Literes’s “Los Elementos” in the New Yorker We announced last week that the New York City Opera will soon give the NYC premiere of Spanish composer Antonio Literes’s opera Los Elementos, in an original production for which our director Antoni Pizà served as an adviser, in addition to writing program notes. The May 8th issue of The New Yorker has some interesting coverage of the opera, in “The Intriguing Return of Baroque Opera.” In this article, Russell Platt gives some background of Literes, “whom Handel could have claimed as a colleague,” and a few of the interesting aspects of the opera, such as its all female cast (following baroque Spanish custom). The opera opens May 4th at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, through May 7th. Don’t miss this chance to see some little-performed opera! Tickets begin at $25.
Free “Redes” Screening and Concert Thursday As we previously announced, the Americas Society is holding the NY premiere screening of the lost Mexican film Redes (1937), May 4th at 7 pm. It is free to the public, but you must register, as space is limited. The screening will include two special treats: first, the Foundation for Iberian Music’s resident Perspectives Ensemble, conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez, will perform two works by Revueltas (who composed the Redes score); and second, a panel discussion with Joseph Horowitz (PostClassical Ensemble, executive director) and Gil-Ordóñez, moderated by Carlos Gutierrez of Cinema Tropical. For full program information and to register, please visit the Americas Society’s event page.
CFP: “En ocasión de María del Carmen: Enrique Granados y su época” (Murcia, Spain) The University of Murcia is hosting a conference October 18-20, 2017, entitled “En ocasión de María del Carmen: Enrique Granados y su época.” The Foundation for Iberian Music is delighted to participate in this conference; our own Antoni Pizà is a member of the organizing committee. Please click here to view the full CFP. (The CFP will soon be available in English.) Proposals will be accepted until September 15. Please submit proposals to enrique.encabo@um.es.
Zapateados Conference Video We are very happy to video of almost the entire Zapateados conference at UC Riverside (April, 2017) available online. The videos are on our YouTube channel (IberianMusic), which you can watch via the handy embedded playlist below.
Angel Gil-Ordóñez in The New Yorker Angel Gil-Ordóñez, musical director and conductor of Perspectives Ensemble, orchestra in residence at the Foundation for Iberian Music, was recently reviewed in The New Yorker for his work with PostClassical Ensemble. Alex Ross reviewed the inaugural Shift Festival of American orchestras in the April 17th (2017) issue of the magazine and gave favorable mention to Gil-Ordóñez. Ross writes that prior to the festival he attended the PostClassical Ensemble’s “Music Under Stalin” event in DC, which was a multi-media production of Shostakovich’s life and work, where the ensemble gave a “vital rendition” of Rudolf Barshai’s string-orchestra arrangement of the Eighth Quartet. His review nicely brings together the “Music Under Stalin” event, the Shift Festival, and current politics around arts funding in the US. You may read it here.
Baroque Spanish Opera In NYC The New York City Opera, which has made a successful comeback since closing in 2013, will soon present the second item in its Opéra en Español series: Antonio de Literes y Carrión’s Los Elementos. Los Elementos is an allegorical drama about the four elements, written in 1713 for the court of Phillip V. This performance will be the opera’s NY premiere. It is directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford and conducted by Pacien Mazzagatti. The Foundation for Iberian Music’s director, Antoni Pizà, advised the NYCO’s production and wrote program notes for it. In 2002, Pizà published Antoni Literes: Introducció a la seva obra (Palma Documenta Balear), which to date is the only monograph available on Literes, in any language. Literes was a prolific composer but he is best remembered for his stage works, particularly his zarzuelas. Thanks to the efforts of opera companies such as the NYCO to showcase “lost” and little-performed works, he has the chance to emerge from the shadows of history and find a new audience. The opera opens May 4 at Harlem Stage. Visit the above link for tickets.
Gesualdo Online Presentation Today, the Brook Center sponsored a talk at the Graduate Center by Phillipe Vendrix (François Rabelais University, President) concerning Gesualdo Online. Gesualdo Online is a project of the Programme Ricercar at the Centre for Renaissance Studies in Tours. It invites musicologists from around the world to collaborate in creating digital editions of Gesualdo’s music. Vendrix’s talk explores the project’s work and the role of open source critical editions.
Early Spanish Phonograph Recordings in N. America Francisco “Kiko” Mora, professor at the University of Alicante and longtime colleague of the Foundation for Iberian Music, will be a visiting researcher with the Foundation from the end of April through the end of June. He will be working on his project, “Spanish Popular Music in the North American Phonograph Industry (1896-1914).” While visiting, Mora will be holding guest lectures and presentations, so check back with us for details on these events as they’re available. Until then, visit his blog, Cadáver Paraíso, to see some of his work, or pick up a copy of our Global Reach of the Fandango book and read the paper he contributed!
Podcast with Zapateados Conference Speakers We’re back from a great conference at UC Riverside. Thanks to our co-directors K. Meira Goldberg and Walter Clark (CILAM) and all of our speakers and performers for helping us put on such a stimulating and enjoyable event. The program and abstracts, if you missed the conference, are available here. We kicked off the conference proceedings with an informal concert featuring keynote speaker Raúl Rodríguez and guitarist Mario Más. Betto Arcos, of the podcast The Cosmic Barrio, was there and recorded a special episode with Rodríguez, Más, César Castro, and Joshua Brown, who also served on the conference’s advisory committee. Tune in for more great music and a talk with these artists.
Upcoming NY Andalus Ensemble Concerts The Foundation for Iberian Music’s own resident New York Andalus Ensemble has several performances upcoming in the NYC area! May 4: East x Middle East Festival, Brooklyn Music School 6 pm – “Meet the Instruments” pre-concert workshop, with light refreshments 7 pm – concert, with NYAE, Zikrayat, and Vatan. Tickets are $20 ($15 student) for workshop & concert , or $15 ($10 student) for only the concert May 15: Cedarhurst, NY, full ensemble concert Sephardic Temple of Cedarhurst, 7:30 pm May 20: Yonkers, NY, concert and tasting tour Nahmias et Fili Distillery, 3:00 pm, $20 (presumably this event is restricted to ages 21+)