José Manuel Zapata presents a journey through Hispanic vocal music of the last two centuries at the Palau de les Arts

• Accompanied on the piano by Rubén Fernández, the tenor from Granada will perform songs by Toldrà, Albéniz and Manuel García, among others, as well as tangos by Piazzolla and Gardel.

Valencia (8-1-10).- Tenor José Manuel Zapata returns to the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía after his success last season with Tango to perform a selection of key works in the evolution of Hispanic vocal music of the last two centuries.

Since his debut in 2001 with Rossini's Il turco in Italia at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo under the direction of Alberto Zedda, the Granada-born singer has forged a meteoric international career, which has taken him to the most prestigious theatres in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the United States, where he debuted in 2008 in the role of Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan in New York.

For the recital he is giving on Sunday, January 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the Teatre Martín i Soler of the Palau de les Arts, José Manuel Zapata presents a program very similar to the one with which he already garnered applause from the public and critics at the last edition of the prestigious Rossini Festival in Pesaro, and in which he will also include Argentine tangos.

Eduardo Toldrà's Six Songs, based on texts by Garcilaso de la Vega, Lope de Vega, and Francisco de Quevedo, among others, will be the first of the works with which Zapata opens this journey through Spanish vocal music of the last two centuries. These will be followed by three of the Six Ballads for voice and piano, based on texts by the Marchioness of Bolaños and written in Italian by Isaac Albéniz: 'La lontananza', 'Una rosa in dono', and 'Morirò'. The celebrated romance 'Adiós Granada', from the zarzuela Emigrantes by Barrera Saavedra and Calleja Gómez, will close the first part of the recital.

The Spanish lyrical Caprices of the Sevillian Manuel García and the aria of Isaaun from his most popular opera, Il califfo di Bagdad, with which Zapata himself inaugurated the 56th edition of the Granada Festival, open the second part of the lyrical evening offered by the tenor from Granada at the Valencian arts center.

This will be followed by 'Verano porteño' from Astor Piazzolla's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a work in which the Mar del Plata-born composer blends elements of tango, jazz, and European music. As a grand finale, three unforgettable tangos by Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Le Pera—'Cuesta abajo,' 'Volver,' and 'Tomo y obligo'—will conclude José Manuel Zapata's recital at the Palau de les Arts.