The International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada is one of the most attractive appointments at the beginning of summer in Spain. It has his origin in the symphonic concerts that from 1883 were celebrated in the Palace of Carlos V and in the Contest of Singing Jondo, summoned in the Square of the Cisterns of the Alhambra in 1922, with the assistance of Federico García Lorca, Manuel de Falla, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Santiago Rusiñol and other intelligentsia and artists of the epoch.

The Festival constitutes a real bloom of artistic activities, with big national and international aftereffect, celebrated in the most emblematic corners of the city. The concerts of big symphonic bands in the Palace of Carlos V, the dance and the ballet in the theater outdoors of the Gardens of the Generalife, the recitals in the Courtyard of the Myrtles of the Alhambra, morning concerts in churches and monuments of Granada, along with the music of the world in the typical quarters of the Albaicin and the Sacromonte, congregate every year to more than 54.000 persons, who come attracted by the magic of the spectacle in the only spaces. All this joined the best patrimony of Granada, his monuments, his gardens and his history, they immerse the city and the visitor during the first days of the summer in an ambience of holiday that grows year after year.

From 1970 the International Courses have being celebrated annually Manuel de Falla. The above mentioned Courses cover educations of high level and help to reinforce the studies and professional ambiences of the music and the dance.

The Festival in the last editions has overcome 95 % of occupation, hanging the cartel of "exhausted" on multiple occasions, what gives an idea of the aftereffect and dimensions of this event, which vitality demonstrates for the increase of the new public that every year comes to his calls. To the thousands of persons that Granada receives during the Festival, arrivals from France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, the USA, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia or Finland, there join the numerous fans of Spain and other countries, which continue the Festival across the printed matter, the television, the reportages in specializing magazines and of tourism or the transmissions of radio.

The International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada was the first Spanish member of the European Association of Festivals to which it belongs from 1955, he is a charter member of the association of Festivals Espanioles "Festclásica" and from 1970 it is honored by the Presidency of Honor de Su Majestad La Reina of Spain.

At present it is an initiative of the Department of Culture, the Meeting of Andalusia, the Town hall of Granada, the Delegation of Granada, the University of Granada and the Patronage of the Alhambra and Generalife, and account this year with the patronage of CajaGRANADA, The Caixa, Ferring, Foundation Land-bank, Beers Alhambra, Natural gas Andalusia and Puleva. The international courses are provided, principally, with the support of the Commission of Education and Science of the Meeting of Andalusia. Other institutions, companies and entities contribute to the support of the general activities.