Federico García Lorca comes to life at the Met: ‘Ainadamar’

Federico García Lorca comes to life at the Met.

“Lorca, what he has is that he is still alive. He continues to live and appears more and more. He is not a poet of time, let’s say,” said Osvaldo Golijov.

Ainadamar, the first opera by Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov, explores the life, death and legacy of the Spanish composer through various characters, including García Lorca himself played in this work by a woman.

“Opera was not my mother tongue, let’s say, but it always interested me. And well, the challenge is to create a drama that goes from beginning to end, that the music tells the story both in the voices and in the orchestra,” said Golijov.

Ainadamar, which means Fountain of Tears, was shown for the first time in 2003 at the Tanglewood Festival but this is the first time it comes to the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

“Ainadamar opens on Tuesday, October 15th and will remain on stage until November 9th. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack plays Federico García Lorca, with soprano Angel Blue as Margarita Xirgu. Miguel Harth-Bedoya directs.

“Book your tickets: https://t.co/3tHGjtfH7C” Read a social media message from the Metropolitan Opera.

Ainadamar opens on Tuesday, October 15, and is on stage through November 9. The mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack appears as Federico García Lorca, opposite the soprano Angel Blue as Margarita Xirgu. Miguel Harth-Bedoya directs.

Book your tickets: https://t.co/3tHGjtfH7C

— Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) October 8, 2024

Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya says that what attracted him to the author’s opera is the way Golijov uses musical elements that refer to the poet such as flamenco, even with a flamenco guitar and a section cajon included in the orchestra.

“I think that these are the most intense 85 minutes that I have experienced because there is not one second in this opera in which attention is reduced,” explained Harth-Bedoya.

“All the elements that he has imagined are now being recreated visually, verbally from the point of view of the dance, even from the point of view of a vocal list, because even a flamenco singer in the middle of an opera is something that has not been done . . before that.

Golijov says he is working on a second opera after several decades. He insists that opera can be for everyone, not just the elites.

“It gives me a lot of feeling when people who are not used to listening to opera come and come out singing or whistling the tunes. It’s something they didn’t expect and that’s the biggest satisfaction for me,” said Golijov.

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