The composer of 'West Side Story' is the creator of this work with a touch of jazz that tackles the problems of a couple

 

The Ópera de Tenerife is tackling its chamber music proposal for this season: Trouble in Tahiti, by Leonard Bernstein. The work from the composer of West Side Story is coming to the Chamber Hall of the Auditorio de Tenerife with four performances: 20, 21, 27 and 28 of January at 7:30 p.m. The tickets have a single price of 20 Euros and just 5 Euros for audiences under 30 years of age.

To explore this opera in depth, Ramón Gener is returning next Wednesday (17th), at 7:30 p.m. with his talk-concert format. Through the stage design of the production, the Catalan disseminator and musician will discuss all the details and curiosities of this work by the American composer, one of the first orchestra composers from his country and known for his educational concerts on television.

This in-house production by the Auditorio de Tenerife has a local artistic team, led by Francis Hernández in terms of music and Siscu Ruz for staging. The team of the latter, a Catalan theatre director residing in Lanzarote, is completed by the stage designer Carlos Santos from Gran Canaria, the Tenerife costume designer Leo Martínez and the lighting specialist Ibán Negrín, also from the island.

The Tenerife composer will lead an ensemble of fourteen musicians: Pablo Díaz Estrada on flute, Desirée González on oboe and English horn, Diego Jorge Rodríguez on clarinet, Alberto Díaz on bassoon, Marianne Melián on horn, Aitor Acosta on trumpet, Pablo González on trombone, Nelson Hernández on percussion, Luis López on piano, Juan Manuel Díaz on violin I, Carmen Vázquez on violin II, Alba Gorrea on viola, Kathleen Balfe on cello and Juan Carlos Baeza on double bass.

The cast is headed up by the mezzo-soprano Blanca Valido, who plays the role of Dinah and the baritone Omar Lara, who plays her husband, Sam. The cast is completed by the members of the trio who accompany the lead characters in the narration: the soprano Candelaria González, the tenor Aitor Garitano and the baritone Borja Molina.

This opera takes place in one act and seven scenes, and it was premièred in 1952 in Massachusetts. Set in a rich American suburb, it tells the story of the disillusionment of Dinah with her husband Sam, who is more interested in his career and distractions than in his family.

This young middle-class couple of the 1950s goes through a relationship crisis. Far from being dealt with by both of them, it leads them to take refuge in the consumerist and feverish materialism characteristic of the American lifestyle of the era (the American dream), which a jazz trio recounts in an ironic tone in the form of a Greek tragedy chorus between the arguments of the couple.

The Auditorio de Tenerife will stage a shortened version by Garth Edwin Sunderland. The four performances offered count with the authorisation of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited.

The tickets for the opera and the conference by Ramón Gener are available on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office, or by calling the phone number 902 317 327, from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. There are discounts for students, unemployed and large families.