The Verdi Theatre in Trieste successfully presents the Palau de les Arts production of Bizet's Carmen
26.03.2013
Valencia. The Teatro Lirico Verdi in Trieste (Italy) performed last month the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía production of Carmen by Georges Bizet, which Carlos Saura directed for the opening of the second season of the Valencian arts center with Lorin Maazel conducting.
The production by the filmmaker from Huesca, which was later directed by Zubin Mehta at the III Festival del Mediterrani, is a co-production with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, featuring set design by Laura Martínez, costumes by Pedro Moreno, lighting by Francisco Belda and choreography by Goyo Montero.
The Teatro Verdi has scheduled a total of six performances of this title with musical direction by Donato Renzetti and the mezzo-soprano Luciana D'Intino (Carmen), the tenor Andrea Care (Don Jose) and the soprano Serena Gamberoni (Micaëla) in the leading roles.
Carmen thus joins the list of Palau de les Arts productions that have been requested by other theaters for their seasons. Beethoven's Fidelio was the first operatic production rented by the Valencian arts center. Pier'Alli's staging opened the 2007-2008 season of Los Angeles Opera.
Turandot , directed by Chen Kaige for the 1st Mediterranean Festival, has been the most in-demand production at the Palau de les Arts to date. The opera was part of the program at the A Coruña Opera Festival in 2009 and, months later, opened the 2009-2010 season at the Monte-Carlo Opera. Turandot was also the opera that inaugurated the new opera house in Guangzhou, China.
This is followed by Wagner's Ring Cycle , directed by Carlus Padrissa and La Fura dels Baus. This co-production between the Valencian cultural center and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has been performed at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and will soon travel to the Houston Opera in the United States, which will present Der Ring des Nibelungen from 2014 to 2017.
The arts center's zarzuela productions have also attracted the artistic interest of other leading opera houses. Emilio Sagi's version of La Bruja was performed at the Baluarte de Navarra in 2008, while the staging of El rey que rabió , also by the Oviedo-born director, traveled to Girona in 2009 with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana to be part of the Castell de Peralada Festival program.
Finally, Francisco Negrín's production of Una cosa rara by Vicente Martín i Soler, the second of the Valencian composer's titles produced by the Palau de les Arts, has been performed at the Teatro Calderón in Valladolid and at the Auditorio Víctor Villegas in Murcia.
Fidelio , on Austrian television
Also this March, the Austrian television network ORF is broadcasting a double feature of the high-definition recording of Beethoven's Fidelio , which Unitel recorded in Valencia for later DVD release. Zubin Mehta conducted the first operatic performance ever held at the Palau de les Arts.
The prestigious French television channel Mezzo also included the Valencian production of Beethoven's only opera in the special it dedicated to the productions of the Valencian arts center in 2012, which also featured Turandot by Puccini and Les Troyens by Berlioz.
In addition, the public television channel 3Sat offered the Valencian Tetralogy in 2010 as part of its programming for German-speaking countries.
