The Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre presents Noche lírica. Under the baton of Ligia Amadio as guest conductor, the Ossodre performs works by Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, Giordano, Cilea, Bellini, Gounod, Saint-Saëns and Verdi.

The concert will feature renowned soloists: sopranos Luz del Alba Rubio, Eiko Senda and Verónica Cangemi, mezzo-sopranos Adriana Mastrángelo and Carolina Rotela, baritones Gustavo Balbella and Alfonso Mujica and tenors Alfredo Belloni and Angelo Zapata.

Anne Schwanewilms' debut is one of the most eagerly awaited at LIFE Victoria. Born in Germany, she excels in the female roles created by Richard Strauss - her last appearance in Barcelona was Arabella at the Liceu - but also in Wagnerian roles such as Elsa (Lohengrin) or Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), as well as in other titles such as Dialogue des Carmélites, Wozzeck or Otello. Inspired by the drama of opera, the soprano performs once again in Barcelona in a programme divided into four parts, four journeys of the soul that review some of her favourite recitalistic composers.

In the first part, Himmelfahrt (Ascension) will perform Lieder eteris by Mahler, such as "Wo die Trompeten blasen" and Debussy, such as "L'invitation au voyage", which gives its name to the 2020 edition. The three Lieder d'Ofelia by Strauss, her composer of choice, will be the focus of the second part devoted to Reisen in den Irrsinn (Journeys into Madness), while Debussy's Proses lyriques will be the focus of the Traumreisen (Poetic Journeys). Finally, Wolf's Lieder will bring the magic to a close with the last part Phantasiereisen (Journeys into Fantasy) of this long-awaited recital.

In October 2020, the Victoria de Los Angeles Festival programs the Winterreise for the first time.

The baritone Samuel Hasselhorn accompanied on piano by Ammiel Bushakevitz takes us into Schubert's Winter Journey.

Woman voice journey

Dedicating the edition to the journeys of the soul, it was almost mandatory to start the 2021 festival with Winterreise, this winter journey, introspective, mysterious ... and an inexhaustible source of interpretations and nuances. Thus, throughout 2020-21 we will have approached the Schubert cycle through various visions: the most classic, with the baritone but young and fresh interpretation of Samuel Hasselhorn and the experience of Malcolm Martineau; a more innovative one, with the dramatic approach of Rafael R. Villalobos in the countertenor thesis of Xavier Sabata and Francisco Poyato at the piano; and finally that of a reference tenor like Mark Padmore, representative of the English school, with James Baillieu at the piano. This list could not miss the feminine approach to travel, and nobody better to do it than the mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, who will offer, together with the always romantic Julius Drake at the piano, a vision with a lot to say about the myth of Schubert and what not. will leave no one indifferent.

Critics praise her and the audience loves her - Kristine Opolais, the primadonna and the star of the New York Metropolitan opera in a splendid solo concert at the Latvian National Opera. The programme includes arias both from operas that brought Kristine international acclaim and pieces that will be included in her future repertoire.

The beautiful programme, mostly dedicated to Italian music, will encourage you to dream about love and think about what is truly important. It will touch your heart in many ways.

The comparison of Caravaggesque chiaroscuro with Baroque musical creation has become popular. Based on this idea, this project brings together various baroque compositions with tableaux vivants that recreate live paintings by Caravaggio and Velázquez.

Sabina Puértolas is one of the most international Spanish sopranos, recognized and acclaimed for her interpretations of a wide repertoire of bel canto and baroque music. Her ever-increasing projection has led her to sing in venues such as the Royal Opera House in London, Teatro Real, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile, Seattle Opera House (USA), or the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing (China). In 2001 she made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan under the direction of Riccardo Muti, playing the role of Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, and has since developed an intense international career. Her interpretations, of great expressiveness and theatricality, unite her with the soul of her characters.

Together with the pianist Rubén Fernández Aguirre, the evening will offer songs, romances and arias from operas such as Alcina and Rodelinda by Händel, Il Turco in Italia by Rossini or Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti. Puértolas' elegant, musical and highly technical singing promises a night to remember.

