Enrique GRANADOS María del in Three Acts

Veronese • Suaste Alcalá • Montresor Wexford Festival Opera Chorus National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus Max Bragado-Darman CD 1 43:33 5 Yo también güervo enseguía Enrique (Fuensanta, María del Carmen) 0:36 Act 1 6 ¡Muy contenta! y aquí me traen, como aquel GRANADOS 1 Preludio (Orchestra, Chorus) 6:33 que llevan al suplicio (María del Carmen) 3:46 (1867-1916) 2 A la paz de Dios, caballeros (Andrés, Roque) 1:28 7 ¡María del Carmen! (Pencho, María del Carmen) 5:05 3 Adiós, hombres (Antón, Roque) 2:27 8 ¿Y qué quiere este hombre a quien maldigo María del Carmen 4 ¡Mardita sea la simiente que da la pillería! desde el fondo de mi alma? (Pepuso, Antón) 1:45 (Javier, Pencho, María del Carmen) 4:10 Opera in Three Acts 9 5 ¿Pos qué es eso, tío Pepuso? ¡Ah!, tío Pepuso, lléveselo usted (Roque, Pepuso, Young Men) 3:04 (María del Carmen, Pepuso, Javier, Pencho) 0:32 Libretto by José Feliu Codina (1845-1897) after his play of the same title 0 6 ¡Jesús, la que nos aguarda! Ya se fue. Alégrate corazón mío Critical Edition: Max Bragado-Darman (Don Fulgencio, Pepuso, Roque) 1:49 (María del Carmen, Javier) 0:55 ! ¡Viva María el Carmen y su enamorao, Javier! Published by Ediciones Iberautor/Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales 7 Una limosna para una misa de salud… (Canción de la Zagalica) (María del Carmen, (Chorus, Domingo) 5:22 @ ¡Pencho! ¡Pencho! (Chorus) ... Vengo a delatarme María del Carmen ...... Diana Veronese, Soprano Fuensanta, Don Fulgencio, Pepuso, Roque) 6:59 8 Voy a ver a mi enfermo, el capellán para salvar a esta mujer (Pencho, Domingo, Concepción ...... Larisa Kostyuk, Mezzo-soprano (Don Fulgencio, Pepuso, María del Carmen) 3:56 María del Carmen, Javier, Antón, Migalo, Pepuso) 5:32 Fuensanta ...... Silvia Vázquez, Soprano 9 Mírala, aquí la tenemos # ¡Dile que huya! (Domingo, María del Carmen, Pencho ...... Jesús Suaste, (Domingo, María del Carmen, Javier) 3:17 Pencho, Javier) 1:56 0 Tú sabes mi mal cruel Javier ...... Dante Alcalá, (Javier, María del Carmen, Chorus) 4:33 Act 3 Domingo ...... Gianfranco Montresor, Baritone ! Ya ha empezado la misa $ Preludio (Orchestra) 3:10 Don Fulgencio ...... David Curry, Tenor (Domingo, Javier, María del Carmen) 0:46 % ¡Me ha llamado cobarde! (Pencho, Chorus) 4:02 Pepuso ...... Alberto Arrabal, Baritone @ He hablado con el médico ^ Pencho de mi alma, prepárate a huir (Domingo, María del Carmen) 1:26 (María del Carmen, Fuensanta, Pencho, Chorus) 1:56 Migalo ...... Stewart Kempster, Bass # María el Carmen, oye, ¿no sabes? & Si te prenden, sola, ¿qué hará tu zagala? Antón ...... Ricardo Mirabelli, Tenor (Fuensanta, María del Carmen, Domingo) 0:53 (María del Carmen, Pencho) 1:18 Roque ...... Alex Ashworth, Baritone $ ¡Resuelve si libre quieres que sea! * Vengo a lo que sabes Andrés ...... Nicholas Sharratt, Tenor (Domingo, María del Carmen) 0:47 (Javier, Pencho, María del Carmen) 1:17 % ¡Virgen Santísima de la Fuensanta! (Chorus) 2:21 ( ¿Y mi Javier? (Domingo, Fuensanta, Un cantaor huertano ...... Vicenç Esteve, Tenor ^ Poco lento (Orchestra) 1:29 María del Carmen, Pencho) 1:14 ) Buenas noches (Don Fulgencio, Domingo, The Wexford Festival Opera 2003 production CD 2 59:48 María del Carmen, Pencho) 0:49 ¡ Disponte a oírme con entereza Recorded during performances at the Theatre Royal, Wexford, Ireland, Act 2 (Don Fulgencio, Domingo) 4:13 on 23rd, 26th and 29th October, 2003 1 Preludio (Orchestra) 2:16 ™ Ponte en sarvo, huye si quieres (Domingo, Pencho) 0:29 Produced, engineered and edited by Andrew Lang (K&A Productions Ltd.) 2 Nenicas huertanas, que tanto amáis a los zagales £ ¡Oh, ven a matarme, ven! (Javier, Pencho) 2:11 (Fuensanta, Domingo, Antón) 4:41 ¢ Vamos pues, vamos allá, vamos a prender Wexford Festival Opera Chorus (Chorus Master: Lubomír Mátl) 3 Ya estamos aquí nosotros a Pencho ya (Concepción, Domingo, María del Carmen, Antón) 0:52 (Chorus, María del Carmen, Javier, Pencho) 2:35 National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus 4 Sentarse Max Bragado-Darman (Domingo, Concepción, Migalo, María del Carmen) 0:51 (1867-1916) d’amor, L’ocell profeta, Elegia eterna and Cant de les German repertoire. It conforms more to the characteristic María del Carmen estrelles; and above all, the stage poem Liliana, a mature formula of Spanish poetry, returning again and again to work first given on 9th June 1911 and representing the the same idea but from different perspectives. Thus he Whether Enrique Granados should be regarded as a in Valencia, probably instigated by his father-in-law, the culmination of his uneven relationship with the modernist tended to repeat melodies more than he developed them, Spanish or as a Catalan composer has been the subject influential impresario Francesc Gal, the opera was not movement. adding different and increasingly brilliant decoration to of some discussion. He was born in Lérida (Lleida in performed again until December 1935, when it was Although Granados distanced himself from the each repetition. Generally less chromatic than Franck or Catalan), the capital of the least Catalan province