Costa Brava’s Festival of Peralada Castle hosts the world premier of the chamber opera ‘Wow!’

This Wednesday, the world premier of the chamber opera ‘Wow!’ takes place at the Festival of Peralada Castle, located in northern Catalonia’s Costa Brava. The libretto is inspired by texts written by Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman, building a relationship between the two poets. The opera will be staged in the cloister of El Carme Church in Peralada, which has a capacity of 400 people. The play is structured in a single act with a prologue and four scenes. It explores the themes of dreaming, death, ascension and immortality. The score and the text are the work of Catalan composer García Demestres, while the stage director is Xavier Albertí, who is the new Director of the National Theatre of Catalonia (TNC).

The last rehearsal of Wow! before the world's premiere in the Peralada Castle Festival (by A. Recolons)
The last rehearsal of Wow! before the world's premiere in the Peralada Castle Festival (by A. Recolons) / ACN

ACN

August 14, 2013 09:00 PM

Peralada (ACN).- The Festival of Peralada Castle, located in northern Catalonia’s Costa Brava, will this Wednesday host the world premier of the chamber opera ‘Wow!’. It is a modern day opera with the score and text written by Albert García Demestres, a Catalan composer fascinated by the lyrical art who already has several operas to his name. The libretto discusses the relationship between Oscar Wilde, played by tenor Antoni Comas, and Walt Whitman, the character played by baritone Joan Martín-Royo; while Elisenda Pujals will play the soprano part. ‘Wow!’ will discuss such themes as dreaming, death, ascension and immortality. The work will take place in the cloister of the El Carme Church in the spectacular Peralada Castle and will have a capacity of 400 people. The stage director of ‘Wow!’ is Xavier Albertí, who is the new director of the National Theatre of Catalonia (TNC). The opera is structured in a single act with a prologue and four scenes. It will be sung in English with subtitles projected on the walls to enable all attendees to follow the opera. The play will benefit from the cloister’s gothic atmosphere, which last year already hosted the world premier of the opera ‘Java Suite’.


The Festival of Peralada Castle is a summer music and dance festival, which has been taking place since 1987. It is considered one of the most important cultural events that take place in Catalonia. Aside from hosting operas, the festival also includes: dance shows, jazz concerts and choral performances. These take place in the three venues of Perelada: the El Carme Church, the auditorium of the castle and the pavilion in the castle gardens.