In addition to postponing her LIFE Victoria debut - scheduled for spring 2020 - Sylvia Schwartz's confinement also led her to reflect on the power of escape. Music is precisely one of the quickest ways to escape, how with these vibrations in the air we can flee to other worlds, embarking on perhaps one of the most intense journeys. The soprano presents us with a three-part programme, together with Malcolm Martineau, which also becomes very pictorial (another evasive world): in the first, dedicated to German Lied, we experience romantic evasion through passionate poetry, as in a painting by Friedrich; in the second, we escape through Granados into the world of Goya, an evasion that the composer himself experienced at a time of war - the First World War - which ended his own life; in the third, Poulenc presents us with the most primal and greatest evasion: that of children. Before that, the promising Lluís Calvet i Pey and Èric Varas on piano offer two delightful cycles, as LIFE New Artists: Let us Garlands Bring by Finzi and Chansons gaillardes by Poulenc, in which constant reference is made to an ideal woman... called Sylvia.

With songs by Mahler, Liszt, Schumann, Vaughan Williams, Guastavino and others, British soprano Kate Royal, together with Joseph Middleton on piano, will explain a young man's journey from dawn to dusk, reaching the deep hours of the - sometimes difficult - night. A song for every hour of the day, beginning at six o'clock in the morning in a vital way with Mahler's spring morning Frühlingsmorgen and ending at five o'clock the next morning in a more sombre and passionate way with Wolf's Morgenstimmung.

Two sides of the same coin and of seeing the dawn, in the midst of which this young woman presents herself to us as hedonistic (with Guastavino's Siesta) and profound (with Schumann's Mondnacht); nostalgic (with Korngold's Mond so geht du wieder auf) and earthy (with Bernstein's Rabbit stew). A highly personal cycle created by the soprano and pianist that is a journey through the human psyche and the different states of the soul. Before, Pau Armengol and Álvaro Carnicero participate in the recital as LIFE New Artists with a short selection of Lieder by Schubert and Schumann.

For 20 years the Berliner Philharmoniker have marked their founding in 1882 with a concert – every year at a venue of cultural importance in a different European city. 2011's Europa Konzert takes place at the beautiful Teatro Real of Madrid in Spain. The Berliner Philharmoniker and their musical director Sir Simon Rattle welcome famous flamenco guitarist Cañizares. His virtuosity, his technique, harmony, strength and sensitivity have distinguished Cañizares as a unique artist, considered as one of the great flamenco musicians of the turn of the century.

Since 20 years the Berliner Philharmoniker have celebrated their foundation on May 1st with the annual Europa Konzert - 2010's concert takes place in Oxford. The orchestra, under the baton of worldwide renowned musician Daniel Barenboim, welcomes cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who has attracted widespread attention for a playing that combines natural virtuosic command and technical precision with impassioned musicianship. 

The Ciclo Jóvenes Talentos Fundación Banco Sabadell is organised by the Fundación Amigos del Teatro Real, in collaboration with the Fundación Banco Sabadell and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía.

This concert, which takes place at the Sony Auditorium, offers works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Vincenzo Bellini, Antonino Pasculli and Fryderyck Chopin, on the occasion of the performance of Norma at the Teatro Real. Of great humour and wit is Haydn's Quartet op. 33 no. 2, known by the nickname "The Joke". In it, the composer explores a new way of elaborating themes in the form of a fragmentation of small motifs combined in a variety of ways. The last movement is a rondo in which the theme or refrain, of a joyful and playful character, contrasts with the intermediate sections to give way to a hesitant and unexpected finale, displaying its jocular character.

A work by the composer paraphrased in this evening, Vincenzo Bellini, could not be missing. In his Oboe Concerto in E flat major, he displays a lyricism directly related to bel canto and the instrumental poetics of Chopin, while at the same time giving the strings tinges reminiscent of Viennese orchestras, giving the ensemble a great internal balance without renouncing the expressive. Pasculli's work, originally for English horn and harp, is based on themes from Bellini's operas Il Pirata and La Sonnambula. And this was not the only occasion on which Pasculli turned to opera, as he had already dedicated part of his catalogue to other composers such as Donizetti, Verdi and Meyerbeer. In this Omaggio, written in the form of a fantasy, all the technical resources of the instrument are exploited, while the warm, deep timbre of the horn underlines the dramatic and theatrical character of the works from which it draws its inspiration.

The evening ends with three works from the piano repertoire par excellence: a Nocturne, a Waltz and a Ballade, all by the brilliant Chopin. To speak of his music is to speak of voice, singing, expressiveness and poetry. The aperitif of the two short pieces gives way to an immense, unrepeatable work, the pinnacle of his entire output. Narrated in the form of a varied theme, each episode of this Ballade in F minor takes us into an emotional universe of great intensity, which feeds and grows until it reaches the final paroxysm, the last breath, the last beat.