of the revived in Barcelona with the famous soprano Conchita political elements in Catalan nationalism, he nevertheless Wagner, his elaborate harmonic schemes confer a four that make up Catalonia, and the name of the present Badia under the baton of Joan Lamote de Grignon. Since had strong aesthetic and social ties with his cultural distinction and brilliance to his style that bring it close to opera, María del Carmen, is profoundly Castilian. This then the work which Granados himself considered his environment. These ties were integral to him not only as the works of those two composers, both of whom he fact, and the opera’s plot to the libretto by Barcelona best opera has been largely ignored until today. a musician but also as an amateur painter and a man admired very much. His music is always refined and playwright José Feliu i Codina, were what provoked María del Carmen was created at an important time who loved literature. His admiration for the Wagnerian extremely elegant. strong reproaches from the Catalanista world in which in Catalan culture. In the Spain of the mid-1880s, world, which had a firm following in Catalonia, inevitably Like Wagner, Granados frequently uses the devices Granados was living and in which, in some ways, he modernism was a lively cultural movement that in brought him closer to modernism, and to collaboration of self-quotation and thematic references to other works. actively participated. Catalonia crystallized the ideals of the ‘Renaixença’. with the Barcelona Wagner Society, and even inspired a Without actually creating a true scheme of leitmotifs, he Granados achieved his first great operatic success Modernism completely dominated the cultural and piano piece Eva y Walther. The influence of Wagner on often links harmonies and melodic motifs with specific with María del Carmen, in which the action is set far from musical life of Catalonia and Barcelona, which was then Catalan artists and society was strong and Wagnerism dramatic events, thereby conferring a Wagnerian flavour Catalonia in Murcia, in the south-east of Spain. From its much more avant-garde than Madrid, a city dominated by underlies some of Granados’s works, with the importance to certain works, including María del Carmen, which must première in the Teatro de Parish in Madrid on zarzuela and farce, and deaf to the crisis that the given to the orchestra, and the absence of the be ranked with as among the best of a 11th November 1898, conducted by the composer, the decadent Kingdom of Spain was going through as its last conventional divisions between arias and dialogue, composer who always felt a fervent and intense vocation opera was very well received. The critics emphasized its colonies, the Philippines and Cuba, gained their familiar to the public from zarzuelas. for the lyric theatre. fine orchestral writing and the profound lyricism of its independence in 1898. People such as the architects It was the lot of Granados to live at a time when avant- Granados remains imperfectly known and popular melodies. The success of the première is Domènech i Montaner and Gaudí, the painters Casas, garde trends in Barcelona were extraordinarily active, understood as a composer. Not even his Catalan and demonstrated by its run of nineteen performances. It Hugué, Nonell, Picasso and Rusiñol, writers such as probably to a much greater extent than he, with his Spanish countrymen can come to any agreement on him. remained in the Madrid repertoire until 9th January 1899, Maragall, Mestres and Miralles, or musicians such as conservative background, could assimilate. Perhaps For some he is the last Romantic, for others the Spanish when Queen Maria Cristina awarded Granados the Albéniz, Morera, Pedrell, and Granados (who also because of this, and despite his determined involvement in Chopin, and for others, the Spanish Grieg. Whatever the Charles III Cross in recognition of his creative work. painted), were all main actors in this unique movement in Barcelona’s developing aesthetic trends, he was always truth, he is the most important Spanish composer of his Its appearance in Catalonia, on 31st May 1899, in Catalan culture. It was defined by Federico de Onís as regarded by his colleagues as a conservative incapable of time, together with his countrymen Isaac Albéniz and the the Teatro Tivoli in Barcelona, was less of a triumph: a the Spanish form of the universal crisis and spirit that really understanding the renewing dynamics then at work. Cadiz-born Manuel de Falla. That other Catalan, Pablo pro-Catalanista section of the audience demonstrated around 1885 heralded the dissolution of the nineteenth At bottom, and as his teacher Felipe Pedrell Casals, once compared these three geniuses of Spanish their rejection of the work by whistling and by shouts of century. Granados, however, brought up in Santa Cruz observed, Granados was a composer unwilling to bow to and worldwide music. The great cellist said that the most angry protest. They were indignant that Granados had de Tenerife and married to the Valencian Amparo Gal any predetermined formula. Like Albéniz, he wrote