Carlos Alvarez, Xabier Anduaga, Robert Carsen, Riccardo Frizza, the production of Turandot del Liceu and the artistic and educational project Zarza del Teatro de la Zarzuela will be awarded next Saturday 11 September at the third edition of the Opera XXI Awards.
Next Saturday 11 of September, from 8pm., the third edition of the Opera XXI Awards will be held, the national lyrical awards, that will be carried out in person at Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela.
The awards that will be delivered next Saturday, in a ceremony led by the director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Daniel Bianco, and stage director Bárbara Lluch, recognize the best of the Spanish scenarios in the interpretation work (best singer and best young singer), musical direction (best director), operatic production (best stage director, best new production, best Latin American production) and the most prominent initiative to promote lyricism during the season 2019-2020, the cycle that interrupted the pandemic and forced the scenic spaces to close down during the worst months of Covid19.
The gala of the third Opera XXI Awards is the first reunion of the highest representatives of the theaters, festivals and lyrical seasons in our country since March 2019, date of the first edition of these awards, since the second edition had to be carried out in streaming. A good number of artists will also be present at the delivery, personalities of the cultural world, social and political and professionals of the main theaters, festivals and lyrical seasons of Spain.
"We are especially excited to meet again in person, after so many months of enormous effort on the part of all theaters, festivals and seasons; of the artists and the magnificent professional teams that we have”, says the president of Opera XXI, Oriol Aguilà. “It was a grueling few months for everyone and we hope to have left the worst of this pandemic behind.. It is a pride to be part of a sector, of a cultural activity, which has been the admiration of the world for his ability to organize and get ahead. It is necessary to value that the opera and zarzuela of our country are today international benchmarks ". In fact, the entire gala will be a tribute to the public, to artists and professionals in the lyrical sector, and will feature the performance of prominent artists from the lyrical scene of our country.
For the celebration of the ceremony, all the health prevention and control measures that the Teatro de la Zarzuela applies to its shows will be taken into account., both in the living room and backstage, to guarantee the maximum safety and comfort of both the public and the artists who will participate in the course of the gala. The show will last approximately one hour and twenty minutes, Y will be broadcast by OperaVision international platforms, ART channel, MyOperaPlayer, in addition to on the web www.operaxxi.com and on the youtube channel of the Teatro de la Zarzuela.
The edition of the awards that symbolize the stoppage due to the pandemic in the Spanish seasons is absolutely exceptional and includes an award for the Best Digital Initiative during lockdown, in order to highlight and value the activities, the generosity and effort developed in the digital and audiovisual field by theaters, seasons and festivals since March 2019, within the framework of social distancing and security measures to prevent the spread of Covid19 in our country. The award ceremony will be held in person at the Teatro de la Zarzuela next 11 September 2021.
The President of Ópera XXI acknowledges that: "It is important, remembering, remember those first closings and cancellations, the uncertainty of a completely new and unknown situation for us and the path of constant reinvention that we have traveled up to now. Once again the essential character of our activity and its social and economic dimension were revalidated. That is why we want the next 11 September be a celebration of all that, that we can finally be united and continue to strengthen ties and that it be the first step in a cycle of seasons, he 20/21, completely different and hopeful ".
The jury of this edition, that met at the Teatro Real in Madrid last 10 May 2021, It is made up of people of recognized prestige and with a deep knowledge of current national lyrical activity. It was integrated by critics and specialized journalists, representatives of the main national and international media, Gonzalo Alonso, Maricel Chavarría, José Luis Jiménez, Alejandro Martínez, Jesus Ruiz Mantilla, Richard Martet, Fernando Sans-Rivière, Eva Sandoval, Victoria Stapells, Javier Pérez Senz, Ana Vega Toscano and manager Andrés Rodríguez, representing and vice president of Opera Latin America (OLA). Also present in the deliberations were the president of Ópera XXI, Oriol Aguilà, the secretary of the association, José Monforte, and the coordinator of the awards, Nieves Pascual.
further, These awards include the granting of three honorary awards: to personal trajectory, to the cultural institution and the drive for patronage, appointed in Assembly by all members of Opera XXI.
Honors, III OPERA XXI AWARDS
CARLOS ÁLVAREZ
He Best Singer Award it's for the baritone Carlos Alvarez (Málaga, 1966), for his portrayal of the role of Rodrigo from the opera ‘Don Carlo’, Verdi, at the Teatro Colón, September 2019, within the lyrical programming organized by the Friends of the Opera of A Coruña.
