Say what Montserrat Caballé he was a mine of anecdotes, but in reality the mine is him. And she gets gold when she imitates Caballé herself. I could spend hours stringing together funny stories about operatic divas and still leave you wanting more. It is normal, because Joan Matabosch (Barcelona, 1961) was practically born a music lover. He has been watching operas since he was seven years old, and by 18 he had all the titles of the conservatory. At 36 he was already artistic director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu from Barcelona, and later he assumed a rather complicated role, which was to replace a sick Gerard Mortier in front of the Royal Theater of Madrid. With the pandemic, he has seen them in all colors, scandals included, but he has managed to move forward – and with note – a cultural pillar of the capital. Now great success is expected with the assembly of Rule, by Bellini, one of the operas best known by the general public: for many his aria Caste diva it is, in fact, the opera itself. Although, to use his words, opera is not (just) that. As much as we like that.
El Real was one of the first opera houses in the world to open its doors after confinement. I guess that early opening was not an easy decision.
We did what we had to do. Having the theater closed would have been the easiest thing to do, but it was opened even though that involved a great effort on everyone’s part. Already in May we made a health protocol to be able to open with security conditions for everyone: workers, technicians, orchestra, choir, administrative, artists, public … We had the advice of a medical committee with six epidemiologists from Madrid hospitals.
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