Dal Barocco al Novecento
Les Arts ha incrementato la sua attività del 30% con opera, zarzuela, danza, Lied, concerti, flamenco e altri generi musicali
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Plácido Domingo, Joyce DiDonato, Philippe Jaroussky, Violeta Urmana, Piotr Beczała, Anna Pirozzi e Iréne Theorin fra i cantanti impegnati nella stagione 2019-20
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Daniele Gatti, Michel Plasson, Juanjo Mena, Gustavo Gimeno, Marc Albrecht e William Christie sono fra i principali direttori in cartellone
Les Arts has expanded its public activity by 30% with opera, zarzuela, dance, lied, concerts, flamenco and other styles of music
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Plácido Domingo, Joyce DiDonato, Philippe Jaroussky, Violeta Urmana, Piotr Beczała, Anna Pirozzi and Iréne Theorin are among the voices
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Daniele Gatti, Michel Plasson, Juanjo Mena, Gustavo Gimeno, Marc Albrecht and William Christie are the leading batons of this new season
Valencia - The fourteenth artistic program of Les Arts was presented by the Regional Minister of Education, Research, Culture and Sport, Vicent Marzà; the president of the Board of Les Arts, Susana Lloret; and the artistic director of the theatre, Jesús Iglesias Noriega.
This new season features a 30% increase in the public activity of Les Arts, with a diverse offer that, in addition to opera, zarzuela and symphonic music, includes dance, lied, flamenco and other styles of music.
Regional Minister Marzà stressed that “this program captures the great work done by the people who are accompanying me today and who are making Les Arts an improved reality: a space of operatic excellence, open to society with a wider programme to attract new audiences”. He added that: “Les Arts is, undoubtedly, opera, but it is also a place for everyone; the new programme delves into the arts that accompany opera and is thus enriched with new expressions, with more educational activities and with proposals to open Les Arts to ever more people”.
Susana Lloret highlighted the ambitious proposal, which includes 47 opera and zarzuela performances, 19 dance performances, 6 recitals of lied, 8 concerts, 4 flamenco evenings and two sessions devoted to other styles of music, along with the 12 programmes for public opening, new institutional collaborations, as well as the activity of the Didactic Programme and the Centre Plácido Domingo.
“Opera is at the heart of this project, but music —thanks to Jesús Iglesias’ insight and management— now flows in many other ways throughout the halls of this emblematic building, to reach a wider audience, who will enjoy this common heritage”, she underlined.
‘Les Arts és Òpera’ (Les Arts is Opera)
Jesús Iglesias Noriega reminded his intention to turn Les Arts into a “musical theatre, encompassing lyric music in all its manifestations, without forgetting opera as its main activity”. This will materialise as wider repertoire, genres, shows, and new cycles that will set in motion a greatly varied and rich programme.
The opera season includes works that embrace a broad temporal horizon, from 1735, year of the première of ‘Ariodante’, by Händel, until 1947, in which the first performance of ‘Les mamelles de Tirésias’, by Poulenc, took place.
The repertoire is diversified: an incursion in the Baroque (‘Ariodante’), three works belonging to the classical period (‘Le nozze di Figaro’ and ‘La finta giardiniera’, by Mozart, and ‘Il tutore burlato’, by Martín y Soler), a bel canto opera (‘Il viaggio a Reims’, by Rossini), a work by Verdi (‘Nabucco’), another from the French Romanticist tradition (‘Faust’, by Gounod) and two twentieth-century operas (‘Elektra’, by Strauss, and ‘Les mamelles de Tirésias’).
The opening of Les Arts to new aesthetics includes the début of directors who stand out for their careers and the modernity they give to their productions, such as Robert Carsen (‘Elektra’), Richard Jones (‘Ariodante’) and Keith Warner (‘Faust’), in addition to the return of Damiano Michieletto (‘Il viaggio a Reims’).
The choice of musical directors, as Iglesias Noriega stated, was made based on their familiarity with the repertoire under their responsibility: Andrea Marcon, Baroque; Christopher Moulds or William Christie, Classical; Marc Albrecht, the music of Strauss; Francesco Lanzilotta, the Rossini repertoire; and Michel Plasson, the French Romantic repertoire.
The operatic activity begins at the end of September with five performances of ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ at popular prices, in a celebrated production by Emilio Sagi, starring the Spanish sopranos María José Moreno and Sabina Puértolas, the Polish baritone Andrzej Filończyk, and the Canadian bass Robert Gleadow.
In November, the Sala Principal offers, in semi-staged version, the first comic opera Mozart composed when he was just 18 years old: ‘La finta giardiniera’. This is the presentation at Les Arts of William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, an absolute reference in the recovery and performance of baroque and classical music with period instruments.
The Centre Plácido Domingo also delves into new composers and styles this season. Under the musical responsibility of Roger Vignoles, the young artists explore the French operatic repertoire with ‘Les mamelles de Tirésias’, by Poulenc, in a transcription for two pianos by Britten.
One of the new values of the staging, the American Ted Huffman, makes his début in Les Arts with a scintillating production, 6 performances of which have been programmed in November at the Teatre Martín i Soler, as well as one in the Teatro Principal of Castelló.