Carlos Álvarez has one of the most solid careers in the opera scene in recent times. He has sung in the most important arenas in the world, like La Scala in Milan, ROH Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Staatsoper de Viena o La Arena de Verona, in addition to being acclaimed year after year in the main stages of our country. Among his many awards, a Grammy Award stands out (2001), the Cannes Classical Award and the Gold Medal for Fine Arts (2003), the prestigious title of Kammersänger the Vienna Opera (2013) and holds the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Malaga. In season 2019/2020 He also played the character of Alfonso XI in the opera ‘The favorite’, Donizetti, in the Cervantes Theater in Malaga.
CARLOS CHAUSSON
The jury also awarded a Special mention within this section to the bass-baritone Carlos Chausson (Zaragoza, 1950), for his portrayal of the title role in the opera ‘Don Pasquale’ in the Maestranza Theater in Seville in October 2019.
Chausson started his career in San Diego, singing the role of Masseto 'Don Giovanni’. From that moment he began to stand out in the main companies in the United States, and later in the main opera theaters in the world and in Spain, in cities like Vienna, Zurich, Milan, Berlin, Barcelona or Madrid, and at major festivals, like salzburg. Its wide repertoire includes ‘The Barber of Seville', 'The Marriage of Figaro', 'So do all of them', 'The Italian in Algiers', ‘The daughter of the regimen’ o ‘Cinderella', among others, always standing out for the enormous mastery with which he approaches the buffoon roles.
XABIER ANDUAGA
the tenor Xabier Anduaga you will receive the Best Young Singer Award for his brilliant path of success, what, their 26 years, has already established him as one of the best interpreters of today with a outstanding national and international career.
Voice of the Orfeón Donostiarra from the 7 years, Xabier Anduaga (Saint Sebastian, 1995) participate from 2016 at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, opened the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo with great success in 2018, was the great winner of the Operalia contest held in Prague in 2019 Y, at your age, and with just five years of career, An important gap has already been opened in several of the most prestigious national and international theaters and festivals, the result of an undeniable virtuosity. He debuted the role of Ferrando at the Teatro de la Maestranza in October 2020; that same month he participated in the concert ‘Viva el bel canto’ by Amigos de Ópera de A Coruña, participated in the ‘Christmas Stars’ gala at AGAO last December.
RICCARDO FRIZZA
He Best Musical Director Award is for Riccardo Frizza, for his work leading the functions of ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’, Donizetti, in ABAO Bilbao Ópera (Euskalduna) in October 2019.
Musical director of the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo since 2017, Riccardo Frizza regularly conducts in theaters, musical institutions and most important festivals on the international scene and has been in charge of several of the main orchestras in the world. His presence is also common in coliseums and festivals in our country, Where, in 2021 has directed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu The Tales of Hoffmann and the concert The three queens with the final scenes of Donizetti's Tudor trilogy (Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda Y Roberto Devereux) with soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. In September he will return to the Royal Theater inaugurating his season with Cinderella. He specializes in the Italian repertoire of composers such as Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Verdi and Puccini.
ROBERT CARSEN
He Best Stage Direction Awarda is for Robert Carsen, for his proposals for the opera Elektra, Richard Strauss, at Palau de les Arts from Valencia in January 2020, and for his work in the Teatro Real for the functions of The Valkyrie, Wagner, on February 2020.
Born in Toronto, Robert Carsen studied at the Old Vic Theater and for five years was an assistant at the Glyndebourne Festival. He has directed titles such as'The dead City' at the Komische Oper in Berlin, 'Der Rosenkavalier' in the Royal Opera House in London, ‘Don Giovanni and Katia Kabanová’ at the La Scala Theater in Milan, o ‘Wozzeck’, ‘Agrippina’ y ‘The Turn of the Screw’ en el Theater an der Wien. If something defines his style, it is the combination of visual poetry and movement., that he has brilliantly applied in his post-apocalyptic aesthetic to the Wagnerian work in the Madrid Coliseum and to reach the emotional guts of Strauss's protagonist at the Elektra in Valencia.
TURANDOT, Gran Teatre del Liceu
The award for Best New Production is for the Turandot, Puccini, programmed by the Gran Teatre del Liceu in October 2019.
