Zubin Mehta will conduct the new production of Cherubini's Medea at the V Festival del Mediterrani at the Palau de les Arts
28.01.2012
Playwright Gerardo Vera is the author of the innovative staging that will also house the new production of Verdi's Il trovatore .
Valencia (28-1-12).- Zubin Mehta will conduct the new production of Medea by Luigi Cherubini, which has been programmed by the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía within the V Festival del Mediterrani.
Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana makes her Valencia debut in the role of the Greek priestess, a role that Maria Callas brought back to the forefront of contemporary music. The singer, known to audiences at the Palau de les Arts for her performances as Kundry in Parsifal , under the direction of Lorin Maazel, and as Iphigénie in Iphigénie en Tauride , with Plácido Domingo as Orestes, tackles one of the most challenging scores of her career.
Playwright Gerardo Vera has created a unique stage space for the 5th Festival del Mediterrani, allowing for performances of both Cherubini's opera and Verdi's Il trovatore , the latter of which will open the festival on May 26. Vera, who is also the stage director for both operas, has designed an innovative concept, complemented by costumes by Alejandro Andújar and lighting by Juan Gómez Cornejo.
Zubin Mehta's fourth opera in 2012
Zubin Mehta, with his direction of Medea, becomes the absolute protagonist of the operatic offerings at the Palau de les Arts for 2012. The maestro from Bombay will offer a total of eighteen opera performances: six of Mozart's Don Giovanni, six of Verdi's Il trovatore, four of Medea, and two of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in concert form.
Zubin Mehta will also take to the podium twice at the Auditori of the Valencian arts center. On February 11, the Indian conductor will perform César Cano's Concerto for Orchestra, Opus 73, and Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8. The day before, Maestro Mehta will present the same program at the Auditori in Castelló, where he will premiere Cano's work.
Johannes Brahms will headline Maestro Mehta's second concert, scheduled for June 26 as part of the 5th Festival del Mediterrani, with his Second Symphony and Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra. The evening's soloists will be violinist Sergei Ostrovsky and cellist Giorgui Anichenko, both members of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana.
Furthermore, Maestro Mehta will accompany the OCV in its debut at the Canary Islands Music Festival on February 13th and 14th, when the Palau de les Arts' resident orchestra will perform in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, respectively.
