Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The Uruguayan soprano María José Siri and the Spanish tenor Sergio Escobar will star in an “intimate and grandiose Aida” at the Pérez Galdós theater in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which, according to the interpreter who will do the Radamès paper, contains the most romantic duets written by Verdi.
The two singers, together with the mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi, the baritone Arriunbaatar Ganbaatar, the musical director José Miguel Pérez Sierra and the stage director Daniele Piscopo, have presented the second title of the 56th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Opera Season at a press conference. Canaria, which will be performed on March 14, 16 and 18, for the fifth time in its program after 30 years.
An opera in which all of them, as well as the artistic director of the Festival, Ulises Jaén, have coincided in highlighting its complexity due to the number of people required to represent it, which also includes three ballets -on this occasion it is starring the company of Natalia Medina-, so it is not explained how it could be set up in the Pérez Galdós theater before the reform due to the space it needs.
At the most critical moment of the work, three and a half hours long, its “colossal finale”, about 200 people coincide on stage, the eight singers, twelve dancers, two choirs, the orchestra and an internal band of 20 musicians. .
A CHALLENGE
It represents quite a challenge for Piscopo y Sierra, who makes his debut with this title that “carries in his blood”, like any music lover and music student and who hopes to conduct many more times because he is “passionate about it”.
Sierra has highlighted that there are many challenges that the triumphant scene entails and, precisely, these difficulties will allow him to turn his “great vocation for service”, which is the essential quality that, in his opinion, a musical director must have.
He has been convinced that it will be a “great Aida”, classic and faithful to the original script, because it brings together “all the wickers”; some “dream” singers and an orchestra, the Gran Canaria Philharmonic, which is going through “an extraordinary moment”.
The tenor Sergio Escobar, who has confessed that he is delighted to sing again at the Pérez Galdós theater, has considered his role “exciting”, which always represents a challenge “due to the variety of eroic registers” it contains and which is the fifth time that She interprets it, although every time she sings it she discovers nuances and her character evolves.
A LITTLE FORCED AIDA
Nor will it be her first “Aida” for María José Siri, since it was in 2002 when she decided to do it in a somewhat forced way, since then she was still a pianist and was beginning her singing studies, and since then there have already been 26 productions that have given her 150 performances followed, to which he always imprints his personality, but they are all different, although he remains with the first, “so devoid of tradition”.
The Uruguayan soprano has also sung it at the Verona Arena, in Italy, with the Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi, who plays the role of Amneris, a role that she has acknowledged that she likes “very much” and that she is happy to interpret in the Pérez Galdós theatre, for its audience and for the artists chosen for the occasion, all of whom are already well-known at the festival, except for the Mongolian baritone Ganbaatar, who is making his debut in Spain and Western Europe.
Uluises Jaén has highlighted the “great role” played by Amonasro, whom he had the opportunity to listen to seven years ago.
A SMALLER THEATER
The stage director, who had to replace the author of the dramaturgical project a month ago, Guilio Ciabati, has emphasized the difficulty of the work due to the number of people who are concentrated on the stage and, furthermore, in a theater that it does not have the dimensions of the Verona Arena.
It has been an “enormous challenge” to organize all the props, the extras, the dancers, the two choirs -the Amigos Canarios de la Ópera and the Philharmonic Orchestra-, the scene movements, which has required “precision and intelligence” , stated Piscopo, who garnered good reviews with the festival’s previous title, “Fedora”, which he hopes to achieve again with “Aida”, which also includes sets by Italo Grassi, the “best in Italy”.
Jaén has confessed that this new production of Amigos Canarios de la Ópera is the most complicated staging he has ever faced and it will be an opportunity for the Canarian artists who take part in it and there are many. EFE