Thursday 6 December 2012

December 6: Spain

I love Spain! Why? I don't really know why. Was it CARMEN by Bizet that caught me? I really want to go to Seville and experience Andalucia so Bizet's Carmen certainly has something with it. And then there is all the wonderful opera singers that come from Spain: Josep Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Jaume (Jaime/Giacomo) Aragall, Alfredo Kraus, Montserrat Caballé, Teresa Berganza and Isabel Rey. And that is just the beginning of the great list.


No Olympic Games has ever been better than Barcelona Games 1992 with their Olympic of Opera.

Who can forget the Carmen movie with Plácido Domingo and Julia Migenes, on location.

Then there is the magic of Spanish music, especially the Zarzuela.

In 1989 I got to see my first Zarzuela live, La Chulapona. In Edinburgh, of all places.

Finally, this year (2012) I got to see it in Teatro de la Zarzuela. Loved it.

Thanks to: Carreras, Domingo and Teresa Berganza did I find the gem of Zarzuela.

Thanks to Spanish theatre we have also 2 of the greatest operas by Giuseppe Verdi:
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (Duque de Rivas' Don Alvaro, y la fuerza del sino)
IL TROVATORE (EL Trovador by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez)

Of course the Spanish influence on opera and theater than that.

I wish I understood Spanish. I have visited Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid.


For reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com

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