Futuristic and poetic bet, this montage with which the Barcelona video artist Franc Aleu debuted as stage director, with Susana Gómez from Oviedo as co-director, filled the stage with visual metaphors, colors and textures, making use of the latest technologies. The Teatre del Liceu inaugurated the season 2019/2020 with this title, that had an important creative team in which they appear, as well as Franc Aleu and Susana Gómez, the scenery Carles Berga (and Franc Aleu), he locker room from Chu Uroz, multimedia technologies Jose Vaaliña, Marco Filibeck lighting, 3d art infographic of Nile Pond, Martina Ampuero and Romà Hereter; assistance to the stage direction of Salva Bolta, assistance to the changing room of Joana Poulastrou, lighting assistance Oscar Frosio, construction of the scenery of Delfini Group S.R.L., making the wardrobe of Pachuco, Txu, S.L.; multimedia technologies Eyesberg Studio, robots for scene Universal Robots and its integration by Iberfluid Systems and the programmer VR App Giuseppe Morittu.
ZARZA PROJECT, THEATER OF THE ZARZUELA
The Award for Best Development Initiative of the Lyric is for him Zarza project, artistic and outreach project created by the director the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Daniel Bianco, with the aim that the young generations know the Spanish lyrical heritage, to approach new audiences and to open the door to new generations of artists.
The motto of the project is "Zarzuela made by young people and for young people" and to date, in its five editions, has adapted four classics of our boy genre: 'The revoltosa', ‘The duo of the African’, ‘La Verbena de la Paloma’, and water, sugars and brandy ', and has submitted an original title, the recent ‘Amores en zarza’, whose story unfolds through a selection of musical numbers from different zarzuelas. Starring artists from between 18 Y 30 years, the works of ‘Zarza’ adapt the texts and the scene to the contemporaneity of the new public.
MY OPERA PLAYER / PERALADA LIVESTREAM FESTIVAL
The jury of the Opera XXI Awards awarded ex aequo the Best Digital Initiative Award during confinement to the plataforma My Opera Player, the video library platform of the Teatro Real, and to Peralada Livestream Festival.
After the theaters closed in March 2020, because of Covid19, and during the toughest months of the pandemic, the Teatro Real consolidated the projection of its audiovisual platform and offered all its contents to the world, so that thousands of people could enjoy its extensive catalog openly and with free access to content. further, expanded its offer of shows and incorporated new sections to offer a documentary and didactic vision and enrich the user experience.
Given the impossibility of offering their shows in person in July 2020, the Peralada International Festival reinvented itself and launched the Peralada Livestream Festival, an exceptional edition adapted to the situation and totally free that took place in the Carme area of the Peralada castle and featured artists such as bailaora María Pagés, the soprano Sabina Puértolas, the musical director Josep Pons at the head of the Liceu Symphony Orchestra; or the singer and composer Alfonso de Vilallonga. The festival developed in parallel an informative campus and an exhibition space.
OLA AWARD, in collaboration with Ópera Latinoamérica
The Award for Best New Latin American Production fell on the production of ‘The Italian in Algiers’, Rossini, that could be seen in the Municipal Theater of Santiago de Chile in October 2019, with stage direction by Rodrigo Navarrete and musical by José Miguel Pérez-Sierra.
Navarrete places the action between the end of the 60 and early 70 twentieth century, at a time that is linked and thus interspersed in its proposal with the independence of Algeria (1962), the appearance of the mini skirt (Mary Quant) and the first important female leaderships.
After reading the jury record and revealing the record of the third edition, the secretary of Opera XXI and general director of the Palau de les Arts de Valencia, José Monforte, stressed that: "They have been complicated months for lyrical. Therefore, these awards are especially important this year. They symbolize the effort of many people in the sector to overcome the uncertainty and difficulties of a season that was cut short by the pandemic. Culture is necessary and, Besides, economic motor. We are excited and eager to continue working and see our theaters again filled with 100% gauging”.
The director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Daniel Bianco, remarked for his part during which this time of pandemic "It has served to determine the place that corresponds to us, our ability to react to the most serious and unexpected problems ". Who are part of Ópera XXI, added, "We have been for many months a beacon of world poetry, mirror where from any corner of the world they have wanted to look at themselves. An example of how you can act in the most responsible way without giving up raising the curtain every night. And the public, that at the end of the day is the one who gives us life, that is how he understood it; he wanted it that way. We have learned, definitely, that culture is increasingly necessary and, Of course, safe".
HONORARY AWARDS
EMILIO SAGI
During the first week of May, Opera XXI Assembly, held at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, established the honorary awards of this third edition of the Opera XXI Awards.