Bizet's opera Carmen opens the 2007/08 season at the Palau de les Arts

12.07.2006

The Director of the Palau de les Arts, Helga Schmidt, presented the 2007/08 season at a press conference today. The season will open on October 27 with Bizet's opera Carmen. This new production by the Valencian theater will feature Lorin Maazel as musical director, while the stage direction will be in the hands of filmmaker Carlos Saura.
In the words of the Mayor, the second season at the Valencian opera house boasts “an ambitious and high-caliber program, as befits Santiago Calatrava’s building.” She added that the Palau de les Arts has positioned itself among the world’s leading theaters, making it an international benchmark after last season’s success.

As Schmidt explained, the Main Hall of the theater will offer 50 opera performances and the Upper Auditorium 13 symphonic concerts in the 2007/08 season. In this regard, the Director assured that “we will gradually increase the number of opera performances until we reach the same number as other theaters such as the Liceu in Barcelona or the Teatro Real in Madrid.” The Palau de les Arts has programmed a total of ten operas and one zarzuela for the 2006/07 season. The new season includes two new productions: Carmen by Bizet and Turandot by Puccini; two co-productions: La Belle et la bête by Philip Glass and Siegfried by Wagner; and six rented productions: 1984 by Maazel, Don Carlo by Verdi, Betrothal in the Monastery by Sergei Prokofiev, Orlando by Handel, Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, and Madama Butterfly by Puccini.

In the zarzuela section, the 2007/08 program includes *La corte de faraón*, by composer Vicente Lleó Balbastre, with musical direction by Enrique García Asensio and stage direction by Francisco Negrín. The offering of this Spanish genre will be rounded out with two symphonic opera concerts featuring Carlos Álvarez and García Asensio.

According to Helga Schmidt, this important operatic program is complemented by a significant symphonic program. Highlights include concerts conducted by maestros Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta. Maazel will lead a Christmas program in December, and Mehta will conduct Verdi's Requiem Mass in March. Zubin Mehta, for his part, will conduct the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana in June, presenting a program featuring Chinese pianist Lang Lang as soloist.

Gala Puccini

Schmidt also highlighted the Puccini Gala, “one of the highlights of the season,” which will be conducted by Plácido Domingo and is being held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. The Gala will feature Roberto Alagna as soloist, marking his return to the Palau de les Arts stage.

The multiple activities of this new season also include three ballet performances, which will be performed on June 26, 27 and 28 by the National Dance Company, led by Nacho Duato, "following the goal of the coliseum to encompass all forms of art," added the Mayor.

Furthermore, the director of the Valencian theater also highlighted the extensive program of parallel activities, grouped into various thematic sections focused on different operatic works. Lectures, exhibitions, roundtables, meetings and discussions, film screenings, recitals, chamber music concerts, theatrical performances, a carefully curated educational program, and several vocal and instrumental concert series complete “a comprehensive offering that by no means intends to limit itself to the fundamental, but not exclusive, world of classical music.”

Mayor Helga Schmidt expressed her gratitude for the enthusiasm and trust that the public has placed in the team at the Palau de les Arts and "in this young and ambitious project," whose first season has concluded "with great success."

Finally, the theater manager noted that the Martín i Soler Theater and the Auditorium will be operational this second season, allowing for a more suitable distribution of shows and a more varied program in terms of genres and themes.

Season tickets and individual seats

Finally, the Mayor announced that the season ticket renewal period will run from July 9th to 27th, while the period for purchasing new season tickets will be from September 3rd to 5th. Ticket sales for the 2007/08 season will begin on October 15th.