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Il barbiere di Siviglia
En una época marcada por las prisas y la necesidad de alcanzar inmediatamente las más rápidas metas, Alfredo Kraus supo instalar la prudencia y la mesura entre sus objetivos. La inteligencia comienza con el descubrimiento de su capacidad vocal, sigue con la elección del oportuno repertorio y termina con la controlada distribución de sus posibilidades. La coherencia de su trayecto profesional es determinante. De casi 40 roles operísticos, unos veinte bastan para cimentar su leyenda, todos cantados en italiano o francés y, por lo tanto, pertenecientes a estos repertorios. Personalidades juveniles, apasionadas y proclives al sentimiento amoroso, entidades que facilitan las mejores armas de su canto: la elegancia, la flexibilidad, la fluidez, la espontaneidad, la transparencia del sonido, la sutileza y la facilidad de ascensión al registro agudo, cualidades mantenidas impolutas, con los lógicos cambios aportados por la edad, a lo largo de su dilatada carrera.
Kraus nos impresiona por muchas razones, pero especialmente por la característica calidad tímbrica, la fantasía del fraseo, la exhibición de sus regulaciones, la naturalidad de su legato y la perfección de la línea.
Fernando Fraga
Das Rheingold is the first part of the colossal Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner, and this will be the second time it is seen on the Teatro Real stage since the theatre’s reopening in 1997. Pablo Heras-Casado, Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Real leads a cast of renowned Wagnerians including Greer Grimsley, Sarah Connolly and Samuel Youn in Robert Carsen’s bleak vision of the story. The Canadian stage director sets the prologue of The Ring in the desolation of our polluted world, the scene where the characters in this grandiose conflict will continue to be portrayed during the coming seasons.
Inva Mula and Aquiles Machado lead the cast of this cinematic production by Giancarlo del Monaco, in a realistic recreation of Bohemian life in 19th century Paris, where we see the tragic love story of Mimi and the poet Rodolfo.
As one of the most popular masterpieces created by opera master Verdi, Aida is always favored by worldwide opera lovers - the vivid three-dimensional characterization and passionate melodies. The creative team is joined by Italian set designer Ezio Frigerio and costume designer Franca Squarciapino, who were creative members of NCPA's production of Nabucco.
Aida was premiered in 1871. The plot focuses on the love story between Ethiopian princess Aida and Egyptian hero Radames. At the choice between love and loyalty for defending the country, the couple is indecisive in a dilemma. The opera is full of strong contrast for emotions: Aida loves with infatuation for motherland and Radames, Radames celebrates victory and decides on 'unjust act', and Egyptian princess Amneris has overbearing desire for Radames. The story features plump texture so that people lament for this beautiful love.
In order to achieve accurate representation of regional features and cultural characteristics of the whole storyline, Verdi repeatedly went to museums to watch Egyptian antiquities and asked Egyptian experts for advice. He blends the ancient musical materials into the opera presentation with lively and profound understanding. The grand stage set makes it suitable for outdoor auditoriums.
The flexibility and mobility of the staging created by the Austrian film director contrasts with the frosty atmosphere to emphasise the humanity of the characters that progress from naïve feelings to a whirlwind of situations which put their emotions to the test. Love can seriously damage the health of these two pairs of lovers, who are manipulated by the Machiavellian Don Alfonso and Despina –an odd couple working together to break up the relationships. The new staging concept delivers the recitative passages in a new way, giving the scenes more intensity and reaching a different and more ambiguous denouement in this new reading of the story. Simply magnificent and certainly cutting-edge!
Mantua, Italy. Rigoletto, the Duke of Mantua's jester, has a secret daughter. The Duke seduces her after having her abducted and brought to his palace by courtiers who think she is the jester's mistress. Rigoletto vents his rage on them and demands his daughter back. After convincing his
daughter that the Duke does not love her, he plots his revenge...
Javier Camarena and Antonino Siragusa have chosen the Liceu for their debut as the Duke of Mantua, starring beside Carlos Álvarez, Àngel Òdena -which also makes his debut as Rigoletto- and Leo Nucci, in this luxury production. Rigoletto, based on a play by Victor Hugo, is part of the operatic canon and was censored before the premiere for criticizing the monarchy of the period. Monique Wagemakers'; mise en scène is minimalist but of great technical complexity. The red Venetian Renaissance costumes recreate Rigoletto's full range of fierce emotions.
