Ainadamar at Teatro Real

**Schigolch** · July 20th, 2012, 07:11 PM

Conductor: Alejo Pérez
Stage Director: Peter Sellars

Margarita Xirgu: Nuria Espert / Jessica Rivera
Federico García Lorca: Kelley O’Connor
Nuria: Nuria Rial
Ruiz Alonso: Jesús Montoya

Osvaldo Golijov is an Argentinian composer, that works primarily in the US, and this is his first opera. Ainadamar is supposed to be the Arabic for Fountain of Tears, and it represents a real fountain located near the place where Federico Garcia Lorca was killed at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

There are four major characters:

Federico Garcia Lorca was a Spanish poet and playwright, arguably the one gaining a wider international recognition, among members of the emblematic group called the Generation of '27 (that includes some of the best Spanish writers ever, as the Nobel Prize Vicente Aleixandre, or my personal favourites Luis Cernuda and Pedro Salinas). The death of Lorca, killed by Spanish right-wing militiamen, was immediately part of his myth, and made him a symbol.

Margarita Xirgu was a great Spanish actress, a friend and collaborator of Lorca, ten years her junior. She was exiled in South America after the war, where she continued performing Lorca's plays, and especially "Mariana Pineda" that she premiered back in 1927. In this version of Ainadamar, she is both a singing role (performed by Jessica Rivera) and a spoken one (performed by the Spanish actress Nuria Espert).

Nuria was not a real person, in the fiction is just a student of Xirgu, that will continue her teachings.

Ruiz Alonso was the actual killer of Lorca, or at least the person commanding the group of militiamen that killed the poet.

In the opera we can see three moments in time: First, Xirgu and Nuria are remembering Lorca, and how Xirgu met him, to work in Mariana Pineda. Second, the death of Lorca. Third, the death of Xirgu herself. Connecting the scenes, Nuria Espert was reciting poems from Lorca's El Divan del Tamarit.

Ainadamar is much better on stage, than on CD. It's more agile, makes more sense. There are still some obvious flaws: music is rather bland in some fragments. Lorca would be better sung by other fach, instead of a mezzo. The libretto is not the best in English, and in Golijov's Spanish translation really bizarre at times.... but all together there is really some good opera.

Jessica Rivera is an America of Peruvian origins, and she was able to manage the Spanish well. She was singing Nuria in other performances of the opera, and now she was singing Margarita. I liked her in Doctor Atomic (singing Kitty Openheimer), and I liker her here.

Kelley O'Connor was in a serious fight with the Spanish language... that she finally lost. Nuria Rial, singing Nuria (yes, so many Nurias are rather confusing), was fine, and the Flamenco 'cantaor' Montoya made for a properly hideous Ruiz Alonso.

Nuria Espert is one of the best actresses in the world (and one of the worst opera stage directors, by the way), the best specialist in Lorca alive, and she did great, as usual.

Peter Sellars's staging was so very Sellars. Well reasoned, visually powerful, an intelligent proposal. At the end of the performance, the back of the huge stage was lifted, and we could see, while Xirgu was dying, the real life happening at the square where Teatro Real is located... A moving instant.

I do think this version of Ainadamar, including Lorca's poems, will become the established version (so far, there has been a different one for each time the opera has been performed), and it's indeed a good opera, that will get success almost everywhere. The most difficult place for this opera is of course Spain, and yesterday it did more than hold its own.

A nice opera evening.

**Almaviva** · July 20th, 2012, 11:28 PM

I own a copy of Ainadamar on CD. My non-Spanish ears found it rather compelling, although I understand (and share) the flaws you've mentioned.

The life and poems of Gabriel Garcia Lorca, whom I admire so much, are a good operatic subject any day. So, I rather liked it, a lot. Seeing it on stage is a dream.

Peter Sellars is a most interesting individual. I have a lot of respect for him. I hope I'll catch him one of these days for an interview.

**Schigolch** · July 21st, 2012, 07:44 AM

On the subject of Garcia Lorca's actual life, I think the only piece is Ainadamar. Based on Lorca's plays there are a few more operas, perhaps the more accomplished is Heitor-Villalobos's Yerma.

Lorca is usually more appreciated outside Spain, than in his own country. This is not to say he is not popular, on the contrary, there are many people here counting Lorca one of the greatest Spanish writers, and his poetry and plays are always in circulation. But also there are many that think the legend and the myth promoted his work far beyond its real worth. My own opinion is somewhat in the middle of those two.

**Soave_Fanciulla** · July 21st, 2012, 10:51 PM

Enticing review, Schigolch, thank you. Unlike you, and like Alma, I find the music anything but bland, rather hauntingly beautiful. I'd love this to come out on DVD or at least on YouTube.