The Palau de les Arts begins this week a series of recitals focusing on the musical universe of Richard Wagner

Renowned interpreters of the Wagnerian repertoire such as baritone Albert Dohmen or mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, as well as pianists Javier Perianes and Claudio Carbó, will review works preceding and following the emergence of the German genius.
Valencia (7-06-09).- The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía begins this week at the Teatre Martín i Soler a series of recitals around the Wagnerian musical universe on the occasion of the II Festival del Mediterrani, which this year, under the name of "Al Sud del Rih", offers a complete program around the masterpiece of the German genius, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Leading performers of the Wagnerian repertoire, such as baritone Albert Dohmen and mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, as well as pianists Javier Perianes and Claudio Carbó, will present a program of works both preceding and following the emergence of the German genius. The Valencian arts center thus pays tribute to Richard Wagner and the revolution he brought about in musical composition.

The Valencian pianist Claudio Carbó, along with members of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, will inaugurate the series next Friday, June 12, with Soirée en Wahnfried. Carbó, violinist Anastasia Pilatiuk, violist Julia Malkova, cellist Rafał Jezierski, and harpist Luisa Domingo will perform, among other pieces, piano transcriptions of compositions by the German composer, as well as works by Ferenc Liszt and Wagner himself. For a few hours, the Teatre Martín i Soler will recreate the legendary musical evenings with which the composer of the Ring Cycle and his wife Cosima entertained the cultural elite of the time at their villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth.

Mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, who sang the role of the goddess Erda in the premieres of Das Rheingold and Siegfried at the Palau de les Arts and is currently performing the Valkyrie Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, will sing Wagner's celebrated Wesendonck Songs on Sunday, June 14, accompanied on piano by Klaus Sallmann. This cycle of five songs for female voice was composed by Wagner, inspired by five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck, wife of the banker and patron Otto Wesendonck. Wyn-Rogers will also perform Lieder by Brahms and Strauss, as well as Mahler's Rückert Songs.

On June 17, German baritone Albert Dohmen, accompanied on piano by Adrian Baianu, will delight audiences with the recital "From the Rhine to the Danube." Dohmen is considered one of the leading singers in the Wagnerian repertoire, which has taken him to the stages of the world's most prestigious opera houses, such as Bayreuth, the Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The recital program will feature Lieder by Schubert, Brahms, Pfitzner, Strauss, and Schoenberg.

Javier Perianes, a pianist from Huelva and one of the most exciting new talents in Spanish musical performance, will close this series with "From the Romantic Piano" on June 23. Perianes will play Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 by Johannes Brahms, Four Impromptus, Op. 90 by Franz Schubert, and Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 by Fryderyk Chopin.