Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Saturday, 29 May 2021

Today : world première of 'Transito' by Jesus Torres in Madrid

 

Today, the Teatro Real presents the world première of Transito, a chamber opera composed by Jesus Torres, with a libretto by the composer based on Max Aub's play.

 

 It is the composer's first opera.

When there were still many ex-combatants and exiled Republicans who held out hope that the allied forces in the Second World War would put an end to the Franco regime, Max Aub pre-empted the total standstill of time with which history would condemn all of these people in a labyrinth of political and personal divided loyalties, uncertainty and disappointments. (reproduced from the Teatro Real website)

The cast includes soprano Maria Miro (Cruz), mezzo Anna Brull (Transito), baritone Issac Galan (Emilio), baritone Javier Franco (Alfredo) and tenor Pablo Garcia-Lopez (Pedro). Jordi Frances conducts the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid. Eduardo Vasco directs.

The performance should last 80 minutes. The venue is Naves Matadero.


Thursday, 7 March 2019

Today : world première of 'Je suis narcissiste' by Raquel Garcia-Tomas in Madrid


Today, the Teatro Real in Madrid presents the world première of Je suis narcissiste, an opera buffa composed by Raquel García-Tomás, with a libretto by Helena Tornero.


It is the composer's fifth opera, after 'La serva padrona' rifatta (Barcelona, 2010), DIDO reloaded (collective opera, 2013), go, ÆNEAS, go ! (collective opera, 2014) and disPLACE (Vienna, 2015).
It appears to be a more than opportune moment to talk about narcissim. This type of narcissism that inundates everything ; that inflates our perception of ourselves and encourages us to do everything in grand style, even if we may have forgotten the reason why we are doing it. Based on black humour, making no concessions, Je suis narcissiste offers us a person who organizes cultural events and who lives each day as though it were an obstacle course existing between herself and her happiness. The events overwhelm her and people leave her immersed in a sensation of loneliness. Couples, pets, bosses, artists or funeral home employees appear to be a lot more interested in talking than listening. Given such a fecund cultural medium, it proves sufficient that the reaction is triggered -in the form of a dead cat- for her complete emotional collapse. Exhausted, she arrives at the office of a psychiatrist who embraces all kinds of theories as eccentric as he himself. The two of them will travel together through an experience of transformation (or not).  (reproduced from the Teatro Real website)
The cast includes soprano Elena Copons (Clotilde), baritone Toni Marsol (Giovanni), soprano Maria Hinojosa (Woman) and tenor Joan Ribalta (Man). Vinicius Kattah conducts the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. Marta Pazos directs.

The venue is the Teatro Español. After four performances in Madrid, the opera will be performed at the Teatre Lliure de Montjuic in Barcelona in April 2019.

Saturday, 9 February 2019

Today : world première of 'L'Enigma di Lea' by Benet Casablancas in Barcelona


Today, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona presents the world première of L'Enigma di Lea, an opera in three parts and fifteen scenes composed by Benet Casablancas with a libretto by Rafael Argullol.


It is the composer's first opera.
Lea, a creature who has belonged to God and exists to serve the divine pleasure, lives in a place beyond time and cannot reveal her secret. The bearer of immortality, she is under surveillance from two monstrous beings who guarantee morality in opposition to individual freedom. (reproduced from the Liceu website)
The cast includes mezzo Allison Cook (Lea), baritone José Antonio López (Ram), soprano Sonia de Munck (Millebocche), bass Felipe Bou (Milleocchi), countertenor Xavier Sabata (Dr. Schicksal), tenor David Alegret (Michele) and tenor Antonio Lozano (Lorenzo). Josep Pons conducts Orquesta Sinfonica y Coro del Gran Teatre del Liceu. Carme Portaceli directs.

The required orchestra is the following (reproduced from the Music Sales Classical website) :

- 3 flutes (doubling alto flute and piccolo), 3 oboes (doubling English horn), 3 clarinets (doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (doubling contrabassoon) ;
- 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- timpani and percussion (4 players) ;
- harp, piano (doubling celesta) ;
- strings.

The performance should last about 2 hours, including a 30 minutes intermission. The publisher is Unión Musical Ediciones (The Music Sales group).