This most humorous story explores the confrontation between the adult world and the imaginary one of children. A conservative father and strict mother attempt to domesticate their playful daughter, whose only friend is a fearless hen. Eventually, the girl, influenced by her little friend, begins to cross boundaries. Her parents decide to go after this unusual bird but it does not go well for them. In the imaginary world of the little girl, anything is possible when humour prevails over closed-mindedness. “Omelette” is the name of the heroic hen, she lays a great many eggs during the show (and “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs!"). Our recipe is “a mixture of seriousness and ridiculousness with a pinch of satire”.
The programme includes a teaching guide with more information and resources relating to this work.
With the participation of the Mozart expert and Teatro Real conductor Ivor Bolton, and the stage director Claus Guth. Alongside them, the Teatro Real Orchestra.
Mozart had just turned 16 in March 1771 when he was commissioned to write Lucio Silla. A year and a half later he had written all the recitatives and had travelled to Milan, where he would work on the music for the arias and begin rehearsals. His third opera was first performed at the Teatro Regio Ducal in December 1772, with a cast including some of the best voices of the moment. It was just as well: the notoriously difficult score can only be tackled by singers with a solid command of vocal technique.
The libretto, which just two years later would be used by Johann Christian Bach for his own opera, follows the typical format of 18th century European opera seria, and proposes magnanimity as the moral value which is central to the plot. Silla, the dictator of Rome, based on the historic figure Sulla, plans to use his political power to win the woman he loves, Giunia, the daughter of his enemy. However, she loves Cecilio, a senator exiled for political reasons. Silla’s initial intention gradually falls away and is replaced by compassion, leading him to make way for love, and even to give up power. The opera shows us that virtuous decisions are always the right ones.
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The opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni is embedded in the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires from its beginnings. It was the title with which the current building was inaugurated in 1908. Since then it has been performed countless times, with dazzling figures as Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Renata Tebaldi and María Callas, among others.
From 1966, the Argentine Roberto Oswald was in charge of the set and costume design and in 1989 was also responsible for the staging, with costumes by Aníbal Lápiz. This classic production of the Argentine house, made entirely in its workshops, was revived in May 2018 to celebrate the 110 years of the building, with a cast that featured the voices of Latonia Moore and Riccardo Massi along with local figures, the Resident Orchestra, Ballet and Choir of the Teatro Colón.
Cuando Georges Bizet estrenó su ópera Carmen, no podía imaginar que su bella y seductora cigarrera se convertiría en un mito, en la precursora de un comportamiento femenino que rompía todos los convencionalismos. Es uno de los títulos que más se ha representado en el Teatro Real y su presencia es constante en las temporadas de ópera de todos los teatros del mundo.
El director de escena Emilio Sagi recurre al imaginativo vestuario del diseñador Jesús del Pozo para enfatizar la sensualidad, los rasgos, la fiesta y el trágico final. Sus originales concepciones dibujan la atmósfera, casi de colmena, de la fábrica de tabacos, la calidez de la luz sevillana, el frío del campamento en la serranía…
García Navarro, director musical del Teatro Real, en el momento de esta grabación (8 de abril de 1999), aúna bajo su batuta al Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, a los niños de la Escolanía Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo, a la Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid y a un elenco encabezado
por Agnes Baltsa, Neil Shicoff, Geer Grimsley y Andrea Dankova.
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With a libretto loosely based on the relationship between the Earl of Essex and Queen Elizabeth I of England, Donizetti created a work full of virtuoso arias, softening the historical events with bel canto and coloratura.
First performed at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on 29 October 1837, it reflects the desolation of the composer, who had lost his parents, his two children and his wife Virginia.
Salvatore Cammarano based his text, as in Lucia di Lammermoor, on the drama of a doomed relationship between Queen Elisabetta (Elizabeth I of England) and Roberto, Earl of Essex, who is in love with Sara, the wife of his friend the Duke of Nottingham.
Donizetti refined his tendency to concentrate emotional climaxes and action in a limited space: the tragedy of two ill-fated couples is continually sustained by the music.