No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveEnrique Granados Celebrates 38 Years on Stage

Enrique Granados Celebrates 38 Years on Stage

Costa Rican baritone Enrique Granados is celebrating his 38th anniversary on the lyric stage with a series of four performances of Donizetti s comic masterpiece, Don Pasquale, at San José s Melico Salazar Theater starting Nov. 1. He is undertaking the title role for the first time in his lengthy career, which has been highlighted by 10 seasons at Buenos Aires prestigious Teatro Colón, as well as numerous appearances in Peru, Colombia and Venezuela since his 1968 operatic debut as the U.S. consul Sharpless in Puccini s Madama Butterfly.

Granados was a founding member of the Compañía Lírica Nacional in 1980, during the Rodrigo Carazo administration, and was Minister of Culture under José María Figueres from 1994 to 1998.He has appeared locally in many works during the past few decades with leading local artists; he seduced Zamira Barquero as Don Giovanni, and was Amonasro to Lupita González s acclaimed Aida.

At the reopening of the Melico Salazar Theater in the early 1980s, Granados sang the toreador Escamillo opposite Argentine Stella Silva in Carmen, and in a subsequent production he partnered with Russian Natasha Sevastianova. Memorable zarzuelas here in San José have included Luisa Fernanda, Los Gavilanes and La Corte de Faraón, the latter an extraordinary production by Lucho Barahona, which found ticket scalpers outside the National Theater when the announcement was made that the run could not be extended.

Don Pasquale was one of several options for Granados celebration, and was chosen because of the small cast and chorus required, and the comparative ease of assembling sets and costumes. Granados has invited colleagues with whom he has performed to share the stage with him.

His leading lady, Norna, will be María Marta López, who was Nellie Forbush to his Emile DeBecque in South Pacific. The Argentine tenor Pablo Gaeta will make his local debut as Ernesto, Fernando Grassi will sing Doctor Malatesta and Jorge Aguilar the Notary. Dante Ranieri will conduct members of the National Symphony and the Mozart Chorale. Dario Innella is directing the opera.

I m always happy to help young singers with questions, but I am not a singing instructor, Granados remarks.

Are there any roles he has always wanted to sing, but hasn t gotten to? Yes, he responds, two of the late Verdi baritone roles, Simon Boccanegra and Falstaff.

These are not frequently given in Latin America, and remain as might-have-beens.

Performances are scheduled for Nov. 1, 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 5 at 5 p.m. Tickets cost ¢8,000-15,000 ($15.50-$29) and are available at the Melico Salazar Theater box office, at Servimás, Häagen-Dazs and Bansbach stores, or online at www.mundoticket.com.

 

Trending Now

Massive Cocaine Seizure at Costa Rica’s Moín Terminal Targets UK

Costa Rican police intercepted 810 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a banana shipment at the Moín Container Terminal in Limón headed for the United...

Chiquita Executives Convicted in Colombia for Financing Death Squads

Colombian justice on Wednesday sentenced seven former executives of the multinational banana company Chiquita Brands to more than 11 years in prison and a...

Venezuelan Migrants Describe Hellish Stay in El Salvador Jail

Mervin Yamarte left Venezuela with his younger brother, hoping for a better life. But after a perilous jungle march, US detention, and long months in...

El Salvador Retries Environmentalists Over 1989 Wartime Killing

A new trial against five Salvadoran environmentalists, accused of murdering a woman in 1989 during the civil war, will take place on Tuesday, announced...

Judicial Corruption Exposed in Costa Rica’s Latest Drug Bust

Costa Rican authorities took down a cocaine smuggling operation Tuesday that moved drugs from South America to the United States, with a judicial worker...

Panama Farmer Receives Land Title After 60-Year Wait at Age 109

A 109-year-old Panamanian farmer has received the land title for the property where he lives and works—six decades after first requesting it from the...
Avatar
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica