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Antologia de la Zarzuela at the National Theater

Róger Solórzano Canales | Oct 4, 2011

A collection of fragments of the Spanish Zarzuela will be performed by national and foreign musicians.

An enormous show that will bring together national and foreign musicians, will be presented at the Ruben Dario National Theater on Friday, October 7. Entitled "Antologia de la Zarzuela", this performance will include fragments of various Spanish Zarzuela pieces - an scenic musical genre featuring instrumental and vocal parts - mixed in a story that recreates the Managua of 1950 with high quality scenarios and costumes. This is what the organizers described during a press conference given yesterday in the same city.

This will be a single presentation, which turns out to be the final phase of a large artistic project that has taken a year to be developed. Three orchestras will participate in this show: the national Camerata Bach, the Cuban Cuarteto de Cuerdas Pizzicato and Quinteto de Cuerda y Viento, from the National Symphony. In addition, there will be 20 solo performers and some student choirs (all of them Nicaraguan).

The Spanish Luis Alberto Fernández - Llaneza is the general director of this play. He explained that 22 fragments of the most popular Spanish zarzuelas were chosen and adapted, so that it could fit the Nicaraguan vocal style. Also, they needed the pieces to be sang by a large quantity of singers, with different voice tones. Fernández - Llanesa said that after all the work that has been developed, the show has gained a high quality regarding the performance of elder musicians and students.

"I've performed a lot of zarzuela, lots of classical repertoires, but this is quite different: its implementation is a dream," said Fernández - Llaneza. He also revealed that the idea of making this show came up after meeting various local artists during a previous visit to the country. Furthermore, the show is being supported by the Embassy of Spain in Nicaragua, Movistar and others. "There is a magnificent group of people to work with here. I did not expect to find anything like this," stated the director when he talked about the national artists.

Ramon Rodriguez, director of the Ruben Dario National Theater, explained that even thought the zarzuela is little known in the country, there have been quite a few shows of this style for a few decades in Nicaragua. Organizers expect a large audience, due to the significant amount of artists participating in this show and the affordable prices of the tickets: C$200, C$150 and C$100.

It is worth mentioning that the funds collected with the show will be donated to the Proniño Organization, a social initiative created by Movistar, which plans to built a dinning hall for children at the Efrain Tijerino School, located in Chinandega. In addition, organizers expect that the show becomes a classic among the artistic performances of the Ruben Dario National Theater.

Translated by Cinthia Membreño