Tuesday, 31 October 2017

New programme books in my collection


I have recently acquired the following programme books for contemporary operas :


 - Isaac Albéniz : Merlin, Madrid (Teatro Real), May 28th, 2003 (first staged performance), 232 p. ;
- José Ramon Encinar : Figaro, Madrid (Sala Olimpia), February 21st, 1988 (world première), 45 p. ;
- Anton Garcia Abril : Divinas palabras, Madrid (Teatro Real), October 18th, 1997 (world première),
143 p. ;




- Cristobal Halffter : Don Quijote, Madrid (Teatro Real), February 23rd, 2000 (world première), 142 p. ;
- Philippe Manoury : Kein Licht, Paris (Opéra Comique), October 18th, 2017 (world première on August 25th, 2017 in Duisburg), 84 p. ;
- Tomas Marco : Selene, Madrid (Teatro de la Zarzuela), February 24th, 1996 (world première in the same theater on May 14th, 1974), 88 pages ;
 
 
- Xavier Montsalvatge : Babel 46, Madrid (Teatro Real), March 25th, 2002 (world première on July 30th, 1994 at the Cadaqués Festival), 35 p. ;
- Luis de Pablo : La senorita Cristina, Madrid (Teatro Real), February 10th, 2001 (world première),
145 p. ;
- José Maria Sanchez-Verdu : El viaje a Simorgh, Madrid (Teatro Real), May 4th, 2007, world première, 175 p.

I have now 500 programme books for contemporary operas in my collection. I have uploaded all the scanned covers to this flickr folder.

Sunday, 3 September 2017

Today : world première of Jacques-Alphonse De Zeegant's 'La Brèche' in Sagunt


Today, the Sagunt a Escena Festival  presents the world première of Jacques-Alphonse De Zeegant's opera La Brèche, at the Roman amphitheatre.


It is the composer first opera, with a libretto in three parts written by Marguerite de Werszowec Rey, translating tales and legends into a contemporary and universal setting.
In Beauty and the Beast, the heroine wishes to restore to her husband the purity of his youth. In Orpheus and Eurydice, Eurydice sets out to save Orpheus from the Underworld. For the same reason, Madina intents to conquer the fires of darkness. (freely translated from the composer's website)
The cast includes soprano Veronika Dzhioeva (Madina), countertenor David Azurza (Seraphine), countertenor Flavio Oliver (Celeste), tenor Luis Damaso (Fernando) and tenor Alberto Guardiola (Francesco). Palmo Venneri conducts the Hulencourt Symphony Orchestra and Choir. Paco Azorin directs.

Monday, 20 February 2017

Today : world première of Elena Mendoza's 'La ciudad de las mentiras' in Madrid


Today, the Teatro Real in Madrid presents the world première of Elena Mendoza's opera La cuidad de las mentiras (City of Lies), with a libretto by Matthias Rebstock.

 (c) Guillermo Mendo

It is Mendoza's third work of musical theatre, after Ich bin Du oder der Raub der Futurina (Dresden, 2004) and Niebla (Dresden, 2007). The libretto is inspired by four stories of Juan Carlos Onetti.
It is a drama about the loneliness and fantasies of four women: two singers, an accordion player and a violist. Each hides, in her own way, in a parallel existence which is at once irrational and compassionate, an attempt to survive in a world of social hypocrisy, desperation and isolation of the individual. The action takes place in Onetti’s symbolic city of Santa María, one of interior spaces where windows and stairs are the only link to the outside world. The central point of this restricted universe is a bar. The men of Santa Maria gather here and give full rein to all manner of rumors and scandal. By way of their gossip, we discover the inevitable masquerades of the four women. Some are absurd and even tinged with comedy, but they are, in fact, much more worthy than so-called reality. (reproduced from the Teatro Real website)
The cast includes soprano Katia Guedes (Gracia), soprano Laia Falcón (Mujer de 'El sueño realizado'), accordionist Anne Landa (Carmen) and violist Anna Spina (Moncha). Titus Engel conducts the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. Matthias Rebstock directs.

The score is published by Edition Peters. According to the published, the required orchestra is the following :

- 1 flute, 2 clarinets ;
- 1 trombone ;
- 3 percussionists ;
- piano ;
- string quintet ;
- on stage : 1 clarinet, 1 violin, 1 viola, 1 cello, accordion.

The performance should last about 90 minutes, with no intermission. The programme book is available for download on the Teatro Real website. It is entirely in Spanish and contains a plot summary in English.

Thursday, 12 March 2015

New season 2015-2016 at the Teatro Real in Madrid


This Thursday morning, I have also received the complete program for the 2015-2016 season at the Teatro Real in Madrid.