solely original and poetic inspiration belongs to Granados, de distanced himself from Catalan culture and had used Llobera, was one of modernism’s less radical exponents. on the basis of his own judgement, free of any aesthetic Falla he considered the best composer, and Albéniz the neither a Catalan plot nor Catalan music. Hence it is not At this time Catalonia and its capital Barcelona were compromise. Hence it is not easy to define theoretical most advanced. He was probably right. surprising that a Barcelona critic suggested that the only in cultural ferment. Many modernist societies emerged coordinates where his style and manner of composition applause at the première came from a claque, hired for whose main objective was to cultivate and promote are concerned. He certainly did absorb influences during Justo Romero the occasion. They also criticised Granados for his Catalan folk-music. Works such as the symphonic poem his stay in Paris, where he met musicians associated with choice of libretto. Less partial elements of the Catalan Catalonia (1899) by Albéniz, and the lyric trilogy Els the Schola Cantorum, Vincent d’Indy and Camille Saint- Spanish musicologist Justo Romero has published more than 5,000 press, however, praised the orchestration and the Pirineus (1902) by Pedrell, were part of this trend. Saëns in particular. He mixed this legacy with his articles, reviews and essays. Former editor of Scherzo magazine, dramatic sense of the music. Granados, too, would actively cultivate Catalan music in enthusiasm for the German Romanticism which formed a critic and music editor of El País and El Mundo newspapers, from 2005 to 2014 he was the Dramaturg of the Palau de les Arts Reina For all the petty intrigue, María del Carmen had stage works such as Blancaflor, to a libretto by the poet large part of his repertoire as a pianist. Sofía in Valencia. His books include Sevilla en la ópera, Albéniz, eleven performances in the Tivoli, and there was even a Adrià Gual, Petrarca, Picarol, Follet and Gaziel (all four to Nevertheless his music does not follow the formal Falla, Cristóbal Halffter, ese silencio que escucho, Chopin, Raíces brief revival at the end of 1899. After a few performances texts by Apel·les Mestres), in songs such as Cançó structure of thematic development so characteristic of de futuro, El Gato Montés, and El piano 52+36. Synopsis convinces him that she remains true to Pencho, only heartbroken for he has heard that María is to marry Javier. Act III tending to Javier in order to secure Pencho’s pardon. She explains that she has made a pact with Domingo The action takes place in a rural village in Spain’s south- Pepuso, satisfied, swears on his ‘homeland and faith’ that who, having Pencho’s weapon in his possession, has $ There is a Prelude. % It is night. Pencho sits alone, eastern province of Murcia, a region afflicted with water he will stand by her. enough evidence to charge him for Javier’s injury. The while the sound of celebration is heard in the distance. shortages. It is one such shortage which opens up the 9 Now María comes to Javier and his father, pact guarantees Pencho’s freedom. Pencho declares that ^ María tells Pencho that the horse is ready for them to hostility between Javier and Pencho. The pre-action to the Domingo, who sets off to find the doctor. 0 Once the two he does not accept the pact. María answers that it is too flee together, & but Pencho cannot ignore Javier’s insult opera is a fight between the two men. On the surface the are alone, Javier professes his love: ‘You are the late. They reaffirm their love for each other. 8 Javier and will not leave without fighting. * They are interrupted fight is about water, but their mutual hatred is enhanced beautiful flower that perfumes my sad life’. She affirms arrives. The two men argue and threaten each other. by Javier. ( Domingo arrives to prevent the duel, even by social difference. Javier is the son of Domingo, wealthy her love for Pencho, to which he responds with a 9 Pepuso interrupts them and takes Pencho away, encouraging Pencho to take his chance and flee. ) Next and influential, warily respected in the community, question: why did she not just leave him to die? So that, 0 while Javier and María make to leave together. the doctor appears. ¡ He takes Domingo aside and tells whereas Pencho is from a poor background. It is Javier, she answers, she might ask for forgiveness for Pencho. ! Domingo returns with an engagement ring for Javier to him that his son is dying, advising him that marriage however, who is seriously wounded in the fight. Pencho Javier says he will never give it. give to María. @ As the wedding preparations continue, would be pointless. ™ Domingo tells Pencho that he may flees to North Africa and goes into hiding in Oran. ! Next, Domingo speaks with María. @ He has Pencho reappears. In a bid to break María’s pact with stay and take the consequences. £ Javier overhears and Meanwhile, hoping to secure a pardon for her sweetheart spoken to the doctor and believes that only María’s love Domingo he confesses publicly to having injured Javier. now desires