Veranos de la Villa- summer concerts

Every summer the city hall puts on a series on concerts known as the Veranos de la Villa, which takes places across different spaces across the city and attracts artists from different styles of music and dance from all corners of the globe. There will be many events taking place- far too many to list here, but here are a few picks:

29/6- 10/7 Swan Lake on ice (El lago de los cisnes) at the Sabatini Gardens. It may be scorching hot, but this performance on ice looks great for the family. It's performed by the Imperial Ice Stars, a famous ice skating performance company, who have toured the world with this production. In case you're wondering whether the ice will melt, the performance takes place in a specially constructed theatre.

6/7 Lila Downs in concert at the Escenario de Puerta del Ángel. Lila Downs is an internationlly acclaimed Mexican folk singer, who rose to fame after the release of the film Frida, which featured her music. Well worth going to see as she has an incredibly powerful voice.

7/7 Miguel Poveda in concert at the Escenario de Puerta del Ángel. One of Spain's best loved contemporary flamenco stars, yet still performs in a very traditional way. Don't miss it if you want to see some real flamenco!

13/7 Camilo & Tomatito in concert at the Escenario de Puerta del Ángel. Camilo is a jazz musican from the Domincan Republic and Tomatito is one of Spain's best flamenco performers. Here they come together to perform an interesting concert of flamenco-jazz with a touch of latino.

13/7- 24/7 Agua, Azucarcillos y Aguadiente- La Verbena de la Paloma at the Sabatini Gardens. The Sabatini Gardens, next to the Royal Palace are the perfect place to catch a traditional zarzuela on a balmy summer night.

28/7 Afrocubism in concert at the Escenario de Puerta del Ángel. Afrocubism is a project between the Cuban legends the Buena Vista Social Club and a group of musicans from Mali, mixing latino and African styles. It certainly looks an interesting mix!

18/8- 28/8 The Barber of Sevilla at the Sabatini Gardens. Enjoy one of the world's best loved operas in the magical setting of the Royal Palace. It should be unforgettable.

There are many more events including flamenco, world music, opera and dance performances and to see the full programme to buy tickets, visit the Veranos de la Villa website (unfortunately all in Spanish).

La Revoltosa- one of the most loved pieces of zarzuela comes to the Teatros del Canal

No visit to Spain would be complete without a visit to the theatre to see some traditional Spanish zarzuela (operetta). Running from 30th April until 8th May at the Teatros del Canal, is La Revoltosa, the story of a beautiful rebellious young women who causes quite a stir in a typical working class barrio of Madrid during the 19th century. Written by Carlos Fernández Shaw and José López Silva, with music by Ruperto Chapí,  it has come to be one of the best loved zarzuelas since it was first perfromed in Barcelona back in 1897.


You can catch the performance at the Sala Verde at the Teatros del Canal 30/4-8/5. Performances Tues-Sat 7pm and 9pm, Sundays 6pm and 8pm. Ticket prices vary between 15€-25€ and can be bought here.

A season of zarzuela coming to the Teatro Madrid

 

No visit to Spain would be complete without going to see a zarzuela (typical Spanish operetta) performance. The Teatro de Madrid will be hosting a season of zarzuela performances in April performed by the Innova Lyrica company. There are three different shows and run as follows:

LA ROSA DEL AZAFRÁN (31 March-3 April)

BLACK, EL PAYASO(7-10 April) 

LOS GAVILANES(14-17 April)

Tickets cost 14- 22€ and can be bought here. The Teatro de Madrid is located on Avda de la Ilustracion, near metro Herrera Oria (L9).

Mayca Teba premieres the Zarzuela "Quo Vadis" by R.Chapí

After 110 years of absence, this crazy magic zarzuela with music and libretto by R.Chapí and libretto by S. Delgado, returns to the stage in Madrid next March 26th at 20h in the Auditorio Padre Soler at the Universidad Carlos III in Leganes.
Mayca Teba, soprano from Seville will be accompanied by the baritone from Mallorca Tomeu Bibiloni "Quo Vadis" is an operetta filled with adventure, fun that will delight the audience.

Zarzuela: El Estreno de una Artista/Gloria y Peluca

The Teatro de la Zarzuela are presenting another excellent zarzuela production, this time a double programme of El Estreno de una Artista and Gloria y Peluca. If you don't know what a zarzuela is, it's a typcial Spanish operetta. You can find out more about this tradition on an article we made about zarzuela a few months ago (A Guide to Zarzuela). The first part of the performance takes place in Florence in the year 1850. Two young Spanish singers keen to be opera singers in the court of the Grand Duke, have their attempts impeded by Astucio, fearing they will be rivals to his wife Marietta. However Astucio's plan fails when both he and Marietta fall out of favour with the Grand Duke. In the second part, Gloria y Peluca, we see Astucio and Marietta (now known Marcelo and María) working as costume makers for the Grand Duke's opera company. Upon hearing the great success of the two Spanish singers after a performing a Bellini opera, Marcelo decides he wants to perform his own opera in the court, however this time María refuses to return to performing.

The performace runs until 13th March between Weds-Sun at the Teatro de la Zarzuela. (Calle Jovellanos 4, metro: Sevilla L2). Tickets can be bought at the theatre box office or from  http://www.servicaixa.com

Zarzuela, the life story of Amadeu Vives

If you are curious about zarzuela (the typical Spanish operetta) you will enjoy Amadeu, which tells the life story of Amadeo Vives, one of Spain's most famous zarzuela composers. The production is directed by Albert Boadilla, perhaps Spain's most distinguished theatre director. 21st January-13th February 2011, Sala Roja. Tickets are available from the website entradas.com and cost between 19€-40€. There are some discounts available.