The following operas will be performed :

- Gaetano Donizetti : Roberto Devereux, conducted by Bruno Campanella and Andriy Yurkevych, directed by Alessandro Talevi (production from the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, October 2013), with Mariella Devia and Mariusz Kwiecien ;
- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Alcina, conducted by Christopher Moulds, directed by David Alden, with Karina Gauvin and Sonia Prina (production from Bordeaux, May 2012) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Rigoletto, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, directed by David McVicar, with several casts, including Stephen Costello, Leo Nucci, Olga Peretyatko and Carlo Colombara (production from Covent Garden, September 2001) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Ivor Bolton, directed by Barrie Kosky, with Christof Fischesser, Joel Prieto, Ana Durlovski (production from the Komische Oper in Berlin, November 2012) ;
- Manuel de Falla : El retablo de Maese Pedro, conducted by Josep Vicent, directed by Enrique Lanz, as part of the celebration for the 400th anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes' death (production from the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, January 2009) ;
- Tomas Marco : El caballero de la triste figura, conducted by Manuel Coves, directed by Guillermo Heras, for the same celebration (new production) ;
- Richard Wagner : Das Liebesverbot, conducted by Ivor Bolton, directed by Kasper Holten, with Christopher Maltman, Andrew Stapels, Bernard Richter, Ante Jerkunica (new production) ;
- Richard Wagner : Parsifal, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, directed by Claus Guth, with Detlef Roth, Ante Jerkunica, Franz Josef Selif, Anja Kampe (production from the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, February 2011) ;
- Hans Krasa : Brundibar, conducted by Jordi Frances, directed by Susana Gomez (new production) ;
- Arnold Schönberg : Moses und Aron, conducted by Lothar Koenigs, directed by Romeo Castellucci, with Albert Dohmen, John Graham-Hall and Catherine Wyn-Rogers (new co-production, to be first performed in Paris in October 2015) ;
- Viktor Ullmann : Der Kaiser von Atlantis, conducted (and orchestrated) by Pedro Halffter, directed by Gustavo Tambascio (new production).

The four following operas will be performed in concert :

- George Benjamin : Written on Skin, conducted by the composer :
- Giuseppe Verdi : Luisa Miller, conducted by James Conlon ;
- Vincenzo Bellini : I Puritani, conducted by Evelino Pido ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : I due Foscari, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado.

15 operas (including 4 chamber operas, and 4 operas in concert) in 5 languages, from the baroque era to the modern period, will be performed. There will be only 2 new productions from large-scale works, but 4 operas from the 20th or 21st centuries.
According to a document received with the program, the "Teatro Real [should] achieve financial stability in 2015 with only 30% of public funding. Let's hope it will allow them to commission some new works in the near future.

Received in the mail this morning : program book for Sotelo's 'El Publico' in Madrid


This Thursday morning, I have received in the mail the program book published by the Teatro Real in Madrid for the world premiere performance of Mauricio Sotelo's El Publico (The Audience) on February 24th.


It is a 32 pages brochure. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- an article written by the librettist ;
- an article written by the composer ;
- biographies of the artists, with B&W photos.

It is entirely in Spanish, with the exception of the synopsis which is bilingual (Spanish and English).

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Received in the mail this Wednesday morning


This Wednesday morning, I received the following in the mail :

- Graz, Styriarte Festival : 2014 program book, with two magazines ;
- Hamburg, Staatsoper : 2014-2015 season calendar ;
- Ludwigshafen, Theater im Pfalzbau : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Lüneburg, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Madrid, Teatro de la Zarzuela : 2014-2015 season program leaflet ;
- Saarbrücken, Saarländisches Staatstheater : July 2014 leaflet.

Thursday, 5 June 2014

New Season 2014-2015 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona


During, the 2014-2015, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona will perform 11 operas in 4 languages, including a double bill.