nothing more than to die at Pencho’s hands, Pencho, María del Carmen nurses the injured Javier. can save his son. When María refuses, Domingo informs Javier, realising that this will cost him his bride, refutes the but Pencho has cooled and refuses to fight. her that he has the weapon with which Pencho inflicted confession, but Pencho is able to recite the words of the ¢ Javier at last gives in, asks for the blessing of the CD 1: Act I Javier’s wound, sufficient incriminating evidence to Cartagenian song engraved on the weapon which lovers, and helps them escape. ensure a death sentence. María still refuses. # Suddenly Domingo is holding as evidence. Domingo and the mayor 1 Preludio. Voices are heard off-stage, singing to the Fuensanta arrives with the news that Pencho is in the realise they have no choice but to arrest Pencho. # María Blessed Virgin. 2 It is time for Mass in the village. Roque village. María begs Domingo not to have him arrested. urges him to flee, but Pencho refuses, inviting María to and other young men enter, followed by Andrés. 3 They $ Domingo says he will ensure Pencho’s freedom only if make her choice. Javier is outraged, calling Pencho a are joined by Antón, with the mayor’s wand of office. The María promises to marry Javier. She gives her word. coward and challenging him to a duel. conversation of the men turns to Pencho in his self- % The procession enters, singing to the Blessed Virgin. imposed exile. 4 They are joined by the wise old Pepuso, ^ Pencho and his friends appear, defying everyone, to who is fiercely attached to old Murcian ways. 5 Antón the horror of María and Fuensanta. leaves, and Pepuso continues. He believes that Pencho was the only brave man among them, leaving the rest CD 2: Act II ‘like sheep without a shepherd’. He would like Pencho to return, and has sent him a letter which he believes will 1 The act opens with a Preludio. 2 Domingo and the bring Pencho back. 6 Don Fulgencio enters. We hear mayor, Antón, are playing cards. The mayor remarks that that the priest is ill, as is Javier, whose betrothed is Pencho should be arrested, but Domingo declares that collecting money for a Mass for him. the fugitive can now walk free, while Fuensanta dreams 7 María arrives, accompanied by her friend of her own betrothed, believing that María is sincere in Fuensanta, collecting coins to pay for a Mass to be abandoning her old lover. offered for the recovery of Javier. Pepuso, whose 3 Preparations begin for the wedding, discussed by sympathies lie with Pencho whom he believes María has Domingo and María’s mother, Concepción, with Antón. abandoned in favour of her patient, snarls that he would 4 Their discussion continues, as Antón leaves. 5 Even contribute if the Mass were a Requiem, while the other Fuensanta is under the impression that it will be a happy villagers express pity for María. 8 Don Fulgencio leaves occasion for María. 6 María pretends that all is well, until, to see his patient, the priest, followed by the others, but alone, she expresses her private sorrow. María detains Pepuso, asking him for news of Pencho. 7 Pencho arrives. It is the first time that the lovers He berates her for her betrayal, whereupon she have been together since the fight a year ago. He is Diana Veronese Silvia Vázquez

The soprano Diana Veronese graduated from the Conservatory of her native Tbilisi in Born in Puerto de Sagunto, Silvia Vázquez has worked with conductors 1993. From 1993-1995 she received an American government grant to study at New such as Lorin Maazel, , Paolo Arrivabeni, Carlo Rizzi, and York’s Manhattan School of Music with Marlena Malas and Kehmal Khan. She made Carlo Montanaro, as well as with stage directors such as Giancarlo del her operatic début in New York in Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams) under the Monaco, Emilio Sagi, Daniele Abbado, Damiano Michieletto, and baton of Denn Saunden. In the summer of 1995 she took part in the Chautauqua Massimo Gasparon. She has sung at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, the Festival and sang as a soloist at the Batumi Theatre in Georgia. She subsequently Palau de les Arts, Valencia, the Teatro Comunale, Florence, the travelled to Italy where she studied with Carlo Bergonzi and Jenny Anvelt. She was a Konzerthaus, Berlin, Wexford Festival Opera and elsewhere. Her rôles finalist in the Leyla Gençer Competition (Istanbul) in 1995, and in the Jaume Aragall have included principal characters in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Competition (Girona) in 1999. In April and May 2001 she sang the rôle of Beatrice in , Die Zauberflöte, Don Pasquale, and María del Carmen, Le donne curiose (Wolf-Ferrari) at the Opernhaus in Zurich. She made her début as among others. Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana (Mascagni) in Pisa, in the title rôle of Turandot Photo: Javier Aguilera (Puccini) at the Halle Opernhaus, and as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Verdi) at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile. Her operatic repertoire also includes rôles in Aida (Verdi), (Puccini), (Verdi), Manon Lescaut (Puccini), and La Jesús Suaste forza del destino (Verdi). (2004) The baritone Jesús Suaste was born in Mexico City where he made his début as Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell). Prizes include winner of the Francisco Araiza Larisa Kostyuk Competition, Singer of the Year in Mexico in 1991, and the Mozart Prize at the Alfredo Kraus Competition in Spain. He has a repertoire of over 75 works spanning opera, Born in Kuznetsk, the mezzo-soprano Larisa Kostyuk graduated from the State oratorio and concerts, and he has performed in Mexico, Spain, Israel, Canada and Gnessin Music Institute, going on to the Moscow Institute of Culture. She joined the Switzerland. Throughout his career he has shared the stage with leading singers Helikon Opera Company, where she took leading rôles. She participated in the including Plácido Domingo in Fedora (Giordano), Ramón Vargas in La bohème Chaliapin Festival in Kazan and the Opera Festival in Cheboksary, and sang in a (Puccini), L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti), and Werther (Massenet), with Verónica Villarroel production of Tchaikovsky’s in Vienna at the Klang Bogen Festival. She made in La traviata (Verdi), and Cristina Gallardo-Domas in La bohème. He has sung in a her début at the Bolshoy Theatre as Mother Superior in Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel, and number of Mexican premières including Das Rheingold (Wagner), The Visitors participated in the world première of Shchedrin’s Boyarina Morozova. She was the first (Chávez), and Rappaccini’s Daughter (Catán) [Naxos 8.557034], as well as Britten’s performer of the mono-opera Eva by Bardanashvili – the production was awarded the War Requiem, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Barber’s Dover Beach, and Mahler’s Des National Theatre premium Golden Mask and won the gold medal at the First World Knaben Wunderhorn. Among his recordings are the complete version of The Visitors Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA) in Los Angeles. Her international career and a Silvestre Revueltas album with soprano Lourdes Ambríz and pianist Alberto has taken her throughout Europe and to the United States and Canada including Cruzpieto, both for BMG. (2004) appearances at the Royal Swedish Opera, L’Opéra National de Paris and the Canadian Opera Company. Since 2012 she has been a guest soloist with the Mikhailovsky Opera Company and in the 2013-14 season she appeared at the Bolshoy Theatre as the Princess in Tchaikovsky’s The Enchantress. Larisa Kostyuk has been awarded the title Honoured Artist of Russia. Dante Alcalá Alberto Arrabal

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, the tenor Dante Alcalá has sung, since his début in 2000 at the The Spanish baritone Alberto Arrabal was born in 1972 in Madrid where he studied singing at Bellas Artes Palace in Mexico City, more than thirty main rôles in opera, concerts, and the Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid with Teresa Tourné and Rogelio Gavilanes. He won zarzuelas, appearing in over eighteen countries to wide acclaim. His international début was second prize at the Ciudad de Logró international singing competition in 2002, and second in 2003 at the Wexford Opera Festival, singing the rôle of Javier in Granados’s opera Maria prize at the National Vocal Competition of La Vall d’Uixó in Castellón. Principal rôles include del Carmen. He participated in a concert at the Nuremberg Classic Open Air for an audience Renato in Un ballo in maschera (Verdi), Scarpia in Tosca (Puccini), Silvio in of more than 60,000 people, and collaborated in a concert conducted by Plácido Domingo (Leoncavallo), Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Talbot in Maria Stuarda (Donizetti), marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Mexico City earthquake. and Escamillo in Carmen (Bizet). He has sung in all the most important Spanish theatres and under the direction of many conductors including Plácido Domingo, Roberto Tolomelli, Steven Mercurio, János Ács, Helena Herrera, Alexei Baklan, Anatoly Boichenko, Gregorio Gutiérrez, Miguel Roa, Miguel Ortega, Enrique Patrón de Rueda, Luis Remartínez, José Gómez, José Photo: Carlos Latapí Fabra, and Tulio Gagliardo. (2004) Stewart Kempster Gianfranco Montresor The bass Stewart Kempster trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Operatic rôles have Photo: Herbert Steele Gianfranco Montresor was born in Verona and received his diploma from the Conservatorio di included Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) for Scottish Opera, Father Truelove in The Rake’s Musica ‘Luca Marenzio’, Brescia. He made his début in 1993 at the Teatro Filarmonico in Progress (Stravinsky) for Wexford Festival Opera and Perth Festival Opera, Simone in Gianni Verona in La Gattabianca by Paolo Arcà, followed by the rôles of Escamillo in Carmen at the Schicchi (Puccini), Porgy in Porgy and Bess (Gershwin), Pistola in Falstaff (Verdi) for Wexford’s San Severo Festival and Marcello in La bohème at the Teatro Massimo, Palermo. His career Opera Scenes, the Commendatore