The sixth edition of the Ópera XXI Awards, the Spanish lyrical awardsbrought together tonight the lyrical universe of our country at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. It was a ceremony that evidenced, through celebrities from different fields that they alternated speaking on stage, and that presented the 18 awards of the eveningthat opera and zarzuela have great followers in all areas.
It was the great annual festival of the lyrical profession in Spain and also the one that demonstrated, award by award, that it is an art that extends its passion to all fields of artscience, society and knowledge. Today a total of 18 awards were presented that applauded the career, creativity and talent of the opera and zarzuela stages of our country.
The evening started strong. After the initial presentation by Bárbara Lluchdirector of the ceremony, received the Best International Artist Award. Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho thanked the affection and hospitality of the Spanish stages and after collecting the award from the hands of former minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, who hoped that “politics embraces, cares for and ensures that culture is not so much a utopia, but a reality from which we can grow together”, he starred in the first musical moment of the gala and the first standing ovation after performing “Senza mamma” from Puccini’s opera Suor Angelica.
The Ópera XXI underlined its Spanish character with the recognition of the talent of Spanish artists and the variation of the figure of the award, which adopted the tilde over the characteristic “O” of the awards in reference to the Opera, and inaugurated five new categories aimed at rewarding the technical and creative value of professionals who work in the theaters and seasons of our country. The dancer María Pagés presented the Best Lighting Award to Eduardo Bravojournalist Pepa Fernández announced the award for Best Video Creation, which was collected by Franc Aleu; he costume designer Eduardo Navarrete He did the same with the Best Costume category, which brought costume designer Jesús Ruiz to the stage, and the actress Marisa Paredes presented the corresponding Best Set Design, which was collected by the set designer Daniel Bianco.
The general director of INAEM, Paz Santa Cecilia, delivered the first honorary award of the night to ABAO Bilbao Operawhich has more than 70 years of uninterrupted seasons and was collected on the stages of the Teatro de la Zarzuela by the president of the Bilbao institution, Juan Carlos Matellanes.
The Award for the Best Dissemination Initiative for operatic activity recognized the co-creation of “La gata perduda”, by the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Barcelona neighborhood of Raval, which part of art as a pillar of people’s transformationas well as with the desire for social inclusion through culture. “A neighborhood that embraces and a theater that grows and is nourished by it,” in the words of the singer Carmen Linares, in charge of announcing this award.
Choreographer Nacho Duato took the stage and spoke about “build bridges, create networks, generate and nurture a lyrical activityjust as Ópera XXI pursues in Spain”. OLA Ópera Latinoamérica works in the same way, which highlighted the work of Carlos Gomes “Il guarany”. The recovery of this work won the award in this category to the Municipal Theater of Sao Paulo, as Best New Latin American Production.
Journalist Anne Igartiburu presented the award that recognizes companies that support culture and poetry through their corporate social responsibility programs. Jesús and Fernando Encinar, co-founders of the Idealista portal, received the Honorary Patronage Initiative award as one of the most important patrons of classical music in our country. “Anyone who knows the Encinar brothers knows their passion for opera. They themselves define it as inexhaustible.” As inexhaustible is the talent of “an enormous singer who sets a standard between the scores of Verdi and those of any zarzuela”, presented the doctor and popularizer Mario Alonso Puig for Best Male Singer, Juan Jesús Rodríguez, who chose to give up his award.
He Sentimental waltz by Enrique Granados performed by pianist Ramón Grau accompanied the memory through the images of the artists and personalities linked to the world of Spanish poetry who said goodbye to us last year. The emotional moment was followed by the words of the president of Ópera XXI, Isamay Benavente, director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, who celebrated the union of the profession and the efforts of artists, creatives and managers to demonstrate year after year that opera and zarzuela form a living artunique and irreplaceable, places where we can all share and vibrate together. “Our association is dedicated to sharing ideas, to looking for better solutions for our theaters, for our activity, to trying to improve management, promoting courses, conferences… in short, exchanging knowledge.” “We are immersed in several battles: improving our taxation, working for sustainability in our spaces, promote changes that facilitate hiring and promote these Awardsthat we want to be increasingly inclusive of all sectors to make visible the work that is done in poetry.”
“So that our theaters are that sophisticated time machine that allows us to go to the past and the futurelive in the present; to help us be better people, empathetic, critical and reflective of the reality that we want and need, from here today and once again I invite you, We invite you to continue making our theaters and lyrical stages a better place that invites thought and imagination. “Always good times for poetry!” concluded the president.
Isamay Benavente presented another of the most celebrated awards of the ceremony. The one who demonstrated the devotion of the public and professionals for one of their greats: “Joan Pons’s is a life of dedication, passion, sacrifice and love for singing that has given us unforgettable nights full of magic. We admire Joan for her impeccable professional career, while at the same time We love him for his generosity and his impeccable respect by his colleagues and the stages in which he has sung.” After a video in which the baritone responded from Menorca to the love received and encouraged them to continue working to be all ambassadors of opera, “an art with a rich tradition that has an unbeatable place in the present and the future“. His daughter Joana took the stage representing the baritone to collect the award for Professional Career.
The actress Toni Acosta, who knows well that “enduring all the weight of a drama on your shoulders It can be exhausting, and it is.” She presented the Best Female Singer Award, Ángeles Blancas, and writer Elizabeth Duval, for whom “culture should talk to young people face to face and help us dream and question what surrounds us”, gave way to the Best Young Singer, Serena Sáenz, who starred in the other great musical moment of the galainterpreting the aria “Reganava nel silence” from the opera Lucia de Lammermoor, Donizetti.
“Reach for the sky, create a unique universe and build a cosmos that arises from silence and ends, again, in it.” The research scientist and astronaut Sara García Alonso alluded to the great challenges to present the Best Musical Direction Award and present the award to Josep Pons. While Juan Echanove, who received the Best Stage Direction award, had the opportunity to meeting on stage with his partner the actor José María Pou.
“Knowing where we come from to be clear about where we want to go is essential.” And he knows this well the paleonthropologist Juan Luis Arsuagawhich appealed to the important recovery work of our lyrical heritage before presenting the award to Rubén Jauquicoamanaging director of the Baluarte Foundation, after the recovery of the zarzuela “San Franco de Sena”.
“The search for new forms of expression must be constant. Tradition must be kept alive, but also knowing how to enrich and transform it. This is what “Orgia” does: it gives life to Pasolini’s work while propelling the lyric to other latitudes. Fortunate are those who find the freedom to applaud diversity and those who know how to border borders.” Dancer Ana Laguna thus announced the Award for New Contemporary Lyrical Creation for the opera “Orgia”co-production of the Teatro Arriaga, Festival Peralada and the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Its composer, Héctor Parrapresent at the ceremony, went up to collect the award along with the representatives of the three co-producing theaters.
Justin Way, Production Director of El Teatro Real received from journalist Náki Gabilondo the New Lyrical Production award for the production of “La Nose”“. The communicator noted that “Shostakovich found a magnificent way to accommodate his criticism of the system without losing his acid sense of humor“.
The gala It was followed live through the Ópera XX websiteI and can be seen soon on RTVE Play.
