Completing this week’s Ópera en minúscula repertoire is ‘Juicio a una señora en llamas’, performed outside La Granja.
This week, Ópera en minúscula presents three performances, with tickets for two of them already sold out: El diario de Ana Frank, by Grigori Frid, and María de Buenos Aires, by Astor Piazzolla. Completing this week’s programme on Wednesday (September 17) at 7.30 p.m. is La Plaza, presenting the open-air chamber opera Juicio a una señora en llamas, at the outside area of Espacio La Granja.
This process of operatic creation has been constructed from the ground up through an artist residency. The event serves as a platform to promote contemporary chamber opera in Spanish, breaking down the barriers imposed by traditional concepts of performative areas and providing the public with a close-up, raw, and exciting experience, featuring Dani Barcala, Ricardo Barrul, Anna Coll, Begoña Gómez, Ksenia Guinea, and Miller Blanca Budiño.
Through the disciplines of singing, performance, instrumental interpretation, and composition, they will take a horizontal and collaborative approach to produce a single, site-specific piece designed for a non-conventional space. Ksenia Guinea takes charge of the direction, with dramaturgy led by Anna Coll Miller and musical direction by Dani Barca, who co-composed the work with Blanca Budiño, Begoña Gómez, and Ricardo Barrul Martín.
This hybrid and visceral opera, Juicio a una señora en llamas, re-examines two real-life cases: Isabel, a Valencian woman who became a laughingstock after reporting her neighbour, and Manuela Trasobares, a transgender mezzo-soprano and trailblazer in Spanish queer art. Through electronic music, torn arias, and satirical TV, the collective work uncovers the disgrace experienced by women who neither conform nor fit. It uses sharp humour, lyricism, and anger to turn shame to flame, and flame to song.
Two performances of Grigori Frid’s El diario de Ana Frank will take place this Friday (September 19) at 7.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. in La Salita hall at the Auditorio de Tenerife. The production, under the stage direction of Bruno Berger-Gorski and costume design by Christine Böhm-Mayerhofer has completely sold out. Miriam Halejijeva takes on the role of Anne Frank, with piano accompaniment by Almog Ahroni.
In 21 brief images, the opera describes the fate of the 13-year-old Anne Frank, who, along with her family, hid in a sealed-off annexe from July 6, 1942, until their arrest by the Gestapo on August 4, 1944, during the fascist occupation of the Netherlands. The psychological pressure that weighed on the child’s mind but failed to break her will is a constant throughout the book, whose actual title is ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’. Her observations convey to readers her tenacious will to live.
The libretto, taken almost verbatim from the original text, is part of a musical-lyrical narration that does justice to both the tragedy of the events and Anne Frank’s poetic expressivity. The music darkly evokes her profound thoughts, the ingenious joy she expressed over a gift or a patch of blue sky, her unconcealed fear and determination to remain brave, her blossoming love for Peter, her sense of situational comedy, and her hopes for freedom and a more humane world.
Espacio La Granja will present María de Buenos Aires, a tango opera by Astor Piazzolla, on Sunday (September 21) at 7.30 p.m. This production by Galemúsica includes participation from the Centro Dramático Galego. The work represents the initial collaboration between two essential creators: Horacio Ferrer, a Uruguayan poet and tango historian naturalised in Argentina, and Astor Piazzolla, acclaimed as a leading 20th-century musician.
The work is a retrospective expression of the musical and literary culture of Argentina’s capital. It tells the story of a woman who is a central figure in the city’s post-war nightlife, tracing her life and death. Her existence revolves around the tango canyengue (a classic style of tango), the city’s ghettos and her libertine lifestyle, the narration of which will immerse spectators in a moving story.
Producer and performer Borja Quiza, along with Teresa Garzón as artistic director and principal performer, lead this project, combining their passion and knowledge across the many disciplines of María de Buenos Aires: theatre, dance, and music. Dancers Marcos Marticano and Álex Dios also participate.