in (Mozart) and the Father in The Prodigal Son has brought appearances at major opera venues and events in Italy and abroad, and (Britten) for Perth Festival Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), collaboration with distinguished conductors and directors. and Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring (Britten) for Opera Project, Banquo in Macbeth and Zaccaria in Nabucco (Verdi) for Glasgow Grand Opera, and Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) for Diva Opera. Kempster sang the rôle of Fionn in the world première of William Sweeney’s Gaelic opera An Turus, and toured the work with the Paragon Ensemble. Other rôles have included Count Monterone in Rigoletto (Verdi) and Colline in La bohème (Puccini) for Diva David Curry Opera. Recordings include Kenneth Leighton’s Hymn to Matter with the Royal National Scottish Orchestra, and the Duruflé Requiem with the National Youth Choir of Scotland. (2004) Photo: Carlos Taylhardat In addition to four appearances at the Wexford Festival, in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007, David Curry has performed around the globe for companies and orchestras such as San Francisco Ricardo Mirabelli Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Danish National Opera, National Opera, Norway, Detroit Opera, Photo: Sergio Mascheroni Born in Mendoza in Argentina, Ricardo Mirabelli has dual Argentine and Italian citizenship. Vancouver Opera and orchestras including the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Graduating in this city, he went on to study with Luigi Alva, Rockwell Blake and Franca Vancouver Symphony, L’Orchestre National de Radio France, BBC Scottish Symphony Mattiucci in Italy. Awards include second prize in the Alfredo Kraus Competition in 2002. In his Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, and the London Philharmonic. Concerts and recitals have included career he has sung in major opera houses throughout Italy, including , Milan, La the BBC Last Night of the Proms and recitals at St John’s Smith Square in London. Fenice in Venice and in theatres of similar distinction, collaborating with renowned conductors and directors. His recordings include performances with the Rossini Festival in Wildbad for Naxos. International engagements have included appearances in South America, the Far East and throughout Europe. Alex Ashworth Wexford Festival Opera Chorus Chorus Master: Lubomír Mátl Alex Ashworth is a concert and opera singer working across Europe and the United Kingdom. His recordings include Bach’s B Minor Mass with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Stravinsky’s Œdipus Ladies Gentlemen Rex with the London Symphony Orchestra, Giulio Cesare for Glyndebourne Festival Opera Romina Bace Dagmar Mašková Alex Ashworth Ricardo Mirabelli (DVD) and Monteverdi’s Vespers with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has Elena Bakanova Deborah Overes Josef Brozman Jaroslav Patočka worked with the Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Roberta Bartůňková Hana Petzeltová Jiří Černý Jiří Prudič and the English Baroque Soloists. www.alexashworth.com Naděžda Chrobáková Vlasta Prudičová Jiří Hannsmann Sean Ruane Zuzana Hanzlová Kim Sheehan Stewart Kempster Nicholas Sharratt Photo: Debbie Scanlan Anna Kroftová Ivana Vlasáková Pavel Kozel Martin Slavík Barbara Kubátová Eliane Walter Ivan Kozumplík Jaroslav Slezák Lenka Kučerová Olga Wells Ivo Kroček Jiří Uherek Nicholas Sharratt Sylvie Laštůvková Barbarina Wild Petr Málek Vladimír Vihan Ludmila Marchadier Dagmar Williams Michal Mergl Richard Weigold Nicholas Sharratt studied at Birmingham University, the Manchester Royal Northern College of Music and the London National Opera Studio. Operatic rôles include First Child/First New Arrival (The Nose) for the Royal , Rudolph (Euryanthe) for Glyndebourne, Lucano (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Camille (The Merry Widow), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) for Opera North, Nanki-Poo (The Mikado), and Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance) for Scottish Opera. World premières include John (Peter Pan by Richard Ayres) for Welsh National Opera and at the Royal Opera House, Soppy Hat (Swanhunter), Adam (The Walk from the Garden) and The Soldier (The Unknown Soldier) by Jonathan Dove, Sam (Ghost Patrol) and Richard (The Devil Inside) by Stuart Macrae at the Edinburgh International Festival and in Toronto, Canada. www.nicholas-sharratt.com

Photo: Eleanor Skan

Vicenç Esteve

Photo: Sento Blay Vicenç Esteve was born in Barcelona and at the age of sixteen began vocal studies with his father, the baritone Vicenç Esteve. He has appeared at the most important Spanish theatres under conductors such as Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta, and has taken principal rôles in a number of zarzuelas, including Cançó d’amor i de guerra, Doña Francisquita, and Luisa Fernanda, and in operas including Rita, L’elisir d’amore, Don Pasquale, La traviata, Falstaff, La bohème, Così fan tutte and Il barbiere di Siviglia. (2004)

