for the San Francisco Opera’s production of “La Traviata,” which was awarded her 2nd Izzie Dance Award. Since then she has produced and created her yearly season performances at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco with guests from Spain, and in 2022 relocated to Southern Calfornia where she resides and teaches currently. She will be presenting a choreography at the Irvine Barclay Theater in 2027 as part of their “IGNITE DANCE” Series.
Jose Moreno (Dancer/ Percussionist/ Guitarrist/ Singer)
Born into a family of famous flamenco artists Estrella Morena (dancer) and Pepe de Málaga (singer), Jose began his flamenco career during his childhood years. His debut was at the famous Tablao flamenco “Costa Vasca”. Jose continued his studies with the Great Manolete, Farruquito, and Andres Marin and Cajon Percussion with Manuel Soler. Jose has been invited to perform in various companies around the world, and with distinguished artists such as: The Great Manolete, Joaquin Ruiz, Pastora Galvan, Jose Cortes “Pansequito”, Jose Luis Rodriquez, Roberto Castellon, Pedro Cortes, Jose Valle “Chuscales”, Juanito Pascual, Basilio Garcia, Paco Heredia, Carmen Ledesma, Jesus Montoya, Zorongo Flamenco Dance, Flamenco Vivo Dance Company, La Tania, Miguel Vargas, Nelida Tirado, Antonio Hidalgo, Curro Cueto, Gonzalo Grau, Edwin Aparicio, Amparo Heredia, Raquel Heredia, Adrian Galia, Antonio Granjero, Angel Muñoz, Charo Espino, Belen Maya, Omayra Amaya, Jorge Pardo, Chano Dominguez and many other outstanding performers…
In 2001, Jose choreographed and performed a collaborative work with his mother Estrella Morena, and with renowned flamenco singer Carmen Linares with the New World Symphony Orquestra at Lincoln Theater. In 2004 choreographed works and performed with the Boston Flamenco Ballet, In 2007, Jose performed with the internationally known Isabel Pantoja, and with David Bisbal in “Premios lo Nuestro”. In 2010 performed in the 7th annual Panama Jazz Festival, also that same year at the prestigious “Carnegie Hall” in New York City, in 2013 in “Zorro” The Musical at the Alliance Theatre. At BAM theatre in New York City with Flamenco Vivo Dance Company , in 2015 the TV series called “Los Descendientes de Andalucia” produced by Canal Sur in Seville, Spain, at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the 2015-2016 season of “Carmen” at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for the Washington National Opera, The NYC Winter Jazzfest in 2017 and at “The Jazz Standard” in NYC with Chano Dominguez, and the 2014-2019 season of “Carmen” at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City…..….www.josemorenoflamenco.com
Reyes Barrios
REYES BARRIOS – (Dancer / Singer/ Director) Ms. Barrios began her career as a dancer surrounded by the sounds of her native Sevilla and Spain. Her professional career began in San Diego after her family relocated, and she has been a vibrant and important part of the Southern California flamenco community for over 30 years. Known for her raw and emotional dance style, she began singing for artists soon after and found her complete voice in flamenco. In demand among her peers, Reyes brings an authenticity and naturalness to every performance. She has performed with every artist of note on the West Coast.
Her performances are celebrated for their joy, pure expression and unique rawness among audiences where her love of flamenco as an art is fully realized. This love has also translated into her long teaching career in San Diego, where she has mentored and instructed dance students for decades in the all-around art of flamenco with the integrity of an artist that truly cares about the long lasting future of flamenco. As a singer/dancer, Reyes projects and imbibes the essence of flamenco as an expression of life, utilizing her own experiences of her childhood in Sevilla and translating it into her formation as an artist versed in the nuances and meanings of traditional and modern flamenco today.
Reyes Barrios has directed and fostered many important flamenco projects including as Programming Director of the Fountain Theatre’s Forever Flamenco project, which began again in 2025, and is widely considered an ambassador of flamenco in Southern California, earning the respect of many visiting artists from Spain.