- Gioachino Rossini : Il Barbiere di Siviglia, conducted by Giuseppe Finzi, directed by Joan Font, advertised as a 'new production', by already performed in Houston (TX), in October 2011 ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : La Traviata, conducted by Evelino Pido, directed by David McVicar, announced as a 'new coproduction' (already performed in Cardiff in February 2012 and in Geneva) ;
- Richard Strauss : Arabella, conducted by Antoni Ros-Marba, directed by Christof Loy (first performed in Frankfurt in January 2009, then revived in Amsterdam last April) ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : Maria Stuarda, conducted by Maurizio Benini, directed by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, is supposed to be a 'new coproduction', but has already been performed in Houston (TX) in April 2012 and in London ;
- Xavier Montsalvatge : Una voce in off, and Francis Poulenc : La voix humaine, conducted by Pablo Gonzalez, directed by Paco Azorin (new productions) ;
- Vincenzo Bellini : Norma, conducted by Renato Palumbo, directed by Kevin Newbury (new production, to be performed later in San Francisco and Chicago) ;
- Richard Wagner : Siegfried, conducted by Josep Pons, directed by Robert Carsen (first performed in Köln in November 2002, and subsequently revived in several theatres)
- Georges Bizet : Carmen, conducted by Patrick Fournillier, directed by Calixto Bieito (this production is at least 10 years old, and has already been performed in Barcelona in September 2010) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Cosi fan tutte, conducted by Josep Pons, directed by Damiano Michieletto (first performed in Venezia in February 2012) ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : Don Pasquale, conducted by Diego Matheuz, directed by Laurent Pelly (new coproduction, with the Santa Fe Festival and the San Francisco Opera).

There are only 3 new productions this season in Barcelona. Several new productions or new coproductions are in fact revivals, considering the stagings have already been performed in other theatres. This is a publicity stunt used by some opera houses to erroneously enhance the artistic level of their seasons.

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Brochures recently received in the mail


I was away for a couple of days, and during that time, I received the following brochures in the mail :

- Barcelona, Gran Teatre del Liceu : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Braunschweig, Staatstheater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Bregenz, Bregenzer Festspiele 2014 : Festival program book ;
- Darmstadt, Staatstheater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Detmold, Landestheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Freiburg, Theater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Glasgow, Scottish Opera : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Heidelberg, Theater und Orchester : July-August 2014 leaflet ;
- Liège, Opéra Royal de Wallonie : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Linz, Landestheater : July-August 2014 leaflet ;
- Lübeck, Theater : June-July leaflet and 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Stuttgart, Staatstheater : June-July 2014 journal and July 2014 brochure ;
- Trier, Theater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Vienna, Volksoper : Zeitung No. 32 (June to September 2014) and September 2014 calendar.

Thursday, 17 April 2014

New season 2014-2015 at the Teatro Real in Madrid


11 operas will be performed at the Teatro Real in Madrid during the 2014-2015 season :


- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Ivor Bolton, directed by Emilio Sagi (revival, first performed in July 2009) ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : La Fille du régiment, conducted by Bruno Campanella and Jean-Luc Tingaud, directed by Laurent Pelly (first performance of this production in Madrid, after London, Vienna, New York, San Francisco, Barcelona and Paris) ;
- Benjamin Britten : Death in Venice, conducted by Alejo Pérez, directed by Willy Decker (first performance of this opera in the Teatro Real, production from Barcelona 2008) ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel, conducted by Paul Daniel and Diego Rodriguez, directed by Joan Font (new production) ;
- Mauricio Sotelo : El Público, conducted by Pablos Heras-Casado, directed by Robert Castro (world première) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : La Traviata, conducted by Renato Palumbo, directed by David McVicar (production already performed by Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera and Opéra de Genève) ;
- Ludwig van Beethoven : Fidelio, conducted by Hartmut Haenchen, directed by Alex Ollé (new production) ;
- double bill : Enrique Granados' Goyescas conducted by Plácido Domingo, directed by José Luis Gómez (new production) and Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, conducted by Giuliano Carella, directed by Woody Allen with Plácido Domingo (first performed in Los Angeles in September 2008) ;
- Elena Mendoza : La Ciudad de las mentiras, conducted by Titus Engel, directed by Matthias Rebstock (world première).

And in concert :
- Charles Gounod : Roméo et Juliette, conducted by Michel Plasson.

This season includes 2 world premières, 3 new productions and 5 revivals.

Since 2007, the following operas received their world première performance at the Teatro Real :

- José María Sánchez-Verdú : El viaje a Simorgh, in May 2007 ;
- Leonardo Balada : Faust-bal, in February 2009 ;
- Pilar Jurado : Lá pagina en blanco, in February 2011 ;
- Philip Glass : The Perfect American, in January 2013 ;
- Charles Wuorinen : Brokeback Mountain, in January 2014.