Near the city of Figueras in the province of Girona in Catalonia lies the estate of Peralada, a fourteenth-century castle, surrounded by magnificent gardens where a festival is organized annually during the summer months that mainly offers classical concerts, opera and dance but also gives other musical genres such as jazz and pop a chance
It was founded in 1987 on the initiative of Carmen Mateu, a great music enthusiast, and among other things at the suggestion of Montserrat Caballé who welcomed such a summer lyrical rendezvous on the Mediterranean. Now the festival is at its 31st edition and has welcomed many great artists in recent years such as Montserrat Caballé, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Teresa Berganza, Juan Diego Florez, Mstislav Rostropovitsj, Rudolf Nurejev or Maurice Béjart. In the spacious auditorium in the garden, in addition to symphonic concerts, both scenic and concert performances of operas can take place, more than once in co-production with major theaters. The festival proudly mentions that the now famous "Carmen" production by Calixto Bieito, taken over by many opera theaters (also in 2005 by the Flemish Opera), had its premiere in Peralada. The festival likes to give young talent a chance. For more intimate recitals, one can visit the Eglesia del Carme, nearby, an atmospheric Gothic church with a cloister. Various restaurants offer the opportunity to enjoy varied buffets with a rich selection of all kinds of seafood before or after a performance.
The major operas at a glance
The Castell Peralada 2018 festival runs from 5 July to 17 August, opening with a performance of Verdi's "Requiem" and closing with a dance spectacular that will combine hip hop with Baroque music. Opera lovers can choose between performances of "Rinaldo" and "Acis and Galatea" (Händel) and a scenic realization of "Die Zauberflöte" by Mozart. I opted for an opera weekend with concerts with tenors Javier Camarena and Jonas Kaufmann and a concert performance of the opera "Thaïs" by Massenet. For his debut at the Peralada festival, Mexican tenor Javier Camarena, accompanied at the piano by Angel Rodriguez, gave a captivating recital in the Eglesia del Carme in which Italian bel canto was particularly featured with compositions by Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. But he started his performance with Ferrando's aria "Tradito! Schernito!" from Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" and also paid tribute to Manuel Garcia, the Spanish tenor, composer and pedagogue and father of Maria Malibran and Pauline Viardot. It's a pity that the text of, for example, the clearly comical "El poeta Calculista" was not printed in the program, then we could have enjoyed even more of Camarena's interpretive ability. But that was of course very obvious from the well-known arias from Rossini's "L'Italiana in Algeri" and "La Cenerentola", Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "La Fille du Régiment" or Bellini's "I Puritani". In these numbers we could enjoy Camarena's smooth and powerful voice, sunny timbre, effortless, brilliant high notes, delightful phrasing and exemplary text projection. He is not a tenor who merely belts out high notes, he interprets text and music and knows how to nuance and differentiate. In Cuban-Mexican pianist Angel Rodriguez he had an excellent partner and together they treated the audience to a series of encore numbers including a couple of popular Spanish songs that the audience could sing along with! It's no wonder that the enthusiasm was great. And rightly so.
Jonas Kaufmann, yes indeed!
The German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, one of the most celebrated singers of the moment, came to Peralada for the third time. He performed in the large auditorium, accompanied by the orchestra of the Teatro Real in Madrid with conductor Jochen Rieder. They presented a French-German programme with arias and orchestral fragments from works by Saint-Saëns, Gounod, Bizet, Chabrier, Halévy, Massenet and Wagner. The Teatro Real orchestra opened the evening with the Bacchanale from "Samson et Dalila" by Saint-Saëns and would generally acquit itself well in the French repertoire, even if certain tempi of the conductor were debatable. But the musicians clearly felt more at home in French repertoire than in Wagner. The Ride of the Valkyries was rather sloppy, the Meistersinger overture somewhat schoolish and the Lohengrin prelude started with little ethereal quality. For Jonas Kaufmann, on the other hand, Wagner was clearly more familiar territory than French opera. Of the four arias he performed: "Ah, lève-toi soleil" from "Roméo et Juliette" by Gounod, "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" from "Carmen" by Bizet, "Rachel, quand du Seigneur" from "La Juive" by Halévy and "Ô souverain, ô juge, ô père", only one actually comes from an opera he regularly sings on stage: Don José's flower aria. He performed this with nuances and delightful pianissimi. The other arias were also performed with care and good technique but not really felt, with not always ideal French pronunciation and a dark timbre where a lighter tone would sometimes have been more welcome (Roméo). But in "Ein Schwert verhiess mir der Vater" from "Die Walküre", Kaufmann's voice came completely into its own and his interpretation truly came alive. Whether his "Wälse" exclamations needed to be so impressive and long is another matter. Walther's "Morgenlich leuchtend" from "Die Meistersinger" flowed lyrically beautifully and Kaufmann surprised by singing the complete version of Lohengrin's "In fernem Land" with two verses. The full hall responded enthusiastically and received encores: "Pourquoi me réveiller" from "Werther" by Massenet, the French opera in which Kaufmann shines as no other, "Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnenmond" from Wagner's "Walküre" and finally "Träume" one of the Wesendonck lieder, perhaps a tribute to the recently deceased founder of the Peralada Festival.
And yes of course also... Placido Domingo!
For the concert performance of "Thaïs" by Massenet, French conductor Patrick Fournillier led the orchestra of the Teatro Real in Madrid and together they drew all the colours and emotions from Massenet's score with beautiful contrasts between the liveliness and sensuality of the Alexandria scenes and the asceticism and serenity of the cenobites, the journey through the desert and the monastic community. The choirs of the Teatro Real also performed excellently. The highlight of the performance was of course Placido Domingo's Athanaël, one of the first baritone roles the great tenor took into his repertoire. The voice remains surprisingly powerful, sonorous and supple and the performer still equally engaged. If his projection of the text is not always equally clear, then Domingo, even in a concert performance, knows how to bring his character convincingly to life, to portray the drive, determination, conflict and ultimate despair of Athanaël. Still an impressive performance. Thaïs found in Ermonela Jaho a seductive, triumphant, tormented and finally serene interpreter with an expressive voice, radiant and capable of fine nuances. A moving interpretation. Thaïs' last lover Nicias received an excellent performance from tenor Michele Angelini with great presence, a radiant, slender voice, effortless high notes and exemplary text projection. Jean Teitgen gave the cenobite Palémon dignity and authority with a remarkably sonorous bass voice. Good performances from Marifé Nogales (Albine), Elena Copons (Crobyle), and Lidia Vinyes Curtis (Myrtale). The famous "Méditation" received a beautifully phrased interpretation from violinist Vesselin Demirev.
- WHO: Javier Camarena, Jonas Kaufmann, Angel Rodriguez, Jochen Rieder, Orchestra of the Teatro Real, Patrick Fournillier, Placido Domingo, Ermonela Jaho, Michele Angelini, Jean Teitgen, Marifé Nogales, Elena Copons, Lidia Vinyes Curtis, Vesselin Demirev
- WHAT: Peralada Festival
- WHERE & WHEN: Peralada 27, 28, 29 July
