Puccini's Manon Lescaut promised to be extraordinary: firstly, for being the opera that inaugurated the Teatro Real season; secondly, for its secular silence at the 'Foro' and, finally, for a star like Sondra Radvanovsky at the helm of the performance. It remained, only, as a "not bad," but, above all, as "much room for improvement." Surely, the person most responsible for this 'highs and lows' was the artistic director of the co-production with the Oper Köln, Carlos Wagner. Not so much for a staging that turns out to be more aesthetic than functional, as for a direction of actors that meant nothing held together with a minimum of solidity; not for the imposture in every gesture, which also, but for a childish conception of the characters. Against the Venezuelan Wagner, Nicola Luisotti fought with his effective and silent instrument. So much so that the greatest applause of the evening was for him and the Teatro Real orchestra just after performing the famous Intermezzo, which they have moved from the beginning of the third act to the start of the fourth, with a projection of the vast sea as a visual element with which to bear witness to the journey that Des Grieux and Manon take towards their desert and North American destiny. This magical moment caused a packed-to-the-rafters Teatro Real to erupt, which seemed to be to unleash the audience's desire to applaud, which had been meager, and those that did emerge, a little too subdued.

We could give many examples that confirm the truth of the title, but just the last three operas I've seen these past few days immediately dispel any doubt. First was the Gotterdämerung Wagner's opera, where it becomes clear that the tragic and central protagonist is Brünhilde. And she is none other than Senta, who heads the cast of The Flying Dutchmanwhich we were able to enjoy at the Principal Theatre of Ciudad. To round off the week, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the one who carries the banner is the one who gives the work its title, The Mona Lisa. A composition, the only known one by Amilcare Ponchielli, yet still an indisputable masterpiece that requires six top-level voices to reach its full potential, as was the case in the production between the Liceu and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with stage direction by Romain Gilbert. Based on a drama by Victor Hugo, Angelo, tyrant of Padoue, to which Arrigo Boito, author of the librettos for Verdi's last and among his most highly regarded operas, under the pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, moved to Venice. An aspect that Gilbert has configured with complete and absolute fidelity, adding a few touches of the conmedia dell'arte, with the inclusion of Harlequin, Pantalone and Columbine, in addition to some narrative liberties, such as, among others, the final appearance of The Blind Woman, by Violeta Urmana, who still retains many of her qualities and, above all, the skill to accurately depict the essential characteristics of the character.

Der fliegende Holländer, by Richard Wagner, at the Principal Theater. Impossible!, many of us thought. My faultDifficult, no doubt, but good work and sound judgment prevailed. This isn't a spoiler. It was a success, with a full house, and ohne irrtum —without error— as the composer would say, and surely if he didn't say it, he at least thought it. Everything worked perfectly. Nothing disappointed, and perhaps that remarkable balance achieved was the best and most essential of the many virtues the show possesses. The circle might have been smaller than usual, for obvious reasons, but it was undoubtedly a perfect one. A fact that was already clear from the very first agreements of theOpening, With the imposing brass announcing the stormy tragedy, the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Guillermo Garcia-Calvo, for whom Wagner holds far fewer secrets than for the vast majority of conductors, having so thoroughly captured the essence of Bayreuth, thus fulfilling this initial requirement regarding the size of the orchestra, which sounded powerful and expansive, as well as rich in textures and impeccably clear.

There were many notable and relevant moments in the opening concert of the season of the Illes Balears Symphony Orchestra, but, to begin with, I would like to highlight what corresponds to Prelude to the après-midi of a faun, of Claude Debussy. The first piece played in the second half and of which Pierre Boulez said that "The flute of Faun by Debussy breathed new life into the art of music." Josep Miralles, the group's solo flute, was in charge of showing off his best attributes in the interpretation of these supernatural moments, which suggest the sensual evocations of the main faun. somos, Mielgo and the Symphony Orchestra displayed this primordial moment that the group is experiencing, and the Frenchman's piece, which at the time marked a revolution, was a good thermometer to confirm it. There are many instruments that at one moment or another become protagonists in this translation of the poem, soloist, the oboe, of course, and even the antique cymbals, to achieve a chromatic universe that, moreover, is unlike any other of the compositions of one of the great avant-garde artists in the history of music. crushed the new world of the arts, with one of the capers of musical impressionism. The bullfighter's prayer It is a small but no small work, with all the ingredients of Spanish music and the impressionist envelope that had so unnerved him. Originally conceived for four llaüts, which is difficult to imagine how they might have sounded, it was later converted to a string quartet and finally to the version that began the evening, for string orchestra. From one of his companions in Parisian musical adventures, Manuel de Falla, who drew from the same sources, Davide Cabassi on piano played the three Nights in the Gardens of Spain, the one of the Generalife, the Distant Dance and those of The mountains of Córdoba, where we can find the most obvious references in Debussy and Ravel,Perfumes of the Night of the first and the Prelude to Night of the second. Intense, tempered and meticulous, was the soloist's interpretation, with these masterful dialogues with the orchestra, creating textures of sublime richness and ending with a finale of a fineness extraordinary, with the "extinguished sound", as the score notes.