The III Mediterranean Festival pays tribute to the figure of women with Salome and Carmen

Under the name ELLA, the festival chaired by Zubin Mehta offers a full program of activities including recitals, lectures, screenings, concerts, dramatized readings, film, chamber music, round tables or meetings with artists.
• The Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana will perform under the direction of Zubin Mehta in Galicia as part of the Xacobeo 2010 celebrations and will make its debut at the National Auditorium in Madrid

• Two great divas of the operatic scene, Camilla Nylund (Salome) and Elāna Garanāa (Carmen) head the casts of these two operas which feature voices such as Albert Dohmen, Marcelo Álvarez, Jorge de León, Marina Rebeka or Paulo Szot.

Valencia (14.4.10).- The third edition of the Festival del Mediterrani at the Palau de les Arts, which will be held from May 29 to June 30, pays tribute to the figure of women under the heading of ELLA.

Two legendary operatic characters, Carmen and Salome, are the focus of the festival, which is presided over by Zubin Mehta. The festival also includes a wide range of activities such as recitals, lectures, screenings, concerts, dramatized readings, film screenings, chamber music, roundtables, and meetings with artists, as announced today at a press conference by the Director of the Palau de les Arts, Helga Schmidt.

Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund, a regular performer at opera houses such as Vienna, Salzburg, and Milan, will bring to life Richard Strauss's legendary Salome in a new production directed by Francisco Negrín, who has previously directed productions such as Orlando and Una cosa rara at the Palau de les Arts. Zubin Mehta, leading the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, conducts a cast that also includes baritone Albert Dohmen (Jochanaan) and mezzo-soprano Hanna Schwarz (Herodias).

Strauss's expressionist vision of women will find its counterpart in Bizet's romantic Carmen. Latvian mezzo-soprano Elına Garına, considered the Carmen of the moment after her triumphant success at the Metropolitan Opera, will bring to life the passionate gypsy immortalized by Prosper Mérimée. Garına will alternate the role of Carmen with Elena Maximova. Tenor Marcelo Álvarez, one of the most sought-after singers by major opera houses, and Jorge de León, from Tenerife, a rising star, will sing the role of Don José. Paulo Szot as Escamillo and Marina Rebeka as Micaela complete the leading cast. Carlos Saura has revised his November 2007 production for this revival. Zubin Mehta takes over as musical director from Lorin Maazel, who conducted the production's premiere.

Carmen will be broadcast simultaneously and live on its premiere day, June 18, in Valencia's Plaza de la Virgen, the Auditori of the Palau de les Arts, and several European capitals, as part of the Viva Europa project. This experience follows the success of last year's Festival with Die Walküre, which was seen by more than 4,000 people in the Plaza de la Virgen.

Around the theme of this third edition of the Festival del Mediterrani, ELLA (SHE), the Palau de les Arts presents two recitals at the Teatre Martín i Soler. The first, featuring tenor José Manuel Zapata and a tango ensemble, is entitled Tangos para ELLA (Tangos for HER). The second, by Russian soprano Olga Peretiatko, known to Valencian audiences for her performances in Siegfried and Lorin Maazel's Christmas concert, presents a program focused on women entitled Voz en ELLA (Voice in HER). A series of screenings in the Aula Magistral, paying homage to some of the great femmes fatales in film history, will complement the exploration of the female figure.

The Palau de les Arts also commemorates three important events in the history of music: the bicentenary of the births of Chopin and Schumann, and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Isaac Albéniz.

The opening concert of the 3rd Mediterranean Festival pays tribute to Robert Schumann with his only piano concerto, featuring pianist Javier Perianes as soloist with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and Zubin Mehta. This evening will also see the world premiere of Qualia-Jardí Blau by José María Sánchez-Verdú, commissioned by the Palau de les Arts. This program is very similar to the one the same performers will present in Santiago de Compostela on July 11, as part of the Xacobeo 2010 celebrations.

The second concert on the program, on June 28, is a Richard Strauss program featuring the symphonic poems Don Quixote and A Hero's Life. This performance will be repeated the following day at the National Music Auditorium in Madrid, marking the OCV's debut in the Spanish capital as part of the Ibermúsica 40th anniversary celebrations.

As part of the Chamber Music program, on June 26, pianists Carlos Apellániz and Carles Marín, along with members of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, will pay tribute to Fryderyk Chopin. They will perform his two piano concertos in the versions Chopin himself arranged for piano and string quartet.

A truly groundbreaking initiative will be the Palau de les Arts' contribution to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Isaac Albéniz's birth. For the first time, twelve pianists based in Valencia will perform the twelve movements of Iberia, a masterpiece of Spanish piano music, on June 2nd and 3rd. Each performance will be introduced and discussed by Justo Romero, playwright at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía and Albéniz's biographer.

The 3rd Mediterranean Festival completes the reflection on ELLA with conferences, roundtables, and meetings with some of this year's key figures, such as Zubin Mehta and Carlos Saura. An exhibition, Femmes fatales. Carmen and Salomé, and a staged reading of Oscar Wilde's Salomé, performed by the Valencia School of Acting, round out the wide and varied program of this year's festival.