2023-12-01 00:55:34
BarcelonaA special night at the Palau de la Música, which once again opened its doors to ARA to celebrate its thirteenth anniversary with a concert. “We are very happy to be here. We try to make a newspaper that is free and committed to society, and also to culture”, said the director of the ARA, Esther Vera, just before a concert that, in addition, served to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Maria Callas (1923-1977), the Divine, the most relevant opera singer of the 20th century, both for her artistic qualities and for her presence, often tragic, in shaping mass popular culture.
Out of the year of Jordi and Ferran Savall, pop-rock has ruled these evenings of the newspaper, so it was time to invite an orchestra and lyrical singers: the Simfònica del Vallès (OSV) -conducted by Irene Delgado-Jiménez-, the sopranos Marta Mathéu and Serena Sáenz and the mezzo-soprano Laura Vila, three great Catalan singers dedicated to the memory of the Greco-American soprano.
Maria Callas only sang once in Barcelona. It was in 1959, in a lyrical recital at the Liceu and in front of an audience that then unconditionally admired Renata Tebaldi. Chronicles recorded that one spectator even shouted “Vicca Tebaldi!” after the aria Live art of Tosca. The fact is that that night Callas sang, among others, the aria A voice just now d’The Barber of Seville, by Rossini. Yesterday’s recital at the Palau de la Música, after the orchestral opening, began with Serena Sáenz singing the same piece, expressive, playful and rigorous as always and taking the interpretation beyond the voice. The ovation was more than deserved, and was repeated later when the Barcelona soprano embodied, with an extraordinary result, Violetta Valéry from The Traviataby Verdi, one of the roles that Maria Callas practically reinvented.
The OSV, like home
At the Night of the ARA, a program was unfolded that embraced a sufficiently wide stylistic arc, from bel canto geniuses like Rossini himself and Bellini to the verismo of Puccini’s Bohemianand with a very interesting French thread that joined the Lakme by Léo Delibes with the Carmen by Bizet, in addition to the popular one Barcarolle of The contes de Hoffmann, by Offenbach, sung by Marta Mathéu and Laura Vila. In other words, a repertoire of operatic classics at the Palau de la Música, a hall that knows the Vallès Symphony very well, because it is there in season. So, playing at home.
A tribute to Maria Callas could not be missing Chaste divathe aria of Norma, by Bellini, the opera with which Divina debuted at the Metropolitan in New York in 1956. Marta Mathéu, who last year was Norma at the Liceu, took on the challenge with vocal personality and gestural restraint, and exciting as it is usual in one of the most remarkable voices in the country. Later, she put the drama just right as Mimi in the aria Whence she happily came outof The bohemianalso greatly applauded by an attentive and respectful audience.
Special thanks must be given to the presence of the soprano from Tarragona at the Nit de l’ARA, given that these days she is playing the role of Liù in the Turandot of the Lyceum In the same way we must be grateful that Laura Vila joined the recital to replace Anna Alàs i Jove, who had to cancel a few days ago for health reasons. The mezzo-soprano Vigatana, Verdian and French yesterday, stood out especially with the popular Love is a rebellious birdof Carmenwho ended up throwing a flower into the audience.
Other highlights of the concert were the performance of the Vallès Symphony in theInterlude of Rustic cavalry, by Mascagni, and in general the duets; for example, that of Lakmé flowers, by Delibes, shared by Sáenz and Vila. All without forgetting the trio of cards, from Carmenwith which the three singers received enthusiastic and grateful applause, dedicated to three great voices and to the memory of the Divine, one hundred years after her birth.
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