The Palau de les Arts presents a double bill with La vida breve and El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla

•The arts center revives Giancarlo del Monaco's production of Falla's opera with soprano Cristina Gallardo-Dômas and tenor Germán Villar in the leading roles
•Choreographer Goyo Montero premieres the new production of El amor brujo, featuring the voice of flamenco singer Esperanza Fernández

Valencia (25-2-2012).- The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía presents on March 3 a double program with La vida breve and El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla.

The music director of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Omer Meir Wellber, is tackling these two scores by the Spanish composer for the first time, which the Valencian arts center is bringing together in a single, in-house production. Giancarlo del Monaco (La vida breve) and Goyo Montero (El amor brujo) are directing the staging of these Falla masterpieces, with jealousy, passion, and death as the common thread.

The Palau de les Arts is reviving the production of the pinnacle opera of the Spanish repertoire, which Giancarlo del Monaco premiered in Valencia in 2010. The son of the celebrated tenor Mario del Monaco boasts a prolific curriculum with productions in New York, Vienna, Milan, Paris, Buenos Aires, Venice, Los Angeles, Berlin, Munich, Tel Aviv, Oslo, Budapest, Washington, Zurich, Barcelona and Madrid, in addition to an extensive career as an artistic manager and educator.

The director approaches this lyrical drama from the perspective of psychodrama. Giancarlo del Monaco avoids clichés to delve into the soul of Salud, the gypsy protagonist of the opera. In an abstract space, oscillating between dream and reality, the young woman participates as both actor and spectator in the betrayal of her lover Paco, who repudiates her to marry a woman of high social standing.

The innovative proposal by the Italian director, who also designed the set, is supported by the costumes of Jesús Ruiz, the lighting by Wolfgang von Zoubek and the choreography of Goyo Montero.

Soprano Cristina Gallardo-Dômas reprises her role as the gypsy Salud, a performance that earned her critical and popular acclaim in 2010 under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Also returning are mezzo-soprano María Luisa Corbacho (Abuela), soprano Sandra Ferrández (Carmela), baritone Isaac Galán (Manuel), flamenco singer Esperanza Fernández, and guitarist Juan Carlos Gómez Pastor.

Germán Villar, from Valencia, makes his debut in the role of Paco. The tenor, who enjoys considerable success in Germany, has sung in the Palau de les Arts productions of Cyrano de Bergerac and Das Rheingold. Bass Miguel Ángel Zapater (Uncle Sarvaor) completes the cast.

Falla's lyrical tragedy will give way to El amor brujo, which the Palau de les Arts offers in its original version, premiered on April 15, 1915 at the Teatro Lara in Madrid.

Goyo Montero is the director and choreographer of this new production. The Madrid-born artist is considered one of the most significant figures in Spanish dance. He has enjoyed a prolific career in film, zarzuela, and opera, most notably his collaboration with Herbert von Karajan on the production of Bizet's Carmen, which premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 1985. At the Palau de les Arts, Goyo Montero has directed the choreographies for La vida breve and Carmen (2010).

Esperanza Fernández lends her voice to the tormented gypsy Candelas, who turns to witchcraft to bring back her dead lover. The Sevillian singer is one of the most prominent flamenco artists associated with El amor brujo (Love, the Magician), a work she has recorded three times. Her interpretation of Falla's score has earned her critical acclaim in Spain and the United States.

The dancers Sara Calero (Candelas), Primitivo Daza (Gitano), Carolina Pozuelo (Amiga) and Fermín Calvo de Mora (Novio) visualize the narrative part of this ballet, according to the proposal of Goyo Montero with set design by Manuel Zuriaga, costumes by Pedro Moreno and lighting by Felice Ross.

The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía offers five performances of this double bill on March 3, 6, 9, 11 and 14.