Unicaja and Fundación Ópera de Oviedo have signed an agreement under which the financial institution will continue to collaborate to promote this genre, supporting the programming that, during the next season, will once again bring great works and performers to the stage of the Teatro Campoamor. In this edition, there will be a total of five titles and will begin on 7 September with a new production of 'Anna Bolena', by Gaetano Donizetti, followed by 'The Barber of Seville', by Rossini; 'Arabella', by Richard Strauss; 'Aida', by Verdi, and 'The Marriage of Figaro', by Mozart.
Unicaja's head of Communication and Image, Fernando Ríos, and the president of Fundación Ópera de Oviedo, Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Ovejero, have signed this agreement at Unicaja's headquarters in Oviedo. Thanks to this agreement, Unicaja maintains its status as Premium Protector within the 77th Oviedo Opera Season, organized by the Foundation.
The renewal of the commitment will also allow the opera institution to develop social projects and boost its programming. In this way, Unicaja will collaborate during the 2024/2025 season with the Ópera de Oviedo and its consolidated cultural repercussion, through its co-productions with the main theaters and festivals, its participation in the main world opera forums and the numerous activities it carries out throughout the year to give value to the Asturian opera activity and its professionals.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Ovejero, president of the Ópera de Oviedo, emphasized that "Unicaja has demonstrated its total commitment and sustained support to the great cultural and social initiatives of Asturias. It has remained by the side of the Ópera de Oviedo and is now an indissoluble part of the great project that the Ópera de Oviedo has in Spain. It is an example of collaboration and of the vision of what a great institution that gets involved and enriches its community socially and culturally should be".
For his part, Fernando Ríos pointed out that "this collaboration, framed in Unicaja's sustainability strategy, responds to the commitment that our entity maintains with Asturias, one of its regions of origin, as well as the support to important cultural initiatives such as those developed by the Fundación Ópera de Oviedo".
Programme: from Anna Bolena to Le nozze di Figaro
The 2024/2025 season of the Ópera de Oviedo will start with a new production of Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena. With soprano Sabina Puértolas, tenor John Osborn and mezzo Maite Beaumont, under the stage direction of Emilio López and musical direction of maestro Iván López Reynoso, conducting the Oviedo Filarmonía orchestra. The performances will take place on 7, 9, 12 and 14 September, 2024.
The next title on stage will arrive on 5 October with Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville'. A new production of the Ópera de Oviedo signed by Rita Cosentino, with Lucía Marín as musical director and Oviedo Filarmonía. Tenor Nico Darmanin, mezzo-soprano Karina Demurova and baritones Germán Olbera and David Menéndez head the cast scheduled for 5, 8, 10 and 12 October.
Richard Strauss' opera 'Arabella' will arrive for the first time at the Teatro Campoamor, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the composer's death. With Maite Alberola, in the role of Arabella, Egils Siliņs or Christoph Seidl, among others, with conductor Corrado Rovaris conducting the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (OSPA) and Guy Joosten in stage direction. With performances on 17, 19, 21 and 23 November.
The said orchestra will also be under the fourth title of the season, with Verdi and 'Aida', conducted by maestro Gianluca Marcianò. With performances on 13, 15, 18 and 21 December. Carmen Giannattasio (Aida), Jorge de León (Radamés) and Ketevan Kemoklidze (Amneris) will be the protagonists of the production of the late Franco Zeffirelli.
The series will culminate with Emilio Sagi's production of Mozart's 'Le nozze di Figaro', with Pablo Ruiz and Mercedes Gancedo as Figaro and Susanna on 25, 28 and 30 January, and 1 February.
On the other hand, the so-called 'Opera Fridays' will also stage the works 'The Barber of Seville' (11 October), 'Aida' (20 December) and 'Le nozze di Figaro' (31 January).
In addition, the program includes talks and related activities, as well as children's programme, with two complementary performances in October 2024 of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' by the resident children's company La Federica and its shows for young artists for the whole family, and a show for young people, 'The Secret of the Other', based on 'La mère coupable' by Darius Milhaud, which can be enjoyed in Pola de Siero, Gijón and Oviedo in January 2025.
