The Colón season: chamber opera, ballet, concerts

A couple of weeks ago I anticipated the Colón’s main opera season; in this article I will referred to other programmed activities. A good initiative of recent years has been the resuscitation of the Colón Chamber Opera after long decades of silence. In late December last year they offered the South-American premiere of Gazzaniga’s “Don Giovanni” ; they are repeating the piece in April, which is most welcome, as this allows us to hear another Giovanni to compare with Mozart’s. Dates: April 25, 26 and 28. On August 4, 6 and 8 they will revive a charming opera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, “Il Campiello”, after a 30-year absence; a “campiello” is a Venetian square and a center for lively gossip and comedy in the composer’s witty imagination. Come November the Colón will be closed for renovation but the Chamber Orchestra will be active elsewhere premiering Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Greek” (1988) on a potent text by Steven Berkoff based on his play. We will thus have a chance to meet the British avantgarde, which I find very positive. Dates: November 9, 10, 11, 12, 17 and 19. The Colón’s Center for Experimentation will have a busy year. I don’t see eye to eye with them in some of their projects, which seem to me lab experiences rather than finished works -which is what the Colón should offer- but some stuff offered this season may be interesting. Their venue has been recently renovated, and it certainly needed it, for the place was dark and uncomfortable ( I suppose this has changed now). They will start in May with a premiere by Salvatore Sciarrino, “Infinito Nero”; this composer’s “Lohengrin” had a well-received premiere a couple of years ago. Mezzosoprano Mireille Capelle and conductor Guy Vandromme will intervene. The programme will be completed with “How can I tell the difference?” by Robert Ashley in a video realisation by Kurt Ralske. Pure experimentation in June: “Technological monologues” will feature singer Fátima Miranda, composer and bassist Stefano Scodanibio, musician and visual artist Arnaldo Antunes and choreographer Carlos Casella. July will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Mauricio Kagel (the Argentine composer has resided in Germany for almost all his career), controversial as ever. Just the enunciation of the pieces shows the “enfant terrible” vividly: “A breeze”, fugitive action for 111 cyclists (in a video?); “Mare Nostrum” (“Discovery, liberation and conversion of the Mediterranean by an Amazonian tribe”); and the eight pieces of “The Mariner’s Compass” for tearoom orchestra. There will be an addition to the Kagel works (presumably in several sessions): eight artists, choreographers and directors will create pieces inspired by Kagel’s music. August: “Cuentos de la Selva”, opera, music by Marcelo Toledo on Horacio Quiroga’s book. Musical direction: Santiago Santero. September: “Eterna flotación: Los monstruito”, “reprogrammation” of the opera by Enrique Fogwill and Oscar Edelstein . October: two works composed by Thierry De Mey: “Light music” with Jean Geoffroy, percussion and conductor; and “Tipekke”, with film by De Mey, choreography by Anne Thérese de Keersmarker, and Francois Deppe playing cello (collaboration with Grame, Centre National de Création Musicale, Lyon). This programme will be the introduction to the Residences for composers and choreographers: the creators will be Anna Veijalainen, Jimena Paz, Luis Garay and Laura Andel. The CETC will do in March and April a European tour with Wolfgang Rihm’s opera “Jakob Lenz”, presented here two years ago. The Colón Ballet unfortunately won’t offer the announced Ginastera evening, at least in the dates mentioned at the press conference; it would have presented “Aire de tango” (Ana María Stekelman, music by several composers), and two Ginastera works: “Cantata para América Mágica”, Luis Arrieta choreographer; and the suite from “Estancia” choreographed by Oscar Araiz. Instead we will have a revival of last year’s Prokofiev-Araiz “Romeo and Juliet” (March 11, 12, 18 and 19). Another revival in April 12, 15, 19, 21, 22 and 23: “La Sylphide”, choreography Mario Galizzi based on Bournonville, music by Hermann Lovenskjold, conductor Carlos Calleja with the B.A. Philharmonic. The only valuable thing I have already announced for it is a mixed opera-ballet Stravinsky evening that includes “Les Noces”, “Le Rossignol” and “Petrushka” , all in Araiz choreographies. And still another well-worn revival to end the year: Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”, choreography by Galizzi based on Petipa and Carter; with Marianela Nunez, Thiago Soares and Luis Ortigoza. September 15, 16, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27 and 30. The Ballet will also tour with “Romeo and Juliet” in our provinces and Montevideo in May, October and November. Due to an initiative by its Musical Director Stefan Lano, the Colón Orchestra will present several important concerts: Mahler’s Second Symphony (March 24), Bruckner’s Eighth (July 5), Mahler’s Ninth (September 6) and Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis” (December 21). The B.A. Philharmonic will have to offer four compensatory concerts for last year’s subscribers (they weren’t played then due to labor troubles), details unannounced. Their subscription concerts will be consequently reduced from 20 to 16. The main conductor will be Arturo Diemecke. The programming will honour Mozart in the 250th anniversary of his death, and there will be homages to others: Shostakovich, Schumann, Ginastera. Conductors will include Max Bragado, Pedro Calderón, Rossen Milanov, Ronald Zollman, Lior Shambadal, Kenneth Jean and Lihua Tan. Soloists, apart from B.A.Phil first desks, will offer Clara Csordas, mezzosoprano; Luis Ascot and Alexander Marcovich, piano; singers Adriana Mastrángelo and Ana María González, and cellist Ricardo Sciammarella. 02/03/06 para el Buenos Aires Herald