Les Arts is preparing the Spanish premiere of Kurtág's opera 'Fin de partie'.
21.10.2020
- Based on the play by Samuel Beckett, the Hungarian composer's opera received the Opera Award for best world premiere in 2019
- Markus Stenz in the pit and Pierre Audi on stage direct the same cast that starred in the world premiere at La Scala in Milan
Valencia (21.10.20). The Palau de les Arts is immersed in preparations for the Spanish premiere of 'Fin de partie' by György Kurtág, the operatic adaptation of Samuel Beckett's play, which received the Opera Award for best world premiere in 2019.
On October 29, Valencia will become the third city in the world, after Milan and Amsterdam, where the only opera by György Kurtág (1926), considered one of the fundamental composers in the history of 20th century music, can be seen.
After its run at Les Arts, 'Fin de partie' is scheduled to have its first performance outside Europe at Lincoln Center in New York. The Paris Opera has also announced that it will premiere Kurtág's work there in 2022 with the same cast that will perform the opera in Valencia.
'Fin de partie' is also the second of the productions that make up Les Arts' theme of human resilience. Following the performance of Shostakovich's 'Leningrad' Symphony, dedicated to the resistance of the Soviet metropolis against the Nazi siege, 'Fin de partie' delves into the physical and psychological confinement of the characters who inhabit Beckett's dystopian world.
To achieve this, Pierre Audi's production respects the social and psychological confinement suffered by the four protagonists imagined by Samuel Beckett in the play and is guided by the expressive power of Kurtág's music.
The respected Lebanese stage director gives the characters an aura of hope, of survival, intermingling interior and exterior spaces with the stage movement and the musical reading that the German Markus Stenz makes of Kurtág's score.
Les Arts brings together the same cast that starred in the premiere of the work at La Scala in Milan on November 15, 2018: Norwegian bass Frode Olsen (Hamm), British baritone Leigh Melrose (Clov), British contralto Hilary Summers (Nell) and Italian tenor Leonardo Cortellazzi (Nagg).
'Fin de partie' is a La Scala production in Milan, co-produced with the Dutch National Opera. The staging, directed by Pierre Audi, features set and costume design by Christof Hetzer, lighting by Urs Schönebaum, and dramaturgy by Klaus Bertisch.
Ticket prices for 'Fin de partie' range from 21 to 75 euros. For more information, those interested can visit the theater's website, www.lesarts.com.
Parallel programming
To mark the Spanish premiere of 'Fin de partie', Les Arts has designed a parallel program dedicated to the Hungarian composer. Ramon Gener will reveal the secrets of Kurtág's only opera next Monday, October 26, at the Auditori, while the 'Perspectives' talk on Wednesday the 28th will allow the public to learn more about the creators of the production: Markus Stenz and Pierre Audi.
The Ensems Festival also includes two monographic performances of Kurtág's work. The Nel Cuore Quartet will perform this Thursday at 8:00 p.m. in the Aula Magistral his works 'String Quartet No. 1, Op. 1', '6 Musical Moments, Op. 44', '12 Microludes for String Quartet, Op. 13', as well as 'String Quartet No. 1', by György Ligeti.
Meanwhile, on Friday the 23rd, at 8:00 p.m., the Aula Magistral will host Ensemble d'Arts, who will offer a repertoire based on a selection of fragments from Kurtág's works 'Kafka fragments' and 'Signs, Games and Messages'.
