Les Arts dedicates the month of April to early and baroque music with the leading artists and ensembles on the national scene
02.04.2024
'Barroque Arts and Antique Music'
- Forma Antiqva, with the opera 'Los Elementos', La Ritirata and La Dispersione, make up the program of the cycle at the Teatre Martín i Soler.
- Countertenor Carlos Mena headlines a recital within this series in the incomparable setting of the Church of San Nicolás on April 12th
Valencia (31.03.2024). The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía dedicates the month of April to Baroque and Early Music with an intense cycle, co-produced with the National Center for Musical Diffusion (CNDM), which includes some of the main artists and groups on the national scene.
In its third edition, 'Les Arts és Barroc i Música Antiga' once again emphasizes vocal compositions from these periods, with a concert version opera and performances by two prestigious groups specializing in this repertoire at the Teatre Martín i Soler.
In addition, a recital has been scheduled in the Church of San Nicolás, an architectural landmark for this style in the city of Valencia, as part of Les Arts' commitment to opening its programming to new audiences and spaces.
La Ritirata, under the direction of its founder Josetxu Obregón, will inaugurate the season on April 10 at the Teatre Martín i Soler with Alessandro Scarlatti's 'Il giardino di rose'. The historically informed performance ensemble will perform this five-voice oratorio, considered one of the great works of the Palermitan composer, notable for the extraordinary instrumental richness of the orchestra and the virtuosic writing of the arias.
Soprano Núria Rial heads a list of outstanding voices specializing in this repertoire, which includes Alicia Amo, Luciana Mancini, Víctor Sordo and José Coca Loza.
Two days later, on April 12, Carlos Mena headlines one of the major new events of the season, with a recital in the incomparable setting of the Church of San Nicolás.
Under the heading 'La vita fugge', the prestigious countertenor, accompanied by the vihuela player Manuel Minguillón, presents an exquisite and refined program of sacred and spiritual songs for voice and vihuela, in a vindication of the vast musical heritage written for this instrument, which reached its maximum splendor in Spain in the 16th century.
The program returns to the Teatre Martín i Soler on the 17th of that same month with the group Forma Antiqva and the chamber opera 'Los Elementos' by Mallorcan composer Antonio Literes, presented in a concert version. Harpsichordist Aarón Zapico, one of the group's founders, conducts this work, with its distinctly Italian style, which premiered in Madrid in 1705.
'The Elements' transposes the struggle between the supporters of the Bourbons and the Habsburgs to a world where the natural elements compete for power. Sopranos Jone Martínez, Serena Pérez, Pilar Alva, and Soraya Méncid will lend their voices to air, earth, fire, and water, respectively.
La Dispersione will close the cycle with their performance on April 24 at the Teatre Martín i Soler. Joan B. Boïls will conduct the Valencian group in 'José de Nebra and the Stage of Time'.
The program, dedicated to one of the most important Spanish composers of his time, also covers pieces by other outstanding figures of the national musical scene of the late 17th and early 18th centuries such as Antonio Literes, Sebastián Durón and Antonio Martín y Coll along with the Italian based in Spain, Luigi Boccherini, and the most universal Valencian, Vicente Martín i Soler.
