This in-house production of Auditorio de Tenerife will also be staged on Thursday and Saturday.

 

Tomorrow (Tuesday 15th), at 7.30 p.m., the Auditorio de Tenerife will host the premiere of Ariadne Auf Naxos, by Richard Strauss. This in-house production marks the beginning of the subscription season of Ópera de Tenerife. The other two performances have the same starting times on Thursday and Saturday at the Symphony Hall.

This opera consists of a prologue and one act. It is based on the mythological story of Ariadne, abandoned by her lover, Theseus, on the Greek island of Naxos shortly after she helped him defeat the Minotaur. Commedia dell'arte characters led by Zerbinette, played by the soprano Serena Sáenz, will encourage the princess, the leading role played here by the soprano Irina Churilova, who ends up meeting the god Bacchus, who will be brought to life here by the tenor Michal König. The mezzo-soprano Na'ama Goldman will play the role of composer.

The rest of the singers participating in this production are the soprano Marie Lombard as Najade, a water nymph; mezzo-soprano Claire Gascoin as Dryade, an earth nymph; soprano María Miró as Echo, an air nymph; baritone Nikolay Borchev as Harlequin and a music teacher, tenor Emmanuel Faraldo as Scaramuccio and an officer, bass Francesco Leone as Truffaldin and a footman, tenor Paul Schweinester as Brighella and a dancing master, actor Giulio Cervi as the butler, and bass Aleksandr Utkin as the hairdresser. The cast also features actors Joan Carlos Expósito, Daniel Marrero, Jonatan Fernández, and Saulo Trujillo, as well as the children Jorge Hernández and Raúl Aladrén.

The music is provided by the Sinfónica de Tenerife, conducted by Diego Martin-Etxebarria. The stage director of this production, Nicola Berloffa, points out the ‘difficulty of making two operas in one’, and he has designed a proposal that ‘begins in a Viennese palace during the First World War and continues in a mythical time, invading the first stage with the sand of the desert’. The lighting is by Valerio Tiberi, while the set design by Andrea Belli is 8 metres high and 18 metres long. There are 120 handcrafted mouldings.

For the new season, the subscription for Tuesday and Thursday is 100 euros, and Saturday is 150 euros. Those aged under 30 still have the option to get a subscription for 20 euros. The offer has discounts for large families, wheelchair users, and the person accompanying them. Single tickets for this opera can be purchased for €30 for the Tuesday and Thursday performances, and €50 for the Saturday performance. For the audience under 30 years of age, a single ticket costs 10 euros.

In addition to Ariadne auf Naxos, the titles that make up the subscription are Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly (November), a production of the Teatro Comunale di Modena; La Bella Susona by Alberto Carretero (December), a contemporary proposal co-produced by Auditorio de Tenerife and the Teatro de la Maestranza of Seville, Giovanna d'Arco, by Giuseppe Verdi (March), co-produced by the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and Parsifal, symphonic-choral synthesis in three acts by Pedro Halfter (June), an adaptation of the work by Wagner for choir and orchestra.

The Island Council has set up an Opera Shuttle to facilitate access to these performances, offering free transport on Saturdays. Two TITSA buses will depart at 5:15 p.m. from the south (Adeje) and the north (Buenavista), with the Auditorio de Tenerife as their destination. Once the event is over, there will be a 15-minute gap until the buses drive the route in the opposite direction.

To access this service, you must collect a bus ticket purchased as a show; instead of choosing a fare, select the name of the stop where you will join the journey. Whether you have a ticket for the show or have yet to buy one, you must collect this invitation to board the Shuttle. Places for the Opera Shuttle are limited and will be available until the day before the show at 3 p.m.

The Ópera de Tenerife is an initiative organised by the Island Council through the Auditorio de Tenerife with the collaboration of the ICDC (Regional Institute of Cultural Development) and the INAEM (National Institute of Performing Arts and Music).