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This is the aria "Pourquoi me réveiller" from the opera sung by Jonas Kaufmann:
[French corrected!]
THE MUSIC SALON: classical music, popular culture, philosophy and anything else that catches my fancy...
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía
I'm returning to Spain this summer for the month of May. Mostly I will be staying in Madrid where I have an apartment for the month, but I intend on taking some side trips. One of them is definitely going to be to Valencia where I plan to attend a performance of Massenet's Werther in the magnificent Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. This is part of a spectacular complex, the ultra-modern City of Arts and Sciences that includes a number of other complexes as well, such as a science museum, oceanographic park and planetarium. But the opera house and cultural center Reina Sofía is what catches my interest. Here is a photo:
That astonishing structure contains one of Europe's finest opera houses as well as three other spaces of varying sizes and uses. It opened in 2005.
This is the aria "Pourquoi me réveiller" from the opera sung by Jonas Kaufmann:
[French corrected!]
This is the aria "Pourquoi me réveiller" from the opera sung by Jonas Kaufmann:
[French corrected!]
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10 comments:
>> I'm returning to Spain this summer for the month of May.
Spring?
Heh, heh, heh! Here in Mexico, spring pretty much starts in February sometime. That's when we have our annual plant fair. May is often the hottest month. But yes, in Spain it may be more spring-like.
"Pourquoi me réveiller?"
Bryan, I can't remember what side trips you made when you were in Madrid last, but when I was there a few years ago I made day trips to Toledo, Avila, and Segovia, all of which were in easy striking distance, and all of which were wonderful.
Last year I was only there for ten days and didn't make any side trips! Madrid kept me quite occupied. But this year, with a month to spend, I will be doing some. Valencia for sure, I just bought a ticket to a concert by the Saint Petersburg Orchestra playing Glinka, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky and I will be taking in Werther by Massenet there too. Planning to see Toledo and probably Barcelona as well.
@Anonymous: mostly just to share that photo of the concert hall.
Sorry. My point was just to correct your spelling. It's "réveiller" and not "réveille"
Oh, sorry, you are quite right! Left off the "r".
The "astonishing structure" certainly deserves a visit! I would call the piece "Gladiator Helmet with Aqueduct," and I expect seen at living scale the engineering alone would be impressive, and I expect the interior opera house would supply great acoustics and architectural details. But overall, that shape strikes me as the kind of novel art I'm glad to take as momentary stimulation in a gallery but would not want to live with.
I'm tempted to characterize it as Darth Vader's helmet done in aluminum. The other buildings are equally remarkable.
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