National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus Photo: Yuri Ivanov National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus Director: Josif Turko The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus (Belarus State Symphony Orchestra) is one of the oldest cultural institutions in Belarus, founded in 1927. It has always ranked high with the distinguished conductors and soloists who Violin I Cello Cor anglais have collaborated with it. In September 2001 Alexander Anissimov, People’s Artist of Belarus, Honoured Artist of Yuliya Stefanovich Ludmila Anishchanka Vladzimir Maximenka Russia and Honoris Causa of the National University of Ireland, took up the position of Chief Conductor of the Sergei Belasertsav Yeuhen Mikliaeu Orchestra. In 2001-2003 the orchestra took part in the Irish Wexford Opera Festival, performing both in operatic and Ryhor Dabrzhynets Natallia Merzliakova Clarinet symphonic repertoire. The orchestra has toured in Germany, Italy, Greece, The Netherlands, Lebanon, France, Aliksei Maskalenka Liudmila Baradzina Piotr Navumenka Switzerland, Finland, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Japan, and China. It offers fifty programmes each season, and takes Alla Dzianisava Alexandre Kozyrev Vitali Zoubravski part in annual international festivals, including the Belarusian Musical Autumn, Minsk Spring, the Yuri Bashmet Maryna Liaudanskaya Vadim Yablonski Vladimir Derychev Festival, and Vladimir Spivakov Invites. The orchestra has a wide repertoire ranging from classical symphonic music of Natallia Dziahel Russian and European composers to the works of Belarusian, Russian and West European composers of the 20th Tamara Chalina Double Bass Bass Clarinet and 21st centuries. Alena Sturnitskaya Mikalai Kryvasheyev Vladimir Derychev Liudmila Krasouskaya Victor Bondar Vladimir Solodukha Bassoon Max Bragado-Darman Violin II Alexi Avramenka Leanid Trusevich Trumpet Piotr Lukyanenak The conductor Max Bragado-Darman was born in Madrid, where he studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music. In the Iryna Knauer Vladzislav Davydouski Mark Shtserneuski United States, after five years of study at Oberlin, he took his degree of Bachelor of Music in piano and his Master’s Volha Kryvakhizha Dmitry Makarevich degree in orchestral conducting. He continued his training as a conductor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Aliaksandr Butenko Dzmitry Benko Contrabassoon From 1970 to 1972 he was Assistant Conductor of the University of Michigan orchestras and Associate Conductor of Inga Suvorova Mark Shtserneuski the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the university. In the summer of 1972 he worked with Igor Markevitch in Monaco Aryna Aliaksandrava Trombone and in the same year was a finalist in the Besançon conducting competition. Since these years of study he has served Ourkhia Abdoussadykova Igor Tsviatkov Horns as Conductor of the Nashville Youth Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Ohio State University, the Symphony and Aliaksei Klachko Aliaksandr Rubanets Aliaksandr Uss Chamber Orchestras of the Cleveland Institute, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Gran Canaria in Las Palmas, and the Serhii Protsenko Mechislav Chubin Concerto Grosso Orchestra of Frankfurt. His recording of a concert in the Cathedral of St Francis in New York with the Viola Igor Shamela Cleveland Institute Chamber Orchestra and the University of Oviedo Choir was awarded the Premio del Disco of the Aliaksandr Karazhev Tuba Anatoli Rusak Spanish Ministry of Culture. He was the founder and the musical and artistic director of the Classic Chamber Zinaida Kazartsava Yauheni Melnichuk Henadzi Sharoikin Orchestra, with which he has toured the principal cities of the United States, and served for two years as musical Iryna Ratsenka director of the Mozart Opera Festival in Bronxville, New York. In Europe he has appeared with the Teatro de São Elena Stepchenko Flute Percussion Carlos Orchestra of Lisbon, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Orchestra during Alena Drabysheuskaya Valiantsin Tsikhevich Aliaksandr Novikau its tour of Spain. He has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Indianapolis, Nashville and Cleveland Siarhei Klimuk Siargei Balyka Vladzimir Kurennau Orchestras in the United States, and the National and Radio Television Orchestras and many other orchestras in Artistic Director Dzmitry Talmachou Aliaksandr Famich Spain. From February 1991 until 2000 he was Artistic and Musical Director of the newly established Symphony Yury Gildiuk Mark Ratner Orchestra of Castile and León. (2004) Oboe Aleh Alesiuk Harp Sviatlana Cyargeenka Viktorya Belazor Vladzimir Maximenka Piano, Celesta Alexandre Roudnitski Wexford Festival Opera

When Compton Mackenzie, the renowned novelist and founder of Gramophone magazine, suggested to Tom Walsh that he stage an opera in Wexford, few could have imagined where the idea would lead. But since the first ‘Festival of Music and the Arts’ took place in October 1951, Wexford Festival Opera has grown into one of the world’s leading opera festivals.

