The edition 2022 of the Opera Benicàssim Lyrical Festival (Castellón) promise this summer, one more year, fill the city with lyrics. the pageant, organized by the Benicàssim City Council, will feature great artists from the national and international scene. The mayor, Susana Marqués, together with the Councilor for Culture of the City Council, Javier Alonso, to the artistic director of the contest, Roberto Turlo and Marcello Pérez Pose, Director of the Zarzuela Around the World Association and the promoter AIM-América Iber Música, have presented this morning at a press conference their XIV edition, to be held 1 al 6 of August, and that has four concerts and two artistic encounters, activities that will take place in their usual settings, the Francesc Tàrrega Municipal Theater and the Villa Elisa municipal palace.
As the mayor has commented, “the Benicàssim Opera Lyric Festival adds to the great cultural offer that the municipality has and that combines proposals of different genres. One more year, and for a week, We will again bring all citizens closer to the possibility of enjoying this musical style that, after 14 years, has already been consolidated in our municipality within the Benicàssim brand, city of festivals”.
Meanwhile, the councilor for culture, Javier Alonso, He highlighted that the program –prepared by Ópera Benicàssim together with AIM-América Iber Música– will feature singers “of recognized prestige and consolidated careers, but also welcoming young artists, that represent the future”.
The artistic director of the contest, the oboe soloist of the Valencia Orchestra Roberto Turlo, commented that the offer 2022 owns severalreading levels” with proposals designed for you to enjoy “both fans of the world of opera and zarzuela, like any viewer who is interested in music and culture in general and, even, those who simply want to enjoy a great show in the heat of summer. They will have at their disposal a wide variety of repertoire with a high level of artistic excellence. We also like that whoever comes to the festival enjoys all the concerts on offer, and not just one of them”, says the musician from Benicassim.
This year there is a commitment to consecrated figures who are much loved by the public, like that of the Minorcan bass-baritone Simón Orfila, “a singer with an extensive career who is at a very sweet moment in his career, who will perform a duet with the outstanding Andalusian soprano Mariola Cantarero; It will surely be a great party in which we can enjoy the sympathy and the great power of communication and complicity that both artists have, this time accompanied on the piano by Miguel Huertas”.
The mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham will debut at the Festival, “an internationally renowned singer who has just toured with Simon Rattle and the London Symphony, In addition to being present in important international operatic stages, being one of the great interpreters of Carmen of the moment.. In Benicàssim, accompanied by the Soloists of Valencia, the Israeli performer will show her great versatility in a program in which rhythms and melodies will sound
Gershwin's Americanas and cabaret overtones with works by authors such as Kurt Weill, George Forrest o John Kander”, assures Turlo.
Before, he 2 of August, will open the contesta consolidated and spectacular voice”, in the words of the artistic director: the tenor Eduardo Sandoval, who just performed Aida e The Troubadour in Verdi. “will offer us, next to J's piano. Ramon Martin, a highly contrasted program that includes Neapolitan and Spanish songs, in addition to zarzuela, a musical menu that the public will surely enjoy”.
Benicàssim, one more year, supports the new generations of artists and this year bets on the young Valencian sopranist Rafael Quirant, “a high quality voice, owner of a type of string that has never been heard at the Festival; recent winner of the Musical Youth contest, has already been able to debut on big stages with excellent reviews. It will offer us a trip through history, from Monteverdi to Rossini through Gluck and Martín y Soler, but also with works by Turina and even some copla, all with piano and guitar accompaniment”.
As well, as every year, the Festival promotes popular meetings between the public and the artists, both in colloquiums and in “open trials” in which, once the work of the interpreters is finished, “attendees have the opportunity to talk with them, an initiative that we started a few editions ago with great success. In the presentations this year we will have a meeting dedicated to the zarzuela presented by Marcello Pérez Pose, director of the Zarzuela Around the World Association, and that will feature figures such as the mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera”, who will explain experiences around the Spanish lyrical genre on stages around the world. “We believe it is important for the public to know first-hand how artists, programmers and cultural promoters experience the world of music.. In the meetings we will also have Simón Orifla and Mariola Cantarero to learn the ins and outs that an operatic or zarzuela production entails and the artistic process in general”, concludes Roberto Turlo.