Plácido Domingo headlines the opening of the 2014-2015 season at the Palau de les Arts
11.02.2014
– The symphonic program will feature the batons of Valencian conductors Jordi Bernàcer and Gustavo Gimeno
– The Centre de Perfeccionament will present a double bill at the VII Festival del Mediterrani featuring the contemporary opera Cánticos desde el infierno by Andrea Chenna, and Romancero Gitano by García Lorca in the musical transcription by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
– Evelino Pidò assumes the musical direction of Simon Boccanegra , by Verdi, with Plácido Domingo as the protagonist
Valencia. Plácido Domingo, in his roles as conductor and singer, will headline the opening of the 2014-2015 season at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, which begins on December 9.
Plácido Domingo himself announced this today at a press conference, where the artist reflected on his stay in Valencia over the past few weeks and outlined his future projects at the Palau de les Arts. Also present at the press conference were the Director of the Palau de les Arts, Helga Schmidt, and the Director of CulturArts, Manuel Tomás.
The Valencian arts center will inaugurate its ninth opera season with British director Stephen Medcalf's production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut for the Teatro Regio di Parma, which had to be cancelled for security reasons. Plácido Domingo will conduct this opera, the third he has led since the opening of the Valencia opera center, following Massenet's Le Cid and Puccini's Tosca .
Later, the Madrid-born artist will sing his first zarzuela production in Valencia, Luisa Fernanda by Moreno Torroba, with Valencian conductor Jordi Bernácer leading the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana. This marks the first time the Alcoy-born conductor has undertaken the musical direction for all performances of a single work in the Main Hall.
In this regard, Mayor Helga Schmidt highlighted that Bernàcer will also be on the podium for one of the five performances of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra , starring Plácido Domingo on March 27 and 30, 2014, as well as April 3, 6, and 9 of this year. Italian conductor Evelino Pidò, who has already conducted the Madrid-born artist in this same opera in Vienna, will be the musical director for this production, the penultimate opera of the current season.
The new season at the Palau de les Arts, as explained by Helga Schmidt, will feature prominent conductors from the Valencian Community in its symphonic program. A highlight is the debut with the Valencian Community Orchestra (OCV) of the rising star Gustavo Gimeno, who recently stepped in for Mariss Jansons, who was ill, to conduct the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam for two concerts. Gustavo Gimeno will conduct the Valencian Community Orchestra in Castellón in April and will repeat the performance this autumn at the Palau de les Arts Auditorium.
Next season will also see the return of the 'Valencian Voices in the 21st Century' series, which was hosted by the Palau de les Arts during its first two seasons. The cultural venue will bring together prominent Valencian singers for a new edition of this recital series.
Plácido Domingo Improvement Center
Helga Schmidt and Plácido Domingo have also unveiled new works from the Centre de Perfeccionament, which bears the Spanish artist's name. The project, based at the Palau de les Arts and under the artistic direction of Davide Livermore, will present two productions at the seventh edition of the Festival del Mediterrani, which it will produce in collaboration with Berklee College of Music.
The Teatre Martín i Soler will host during the second half of June a double program consisting of the works Cántico del Infierno , with a score by Andrea Chenna, and Romancero Gitano by Federico García Lorca in the transcription for vocal quartet and guitar by the Italian Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
Canticle of Hell is a production of the Palau de les Arts with the Teatro Regio, the Teatro Stabile, and the Teatro Baretti of Turin. It is a contemporary opera with a libretto by Ramón Sampedro—the quadriplegic immortalized by Alejandro Amenábar in his film The Sea Inside . and dramaturgy by Roberta Cortese and Luigi Chiarella. The musical direction is by Andrena Chenna himself, while Davide Livermore is the stage director.
Romancero Gitano , in which the famous actress Rossy de Palma will participate, will feature the voices of the artists from the Centre de Perfeccionament and the Dean of Berklee Valencia, Brian Cole, as musical director.
New collaborative projects
Furthermore, the Director of the Palau de les Arts announced during the press conference the new international commitments that the Valencian arts center has acquired for the coming years.
Following the successful tour of China by the OCV with Zubin Mehta, the cultural center has received an invitation from the Tianjin City Grand Theatre to feature its productions in the upcoming seasons.