The close relationship of Plácido Domingo with Les Arts is maintained with a new feat of this artist in the baritonal position in ‘Nabucco’, by Verdi, first performed on 2 December. Accompanied by Anna Pirozzi, a reference soprano in the role of Abigaille, Jordi Bernàcer will conduct this opera in the Sala Principal.
The stage director Tadeusz Strassberger, author of the co-production of Les Arts ‘I due Foscari’, pays tribute to the opulence and colour of the cinematographic peplum in this montage of the iconic opera of the Italian nation.
With ‘Elektra’, scheduled for January, the fourteenth season meets one of the great demands of critics and audiences: the return of the great Central European repertoire with which the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana obtained its greatest recognitions, as Iglesias Noriega expounded.
The début of two renowned figures such as Marc Albrecht and Robert Carsen, is topped by “an all-star cast” headed by Iréne Theorin, reference performer in this title role, Doris Soffel and Sara Jakubiak.
On 29 February is the first performance of ‘Il viaggio a Reims’, a tour through the bel canto repertoire led by one of its top representatives, Gioachino Rossini, under the direction of the rising Francesco Lanzillotta.
On stage, Les Arts gets the reference staging of this work, which Damiano Michieletto has taken to capitals such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Rome, Moscow or Melbourne. A cast composed of some of the most interesting, current, young Rossinian voices addresses this authentic vocal and scenic party.
Twelve years after the première of ‘Orlando’ in the Sala Principal, Händel’s Baroque returns in April with ‘Ariodante’, a poetic song of honour and loyalty, by renowned specialists in this musical style.
Richard Jones, one of the great innovators of the British scene, authors an interesting adaptation that translates the medieval legend into the mid-twentieth century and which has enjoyed an excellent reception in Europe and the United States.
The artistic director also remarked that Les Arts, as a cultural engine, has an obligation to the Valencian musical heritage and, especially, to the most successful Valencian opera composer: Vicente Martín y Soler.
Therefore, ‘Il tutore burlato’ will be the new lyric production of the season; a commission to the Valencian Jaume Policarpo, which will feature prominent professionals of Les Arts for its execution, as well as the Valencian maestro, Cristóbal Soler, in his first collaboration with the artists of the Centre Plácido Domingo.
The visit of one of the great legends in the field of orchestra conducting, Michel Plasson, with one of the reference titles of the French opera, ‘Faust’, by Gounod, closes the season. Plasson, unquestionable expert in the French repertoire, will for the first time conduct the professional musicians of Les Arts.
‘Faust’ also signifies the reunion of the Valencian audience with the soprano Ailyn Pérez and the bass-baritone Alex Esposito, as well as the opportunity to listen to the tenor John Osborn for the first time.
‘Les Arts és Sarsuela’ (Les Arts is Zarzuela)
The artistic director has announced that the presence of zarzuela, in large format and with leading figures, will be another constant. In October, within the titles at popular prices, ‘La tabernera del puerto’, by Sorozábal, is offered.
Guillermo García-Calvo, a regular at the Vienna Opera, conducts the professional musicians of the theatre and a group of singers, which include two Valencians who had not yet sung at Les Arts: Marina Monzó and Antonio Gandía.
Mario Gas, one of the great creators of the Spanish scene, surrounds himself with professionals such as Ezio Frigerio or the Oscar-winning Franca Squarciapino for a spectacular montage which is extremely faithful to the original text.
‘Les Arts és Dansa’ (Les Arts is Dance)
Dance becomes a part of the programme in its own right. The cycle starts in January with a new production of Les Arts with Ananda Dansa, ‘Âtman, el comiat’.
After more than 40 years of career, the founder and choreographer of this Valencian company, Rosángeles Valls, says goodbye to the stage with this show, accompanied by the music of her regular collaborator, Pep Llopis.
In February, the Compañía Nacional de Danza will bring on tour the choreography of ‘Carmen’, premiered by John Inger in 2015, accompanied by the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana conducted by Óliver Díaz.
‘Una oda al tiempo’, by the María Pagés Compañía, closes the dance offer. The dancer, creator and choreographer visits Les Arts for the first time with her aesthetic concept of flamenco dancing with which she has transcended cultural borders.
‘Les Arts és Lied’ (Les Arts is Lied)
The Sala Principal is the scene of a new programming line, a cycle of lied,which is the début in the Valencian opera theatre of some of the most acclaimed voices in the international scene.
The Polish tenor Piotr Beczała, the French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, the English baritone Simon Keenlyside and the Guipuzcoan soprano Ainhoa Arteta, also for the first time at Les Arts, together with Violeta Urmana, well known by the public of Les Arts, offer five select evenings devoted to the genre.
‘Les Arts és Grans Veus’ (Les Arts is Great Voices)
‘Les Arts és Grans Veus’ is another original proposal, where the most emblematic figures are invited to review the styles and repertoires that have shaped their careers. The American Joyce DiDonato offers on 17 May a select baroque program, the style that has raised her to the lyric Olympus, accompanied by the Il Pomo d'Oro orchestra and the rising director Maxim Emelyanychev.
