FULL CECILIA VALDES (Roig) Managua 2024 Lizbeth Berríos, Nelson Escobar, Fabricio Espinoza, Michelle Hernández
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Cecilia Valdes
- Composer: Roig Gonzalo
- Libretto: Agustin Rodríguez, José Sánchez-Arcilla, based on the novel Cecilia Valdés, o la Loma del Angel by Cirilo Villaverde Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Sala Mayor del Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío (TNRD), Managua, Nicaragua
- Recorded: November 2024
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Lizbeth Berríos, Nelson Escobar, Fabricio Espinoza, Michelle Hernández, Marlon Chavarría, Betza Villalobos, Bryan Hernández, Christian Sáenz, Yunielka Pérez, Humberto Jarquín, Edith Aburto
- Conductor: Nelson Gutiérrez, Gabriel Chorens
- Orchestra: Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Rubén Darío, Camerata Bach
- Chorus: Schola Cantorum Rubén Darío
- Stage Director: Juan Manuel Mena, Elisa Picado
- Stage Designer: Donaldo Aguirre
- Costume Designer: Xiomara Argeñal
Information about the Recording
- Published by: INCANTO
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
The zarzuela is in two acts with music by Gonzalo Roig. The libretto was by Agustin Rodríguez and José Sánchez-Arcilla, based on the novel Cecilia Valdés, o la Loma del Angel by Cirilo Villaverde. The storyline is about a tragedy of manners, love and revenge, in colonial Cuban society of the early 19th century.
In Villaverde’s novel (completed in 1882), the melodramatic plot serves as a background for social life in Cuba, with slavery, injustice, crises and personal tragedies, following colorful presentation in detailed characterization and description, even to the point that the plot itself loses its pace at times, long before reaching its climax, as if the author had lost interest in his story and wanted to finish it as fast as possible.
In Roig’s zarzuela, however, dramatic element is more exposed, more consistent and in swift action, presented as an interesting unrolling story pointing toward inevitable climax, which shows great talent and theatrical experience on the part of the composer, the piece containing mixture of traditional Cuban music, with all its genres, forms and vivid rhythms and dances, interlaced in good balance with predominantly romantic in style music of the Western tradition, particularly in melody and orchestration.
“The zarzuela Cecilia Valdes can be more pleasing to listen to than Verdi, and at times more profound than Meyerbeer or Bellini.”