On 14 April, Madrid’s Teatro de la Zarzuela hosts acclaimed Mexican baritone Emmanuel Franco, one of the rising voices on the European circuit. In the Ambigú series, accompanied by pianist Daniel Ruiz de Cenzano, he will present a programme exploring the musical bridges between Spain and Latin America.
The recital programme Alma Latina, explains Emmanuel Franco, “proposes a journey through the richness and diversity of the Spanish-language lyric repertoire, uniting concert song, Mexican opera, and zarzuela in a single artistic heartbeat.” With this programme, he makes his solo recital debut at the Teatro de la Zarzuela — a further step in a career that has continued to grow in recent years. The concert takes place on 14 April, with Valencian pianist Daniel Ruiz de Cenzano joining him for an intimate evening in the Ambigú series of the Madrid theatre. The programme focuses on “the poetic intimacy of songs by Roberto Bañuelas, Cenobio Paniagua, Salvador Moreno, and Carlos Jiménez Mabarak, moving through the rhythmic vitality and evocative colour of Galician composer Borja Mariño, tracing a sonic map in which nostalgia, nature, love, and identity intertwine in multiple accents,” says Emmanuel Franco. “It will also delve into the dramatic power of Mexican opera, with pages by Miguel Meneses, Aniceto Ortega, and Miguel Planas — a testament to a lyric heritage that is still seldom explored, yet of enormous expressive and historical value.” The journey culminates with the energy and character of Federico Moreno Torroba’s zarzuela El orgullo de Jalisco, recently revived in Mexico, a work that was first staged in that country in 1947. “With this almost unknown work, we celebrate the shared theatrical tradition between Spain and Mexico. Alma Latina, in any case, aims to be a bridge, a memory, a celebration, and an affirmation of the Latin voice in its plurality. It would not have been possible without the generous support and guidance of the Mexican company Ópera: Nuestra Herencia Olvidada, whose research and recovery work has been essential in shaping this repertoire.”
Emmanuel Franco, who in recent seasons has been achieving great success in theatres in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland, approaches this Madrid engagement with particular excitement: “I am very happy to sing again in Spain, a country where I have always felt at home and where I hope to sing many times in the coming years. Spanish audiences have a sensitivity and knowledge of lyric music that is a true gift for any performer,” says the baritone, who has already performed at Baluarte in Pamplona, the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, and the Oviedo Opera.
For the remainder of the season, Emmanuel Franco will perform Taddeo in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri upon his return to the Teatro Coccia di Novara (May, Italy), will return to the Royal Opera Festival (Krakow, Poland), and to the Rossini in Wildbad Festival (Germany) as Pascual in the Spanish opera Marina by Arrieta and as Fernando in La gazza ladra (June, July), also by Rossini. This summer he will also appear at the Festiwal im. Jana Kiepury (Krynica, Poland), with further performances of Marina. ◆