The Palau de les Arts production of Les Troyens makes a successful debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg
29.12.2009
• The recording of Les Troyens at the Valencian arts center will soon be available on DVD and Blu-ray through UNITEL.
Valencia (29-12-09).- The production of Les Troyens by the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, staged by La Fura dels Baus, premiered on December 25th with great success at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
The Russian press has eagerly anticipated the premiere of La Fura dels Baus's "avant-garde and futuristic" interpretation of Hector Berlioz's work, whose world premiere at the Valencian arts center garnered the attention of some of the world's most prestigious newspapers, such as The New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Le Figaro. In its review, The St. Petersburg Times highlighted Les Troyens as one of the true "highlights" of the season at the renowned theater directed by Valery Gergiev.
Gergiev himself, this time leading the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, has repeated his musical direction with a cast made up of soloists from the St. Petersburg opera center.
This co-production of Les Troyens, which premiered in Valencia on October 31st as the opening opera of the Palau de les Arts' fourth season, will later be performed at the Wielki Theatre in Warsaw. Furthermore, Valery Gergiev himself has expressed interest in including the production in the Mariinsky Theatre's repertoire.
Furthermore, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía will soon release the DVD and Blu-ray production through the German company UNITEL. Following the market success of the recording of the tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung, directed by Zubin Mehta and staged by La Fura dels Baus, the German company has recorded the work again in High Definition during its performance last November at the Valencian arts center.
The premiere of Les Troyens marked another milestone in the musical history of the Palau de les Arts. For the first time, a Spanish theater has performed Hector Berlioz's masterpiece in its entirety, and it was also the first time Valery Gergiev conducted a Spanish orchestra, the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana.
National and international critics at the time highlighted the absolute musical success of the production of Berlioz's complex work, both for the excellence of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and the Cor de la Generalitat, as well as for the solid cast made up of renowned names in the current operatic scene such as Daniela Barcellona, Stephen Gould, Lance Ryan, Elisabete Matos, Veronica Simeoni, Eric Cutler and Stephen Milling, among others.
