Maricel Chavarría – 5 May 2021
Viva la mamma !, by Donizetti, is the next new production by the Teatro Real in co-production with the Lyon and Geneva Operas, featuring the Basque tenor Xabier Anduaga BERTRAND STOFLETH b.stofleth@free.fr
The International Opera Awards, the so-called Lyric Oscars that have been held since 2012 in London and in person, recognized the Real as the best opera house in the world in its 2020 edition, the award considered the most important in the sector. The news was received on Monday night at the Madrid Coliseum just as Peter Grimes’s last performance ended . The public and artists reacted with euphoria to the announcement made by the public address system of the Madrid theater.
The lyrical coliseum, which competed with the Royal Opera House, the Finnish National Opera, the Frankfurt Opera, the Opèra Comique and La Monnaie / De Munt, was awarded for the 2018-2019 season, when operas such as Idomeneo, re di Creta, Je suis narcissiste, Don Carlo, L’Elisir d’amore or Il Pirata .
Precisely for his performance in this Bellini opera, he was awarded in the category of best male singer, among other productions in which he participated that season, the tenor Javier Camarena, an achievement that the Mexican singer dedicated to the entire artistic community, for demonstrating ” that music and art are essential for the human being “and that he celebrated by performing a version of the Mexican song La Malagueña .
Javier Camarena celebrated the award by interpreting the Mexican song ‘La Malagueña’
Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen won the same distinction in the female category. And in turn, the Basque tenor Xabier Anduaga was recognized as the best young talent of the year, an award that, being precisely at the Real preparing the next opera Viva la mamma !, thanked him with a short video in which he highlighted how much the reward for him and how “happy” he made him receive it. Her counterpart in the female category was the Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya
In the section for best musical direction, the Russian-Austrian Kirill Petrenko, the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Bayerische Staatsoper, was awarded, and as a lifetime achievement award the historic Dutch maestro Bernard Haitink was recognized, who retired precisely in 2019 to the age of 90. With regard to the stage direction the British Robert Carsen, who during this pandemic has been seen in Spain, specifically at the Real, his montage of Siegfried , the third installment of Wagner’s Tetralogy.
The ceremony, which was held in streaming and hosted by BBC announcer Petroc Trelawny, was followed from one of the Real’s rooms in the presence of the management team and representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Community of Madrid and the City Council of the capital.
El Real was also nominated for best orchestra, best absolute premiere for Je suis narcissiste (the opera by Raquel García-Tomás that the following month was seen at the Teatre Lliure in Barcelona) and best recording on DVD for Street Scene.
After hearing the ruling, the artistic director of the Teatro Real, Joan Matabosch, thanked the award on behalf of the entire Madrid opera team, with special mention to the national and local authorities “for supporting art during these years.” And he added: “We cannot meet or travel, but we can celebrate these awards.”
Central European concept
The Opera Awards were flexible in awarding the best company award to a theater with outsourced artistic bodies
The award that the Royal received for ‘best opera company’ is in fact designed for the concept of Central European company, that is, theaters in which everything is integrated: orchestra, choir, vocal ensemble of soloists … But the Oscars of the lyric, which were created by the British magazine Opera , showed flexibility by awarding this award of maximum excellence to a theater that has its artistic bodies outsourced.
Festivals
Peralada was in the running for ‘Festival of the Year’ but competed with Salzburg, which won the award in its centenary year
Finally, in the category of ‘Festival of the Year’ the Castell de Peralada was nominated, which competed with that of Salzburg (Austria), which celebrates its first centenary and which was finally the one that won the award.
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