Here's sneak preview of the production:

El Barberillo de Lavapiés

As part of our series about zarzuela, we thought we would write some features about the different performances. The first one we have chosen is El Barberillo de Lavapies, perhaps one of the most loved.

This particular zarzuela written by the prolific Francisco Aserijo Barbieri, with libretto by Luis Mariano de Larra in the 1870s, which many would say was its golden age. It was performed for the first time in the Teatro de Zarzuela, Madrid in December 1874, where it received wide acclaim and still today it is very well known and much loved. It's a story of many twists, it has moments of humour, passion, satire and seriousness, whilst the musical score is cleverly written and very melodic.

The piece is set in 18th century Madrid and takes places in the the traditional neighbourhoods of Lavapiés and La Latina. In fact many of the streets and buildings mentioned are still here today. During the period the piece is set, Madrid was going through a very turbulent time, with many uprisings against the ruling class and much violence and disorder on the streets. This provides the main crux for the plot as the main characters are rebelling against the government's repression on the streets.

Act One

The act opens to the scene of religious festival. The streets are full of people celebrating, however given the political crisis, the Walloon Guards of the much loathed Prime Minister Grimaldi are on patrol. On stage is Lamparilla, a boisterous barber and rogue. He is in love with Paloma, a dressmaker to Madrid's wealthy. The Marquess of Bierza and Don Juan de Peralta enter and they are very critical of Grimaldi and his repressive ways. They want to devise a plan to overthrow him and let Floridablanca take charge. However when the Marquess bumps into her fiancé Don Luis, who is the nephew of Grimaldi she has to be quiet. The two decide to hide in an inn, but they are quickly ruffled by the troops, which leads to a duel.

In order to plan the overthrowing, they pair need help, so the Marquess asks Paloma what to do. They pair return to the celebrations in disguise however when Don Luis arrives, quick thinking Lamparilla leads her away. Things start to stir up when Don Luis learns of the plot involving his fiancé and the guards set out to arrest them.

Act Two

On a square in the Lavapiés neighbourhood, Lamparilla appears and everyone is happy. He boasts about his acts, but actually he was set free only after the Marquess bribed the prison guards. The Marquess wants Lamparilla to join the conspiracy and tells Paloma she will pay for their wedding if she can convince him. Lamparilla would be needed to distract the guards by breaking lampposts whilst the others put the plan into action. The plan is to arrange a meeting between Grimaldi and Floridablanca. The Marquess forbids Paloma from seeing Don Luis in the days before the plan is carried out. Whilst the conspirators are at work, Don Luis finds out and arrives at their house with the guards. They have been tipped off. However the group managed to make a quick escape from the Marquess's house by making a hole in the wall.

Act Three

The final scene takes place in Paloma's room in Calle Toledo, where she is singing about her goldfinch as she sews. She has been shut up in her house since the plot. Her next plan is to help Don Luis and the Marquess to escape the city, however this she keeps to herself. The Marquess in her specially made outfit and Don Luis arrive; they are ready to leave with the others for the country. But the guards intercept and arrest Paloma, the Marquess and Don Luis. Only Laparilla escapes. He triumphantly declares that Floridablanca is in now charge and that Grimaldi has been overthrown. This means that Don Luis will have to go into exile and the Marquess, being faithful to her fiancé leaves with him. Paloma gets released from prison and becomes reunited with Lamparilla. The performance ends with them declare their eternal love for each other.

Zarzuela- a guide

A zarzuela performance

Zarzuela is a type of opera which orginates in Spain and has been performed since the 17th century. It sometimes includes elements of dance and other types of song and is accompanied by an orchestra. The genre can be divided into two distinct periods; baroque (the earliest form) and romantic which dates from the mid 19th centry up to modern times. The name zarzuela comes from the Palacio de Zarzuela, a residence of the King of Spain and where it was first perfomed in the 1650s.

A poster for Vives's Doña Francisquita

Early pieces were influenced greatly by classical mythology and religion, whilst in the 18th century it became more influenced by Italian operatic styles and more traditional styles fell out of fashion. By the 19th century, zarzuelas became rather like costume dramas and told the tale of every day life as well as containing lots of popular slang and colloquialisms. As many people could not afford the cost of the theatre, smaller variety theatres sprang up so working class people too could enjoy perfomances. The popularity of zarzuela continued into the 20th centry, with significant figures such as Catalan born Amadeo Vives emerging. However with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil war in 1936, the genre began to decline rapidly and very little has been composed since then. It was perhaps the emergence of recordings by international opera stars such as Placido Domingo which saved zarzuela from extinction. The genre has also been exported to other Spanish speaking countries, notably Cuba and Mexico where performance styles have been mixed with local culture. Likewise the Basque Country and Catalonia have their own versions. Zarzuela is still popularly enjoyed today amongst Spanish people and tourists will find plenty of places to see a show. We recommend:

El Teatro de la Zarzuela (dedicated to the genre)

Teatros del Canal (they include various performances in their varied programme of productios)

Zarzuela.net (contains zarzuela listings)

Famous zarzuela pieces:

El Golfo de la Sirenas- Calderón de la Barca (one of the earliest pieces)

Pan y Toros- Francisco Barbieri

El Juramento- Joaquín Gaztambide

La Gran Vía- Federico Chueca

El Barberillo de Lavapiés- Francisco Barbier

Los Claveles- José Serrano

Bohemios- Amadeo Vives

Doña Francisquita- Amadeo Vives

El Huesped del Sevillano- Jacinto Guerrero

If you are still interested in the genre, we have written up the story and history of El Barberillo de Lavapiés. Click to visit.

Here's a video of Spanish soprano star Mayca Teba, who has perfomed globally and alongside greats such as Plácido Domingo, singing Dúo Pero Capitan from the zarzuela La Canción del Olvido. To hear more of Mayca's music, visit www.maycateba.com