Chile Santiago de Chile: The 2012 Season – Variety and Interest (JSJ)
The Teatro Municipal of Santiago kicks off its 2012 season as late as May with six operatic productions following over the subsequent six months. And a varied and interesting season it promises to be.
Carmen kicks the season off on May 15, with Maite Beaumont in the title role. Joining her are Alfred Kim (Don José), Marie-Adeline Henry (Micaela) and Craig Verm (Escamillo) in a new production by Emilio Sagi with José Luis Domínguez conducting.
Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia follows on June 15 with Carmen Giannattasio in the title role, Shi Yijie (Genaro), Marianna Pizzolato (Maffio Orsini) and Bálint Szabó (Don Alfonso). The production is by Jean-Louis Pichon and musical direction by Rani Calderon.
The South American premiere of Catán’s Il Postino, based on the life and works of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, opens on July 9. The cast is that that premiered the work in Los Angeles in 2010 including Placido Domingo, who was a friend of Catán, as Neruda, Cristina Gallardo-Domás (Matilde), Charles Castronovo (Mario – Il postino, or the postman), Amanda Squitieri (Beatrice) and Nancy Fabiola-Herrera (Doña Rosa). Grant Gershon conducts and Ron Daniels directs.
Tannhäuser follows on August 5 with Frank van Aken (Tannhäuser) and Eva-Maria Westbroek (Elizabeth) in a production by Michael Hampe. Rani Calderon is the conductor and others in the cast include Natascha Petrinsky (Venus), Andreas Bauer (Hermann) and Markus Marquardt (Wolfram).
Verdi’s Attila is next on September 20 with direction by Curro Carreres and musical direction by Alberto Hold-Garrido. The cast includes Stefan Kocán (Attila), Vitaliy Bilyy (Ezio), Liudmyla Monastyrska (Odabella) and Russell Thomas (Foresto).
And to bring the season to its close is Mozart’s ever popular Don Giovanni, opening October 25, with Kostas Smoriginas (Giovanni), Sergej Artamanov (Leporello), Olga Mykytenko (Donna Anna), Serena Farnocchia (Donna Elvira), Emilio Pons (Don Ottavio), and Alexei Tikhomirov (Commendatore). Production is by Pier Francesco Maestrini and the conductor is Jan Latham-Koenig.
Other special concerts to note are, during their South American tours, Joyce DiDonato in recital on August 23 and Renée Fleming in recital on November 13. DiDonato will also be appearing for Mozarteum Argentina at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (Aug. 27, 29), the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro (Aug. 31) and the Sala São Paulo in São Paulo (Sept. 3, 4). Fleming will also be giving concerts at the Sala São Paulo (Nov. 7, 8) and in the Teatro Colón’s Bicentenary series (Nov. 10).
For more information see www.municipal.cl
Jonathan Spencer Jones