Right from the beginning, the Festival made a name for itself by introducing audiences to unjustly neglected works, many of which have since found a place in the canon. For 64 years the Festival has breathed new life into forgotten masterpieces, establishing a reputation for high-quality productions that, every year, bring thousands of opera-lovers flocking to Wexford from all over the world.

But it hasn’t stopped there. Since Tom Walsh first guided the Festival to international success, Wexford Festival Opera has been blessed with a succession of talented and passionate artistic directors, all of whom balanced tradition with bold innovation. Over the years the Festival has begun a Massenet revival, introduced new kinds of event (from talks and recitals to afternoon ShortWorks), and established an international reputation both for attracting and for making major stars. The Festival introduced Western audiences to baritone Sergei Leiferkus back in 1983, while Juan Diego Floréz and Joseph Calleja and sopranos Mirella Freni, Elizabeth Connell, Angela Meade and mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona all made early appearances here. Beyond the singing stars, the Festival has also offered a platform to emerging conductors such as Vladimir Jurowski and directors such as Francesca Zambello.

The celebrated American conductor David Agler first appeared at the Festival in 1996. Agler is the former music director of Vancouver Opera, and since taking over as Artistic Director in 2005 he has presided over one of the most exciting phases in the Festival’s history. The old Theatre Royal, which served the Festival for 50 years, has been replaced by Ireland’s first custom-built opera house: a state-of-the-art building with two auditoriums capable of staging ever more ambitious and spectacular productions. With a world-class venue to match its international reputation, the National Opera House is better placed than ever to champion neglected operatic gems, and in 2014 its staging of Foroni's Cristina, regina di Svezia won Best Re-Discovered Work at the International Opera Awards.

With a unique vision, outstanding production values and spectacular setting in a beautiful small town, Wexford Festival Opera is a remarkable success story that looks set to continue for many years to come. www.wexfordopera.com Email: [email protected] Main Office: +35353 912 2400 The National Opera House High Street Wexford Y35 FEP3 Ireland María del Carmen was Enrique Granados’ first great operatic success and the stage work he held in highest regard. It was received with great acclaim at its première in 1898, admired for its refined and brilliant orchestral writing and for its profound lyricism. Using the folklore, language and sounds of Murcia in south-eastern Spain alongside the influence of Wagnerian thematic techniques, the opera is set in a rural village where a water shortage and a love triangle inflame the mutual hatred between the peasant farmer Pencho and his wealthy rival Javier.

Enrique Wexford Festival GRANADOS Opera is funded by (1867-1916) María del Carmen – Opera in Three Acts Critical Edition: Max Bragado-Darman María del Carmen ...... Diana Veronese, Soprano Concepción ...... Larisa Kostyuk, Mezzo-Soprano Fuensanta ...... Silvia Vázquez, Soprano Pencho ...... Jesús Suaste, Baritone Javier ...... Dante Alcalá, Tenor Domingo ...... Gianfranco Montresor, Baritone Don Fulgencio ...... David Curry, Tenor Pepuso ...... Alberto Arrabal, Baritone Migalo ...... Stewart Kempster, Bass Antón ...... Ricardo Mirabelli, Tenor Roque ...... Alex Ashworth, Baritone Andrés ...... Nicholas Sharratt, Tenor Un cantaor huertano ...... Vicenç Esteve, Tenor Wexford Festival Opera Chorus National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus Max Bragado-Darman

CD 1 43:33 CD 2 59:48 1-^ Act 1 43:33 1-# Act 2 36:34 $-¢ Act 3 23:14 A full track listing and recording details can be found on page 2 The Spanish libretto can be found at www.naxos.com/libretti/660144.htm Booklet notes: Justo Romero • Cover photo: Botijo by Isaías Ibáñez (Dreamstime.com)