The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Ainadamar, by Grammy-winning composer Osvaldo Golijov and Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, opened October 15—and the reviews are in!
Deborah Colker directs the opera based on the life of poet Federico García Lorca, who was arrested and executed by the Falange during the Spanish Civil War. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack plays Lorca, alongside soprano Angel Blue as actress Margarita Xirgu, who starred in Mariana Pineda, one of Lorca's most famous plays. Soprano Elena Villalón plays Xirgu's student Nuria, and flamenco singer Alfredo Tejada plays Ramón Ruiz Alonso, the Falangist who arrested Lorca. Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducts Golijov’s Flamenco-infused score.
Read the reviews here.
BroadwayWorld (Richard Sasanow)
Financial Times (George Grella)
New York Classical Review (Rick Perdian)
The New York Times (Joshua Barone)*
OperaWire (David Salazar)
The Wall Street Journal (Heide Waleson)
The Washington Post (Michael Andor Brodeur)
*This review may require creating a free account or a paid subscription.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
While composer, director, and conductor, are all making their Met debuts, Ainadamar is librettist David Henry Hwang’s second opera to be performed at the Met, following The Voyage, a collaboration with Philip Glass about Christopher Columbus, which had its Met premiere in 1992, and returned in 1996. The Voyage was partially sung in Spanish, as well as English and Latin, but Ainadamar has become the second entirely Spanish-language opera performed at the Met in the space of 12 months, following last year’s production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, which closed a nearly century-long gap.
The creative team includes scenic and costume designer Jon Bausor, lighting designer Paul Keogan, projection designer Tal Rosner, sound designer Mark Grey, and flamenco choreographer Antonio Najarro.
Performances of Ainadamar run through November 9. Visit MetOpera.org.
