Teatro Real, The Royal Opera of Madrid, is Spain’s national opera and one of the country’s most respected cultural institutions. It was founded in 1818. The Teatro Real Foundation is led by the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
Teatro Real Gala Concert: From Spain to New York at Lincoln Center
Teatro Real, The Royal Opera of Madrid, returns to New York with a symphonic and vocal Gala Concert: from Spain to New York. Juanjo Mena conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera of Madrid in Falla’s “El amor brujo” with flamenco singer Esperanza Fernández, Dvořák’s “Cello Concerto” with soloist Pablo Ferrández, and works by Argentine composer Ginastera and French composer Ravel; in the Wu Tsai Theater at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center; on Monday, October 16, 2023 at 8pm. From $30. lincolncenter.org 🇪🇸 🇦🇷 🇫🇷
If you like Spain, grand symphony orchestras, and opera, you will love this concert.
The Artists
Juanjo Mena
The Spaniard is a principal guest conductor with the Orquesta Nacional de España.
Esperanza Fernández
“The Voice of Flamenco,” is a renowned flamenco singer from Seville, Spain, the capital of the flamenco heartland. Her 2008 album “Recuerdos” was nominated for the “Best Flamenco Album” Latin Grammy. @esperanzafernandez_oficial
Pablo Ferrández
The cellist was the first Spaniard to win at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. pabloferrandez.com | @pabloferrandez.cellist
The Music
This is largely a concert of the work of Spanish composer Manuel de Falla and composers that he influenced.
Manuel de Falla “El Amor Brujo”
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) was an Andalusian Spanish pianist and composer. He was one of the most important Spanish composers of the 20th century. He spent part of his working years in Paris and Buenos Aires, where he influenced other composers.
“El amor Brujo” (The Love Magician, 1915) is a ballet that is one of Falla’s most important works. This dramatic piece reflects Spain’s multicultural roots in the Spanish Romani people who breathed life into flamenco.
The work’s story is that an Andalusian woman Candela couldn’t be with her young love Carmelo because she was promised as a child to another. Her husband eventually died, but continued to haunt her every night. After talking with the village women, she realized that her husband was unfaithful with Lucía. So she invited Lucía to a hookup with her Carmelo, but instead her husband’s ghost took Lucía away, freeing Candela and Carmelo to be in love.
The most popular section is “Danza ritual del fuego” (Ritual Fire Dance). It was probably inspired in part by the Night of San Juan, a Spanish summer solstice tradition of jumping over bonfires three times to cleanse yourself.
Antonín Dvořák Cello Concerto
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was a Czech romantic music composer who was inspired by the folk melodies of his native Bohemia (Eastern Czech Republic). He was the national master of Bohemian tradition. 🇨🇿
Dvořák wrote his Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 in New York while he was director of the National Conservatory of Music in America in 1892-93. He was probably homesick because it is filled with bohemian feeling. The piece is one of the most beloved cello concerti.
Alberto Ginastera “Suite Panambi”
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) was an Argentine classical music composer, one of the most important Latin American composers of the 20th century. He studied briefly with Aaron Copland, and taught Ástor Piazzola. Ginastera is famed for his use of Argentine folk themes from gaucho culture. 🇦🇷
“Suite From Panambi” Op. 1a (1937), is an orchestral work based on a ballet he wrote in 1935. Panambí is a small town on the Uruguay River, along the border with Brazil.
Maurice Ravel “Daphnis et Chloé”
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer and pianist composer famed for his impressionist style. He was one of France’s greatest composers of the early 20th century. Though French, he was born in a Basque town near the Spanish border. Ravel is best known for his “Bolero” (1928).
Daphnis et Chloé, Suites No1 and No2M (1912) is a complex orchestral ballet. It was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, the dance company that popularized ballet in the modern period. The story of the love between goatherd Daphnis and sheperdess Chloé, is considered Ravel’s orchestral masterpiece.
This is a truly regal Spanish concert.
Get tickets at from $30 at lincolncenter.org
For more information on Teatro Real, visit teatroreal.es