‘Les Arts és Simfònic’ (Les Arts is Symphonic)
The Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana will work during the new season with some of the most prestigious conductors of the circuit, who either make their débuts or return to the Valencian scene. James Gaffigan, Michele Mariotti, Gustavo Gimeno, Juanjo Mena, Ivor Bolton and Daniele Gatti will propose, in their respective appointments, several programmes, four of them with the participation of the choir, where they will demonstrate the excellence of the professional musicians of Les Arts.
‘Les Arts és Flamenco i Altres Músiques’ (Les Arts is Flamenco and Other Styles of Music)
During his speech, Jesús Iglesias Noriega put forward musical diversity as one of the pillars of the artistic project for the coming years, and flamenco, as one of the most important hallmarks of Spanish culture, will have its own section.
Under this heading, the arts centre presents four proposals to address the cante jondo: Diego el Cigala, one of the most representative figures of the new trends; the breath of fresh air which is Rocío Márquez; the talent of the singer Duquende, and the flamenco-fusion of Manuel Lombo.
In addition, the programme will include musical events to which little attention was paid to date in the previous seasons: jazz and fado. Chick Corea will present in March the ‘Chick Corea Trilogy’, an encounter with the same jazz as ever, through well-known themes, while the shivering Mariza, one of the greatest current fado singers, will perform in June a selection of works of a genre unknown to date in the offer of Les Arts.
‘Les Arts és per a tots’ (Les Arts is for everyone)
The commitment of Les Arts as a public theatre materialises in the programme ‘Les Arts és per a tots’, which brings together activities, shows, collaborations and free initiatives combined with token fees which revert to the Valencian society their support for the project. In addition to two consolidated activities such as the ‘Open Doors Day’ and the ‘Nit a les Arts’ (Open Doors Night), this section includes new contributions to diversify audiences and enrich the life of the theatre:
The first novelty will be the cycle ‘Matins a les Arts’: six Sunday musical matinees in the Sala Principal, with a token fee of five euros, in which the artistic assets of the theatre —the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, the Cor de la Generalitat and the singers of the Centre Plácido Domingo— offer interesting programs to attract new audiences.
This is followed by ‘Preestrena fins a 28’, an extremely popular initiative in the great European opera houses, which will allow those under the age of 28 to enjoy titles such as ‘La tabernera del puerto’, ‘Il viaggio a Reims’, ‘Ariodante’ and ‘Faust’ for ten euros.
After several years of marathons around Mozart, and on the occasion of the première of ‘Il viaggio a Reims’, the new operatic course will be dedicated to Gioachino Rossini. Under the name ‘Marató Rossini’, Les Arts will celebrate the genius from Pesaro’s birthday and his impact on European culture with a wide range of free activities.
Openness to society also involves bringing artists closer to it. That is the purpose of the initiative ‘Perspectives’, in which the protagonists of opera and zarzuela engage in a dialogue with the audience, which will serve as a complement to the ‘Conferències’ cycle of the expert opera lecturer Ramon Gener.
Likewise, ‘Les Arts Volant’ -the truck that takes opera to your town- will continue its journey through the Valencian Region with the successful assembly of ‘Bastià i Bastiana’ by Mozart, and will present a new production, ‘El tutor burlat’, by Vicente Martín y Soler.
New institutions adhere to Les Arts this course to strengthen links with social and cultural reality. In addition to the cooperation with the IVAM (the Museum of Modern Art), the Museum of Fine Arts in Castelló, the Filmoteca de València and the Berklee College of Music will now be new collaborators; also, activities will be continued with the Federació de Societats Musicals de la Comunitat Valenciana.
Finally, this section will also include the production ‘The Opera Locos’, which recently received the Max Award (Spain Performing Arts Award) for its fusion of excerpts from the most popular operas with different musical styles.
‘Les Arts és Educació i Formació’ (Les Arts is Education and Training)
The educational programme of Les Arts strengthened its offer, to reach all ages and audiences: babies, students in Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary Education, Vocational Training, Special Programmes, University, Lifelong Learning, as well as a section devoted to family audience.
Shows like ‘Babies Only’, ‘Sent la música’, ‘Conta’m una òpera’ and ‘Detectius en l’òpera’, work sessions like ‘Tots a Cor’, ‘L’òpera en construcció’ and ‘Un matí amb’, and didactic workshops like ‘VestuArts’ and ‘CaracteritzaT’ are the main actions.
This section will also include the follow-up and coordination of the LOVA programme (‘Opera as a Learning Vehicle’), the planning of didactic performances of the titles represented at the Teatre Martín i Soler, the collaboration with Danseta in Dansa València festival, together with actions at the university level.
For its part, the Centre Plácido Domingo, which this year also opens to repertoire pianists, will remain as the main agent for training, in addition to its contribution to the theatre’s programme in different actions.
The main novelty in the training programme will be the ‘Taller de direcció coral d’òpera’ (Workshop in Opera Choir Conducting), taught by Francesc Perales, in collaboration with the Cor de la Generalitat, with the aim of completing the training of young professional chorus masters.