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Created in Madrid in 1923, Doña Francisquita by Amadeo Vives belongs to the ‘género grande’ of zarzuela. A true depiction of moral standards, this comedy portrays characters from Spanish popular society. The libretto is inspired by one of Lope de Vega’s best comedies, La discreta enamorada (1605), and gives free course to the emotions, dealt with elegantly, inventively and cheerfully by one of the most important Spanish composers from the beginning of the 20th century. The young Francisquita is infatuated with a student who is burning with ardour for a fashionable actress, Aurora La Beltrana. But loves makes the naive girl resourceful and she manages to overcome various obstacles, finally conquering the gallant man’s heart. While the dramatic themes, like men’s blindness to their feelings, are timeless, it is the everyday people in the street that animate the intriguing plot. The faïence mender, the travelling haberdasher, the orange and water sellers, the civil guards, the night-watchman and the dancers are all animated by themes from Spanish popular music. Considered a masterpiece of zarzuela from the beginning of the 20th century, Doña Francisquita captivates us with the charm of Madrid’s atmosphere and its inimitable flavour. A discovery not to be missed.
Libretto by Federico Romero and Guillermo Fernández-Shaw adapted from Lope de Vega
First performed at Teatro Apolo, Madrid, October 17, 1923
Critical Edition by Miguel Roa for
ICCMU and SGAE
Born in Valencia, Spain, Roberto Forés Veses is the unanimous winner of the Luigi Mancinelli Opera Conducting Competition (with a special jury prize) and a distinguished winner of the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition. Dedicating himself to both opera and symphonic repertoire, he has been invited to conduct numerous orchestras, including the Bolshoi, Teatro Regio of Turin, Helsinki, Montpellier, Lyon, Rouen and Saint-Etienne opera orchestras, the NHK symphony orchestras of Tokyo, St. Petersburg and Milan, Milan “Giuseppe Verdi”, Russian State “Evgeny Svetlanov”, Prague, Luxembourg, Galicia and Nice Philharmonic Orchestras, National Orchestras of Lyon, Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Montpellier and Pays de la Loire, Chamber Orchestras of Paris, Lausanne and England, as well as the Honk Kong Sinfonietta From 2011 to 2021, he is the musical and artistic director of the Orchestre national d’Auvergne. During his tenure, he initiated numerous tours (in Japan, South America and Spain in particular) and recordings (for the Aparté Music and Warner Classics labels), as well as the creation of the digital label “Orchestre national d’Auvergne Live”. Recent publications include a Chopin First Concerto with Nicholas Angelich (Warner), Berg’s Lyric Suite, Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Strauss’ Metamorphoses, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden arranged by Mahler, as well as symphonies by Roussel, Honegger and Jean Rivier. In the 2022/23 season, Roberto Forés Veses will perform with the English Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, and the Nagoya Philharmonic (on a European tour); he will also make his debut conducting the Moravian Philharmonic, the Basque National Orchestra, and the Seville Symphony Orchestra, and will conduct Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet in the pit of the Zurich Opernhaus.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Doña Francisquita (2020)
Pour la première fois à l’Opéra de Lausanne.
Le metteur en scène Lluís Pasqual est un des fondateurs du Théâtre Lliure à Barcelone. Il allie le travail de mise en scène avec la direction artistique d’institutions comme le Centro Dramático Nacional de Madrid, Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe de Paris, la Biennale de Venise, le Teatro Arriaga à Bilbao et le Teatre Lliure. Il a realisé des mises en scène pour le Piccolo Teatro de Milan, le Théâtre Maly de Saint-Pétersburg, le Teatro Martín de Buenos Aires et le Festival d’Avignon. Ses spectacles récents incluent La vida es sueño, Romancero Gitano, Medea, In memoriam, La quinta del biberó et King Lear de Shakespeare. À l’opéra, il a créé des productions au Liceu de Barcelone, au Teatro Real de Madrid, à l’Opéra de Paris, à la Scala et au Festival de Salzburg. Parmi ses distinctions, citons les Premi Nacional de Teatre de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Premio Nacional de Teatro du Ministère de la culture, Premi Ciutat de Barcelone. Il est chevalier de l’ordre national de la Légion d’honneur et Creu Sant Jordi de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Il est également l’auteur de l’essai De la mano de Federico évoquant sa relation à Federico García Lorca.
Ismael Jordi studied singing in Madrid and received from Queen Sofia the Alfredo Kraus Prize for best student Prix Meilleur élève d’Alfredo Kraus. Critics have called him “the Spanish tenor of the 20th century”. Ismael Jordi has performed on many international stages in a vast repertoire: Falstaff in Strasbourg; Der Rosenkavalier in Toulouse and Amsterdam; La Traviata in Marseille, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Seville, Naples, Venice, Vienna, Amsterdam and at Covent Garden; Mignon at the Opéra Comique; L’elisir d’amore at the Staatsoper Berlin and in Seville and Madrid; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and in Dresden, Barcelona, Naples, Zurich, Amsterdam, Tokyo and at Covent Garden; Rigoletto in Hamburg, Bilbao, Verona and Rome; Anna Bolena in Frankfurt and Zurich; Lucrezia Borgia in Munich and Liège; Roméo et Juliette in Jerez, Amsterdam and Montréal; Eugène Onéguine in Bilbao; Iphigénie en Tauride in Valencia; Linda di Chamounix in Barcelona and Rome; Roberto Devereux and Faust in Madrid; Manon in Liège and Seoul; Le duc d’Albe at Opera Vlaanderen; Martha at the Vienna Volksoper; Maria Stuarda at Covent Garden.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Traviata (2015).
For the first time at the Opéra de Lausanne.
After a course in Spanish dance, this young soprano from Seville began her studies in singing at the city’s Conservatoire. Following performances in several concerts and zarzuelas, she made her debut in opera in La clemenza di Tito in Valladolid. She has won several prizes: 1st prize and special audience prize at the Seville City Contest, 3rd ‘Flaviano Labò’ prize, audience Montserrat Caballé prize, 1st prize from the Opéra Santa Cruz Tenerife, 1st ‘Ciudad de Logroño’ prize, 3rd prize and audience ‘Alfredo Kraus’ prize. She also won 2nd prize in the Viñas 2018 competition and special prizes Plácido Domingo, Teatro de la Zarzuela, Teatro Real, Audience, Ópera de Sabadell and Concerlírica. Her recent performances include La Cenerentola, La Bohème and Il viaggio a Reims in Tenerife; La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein and Marina at La Zarzuela; The little sweep and Lucia di Lammermoor in Seville; Il viaggio a Reims at the Liceu in Barcelona. In other countries she has performed in Il Turco in Italia in Piacenza, Ravenna and Modena; Francesca da Rimini and Giulietta e Romeo by Vaccaj at the Festival della Valle d’Itria; Falstaff and Rigoletto in Genoa, and Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo at the Wildbad Festival.
For the first time at the Opéra de Lausanne.
Originally from Argentina, Florencia Machado is a graduate of the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the National University of Rosario. She is a laureate of the Teatro Colón International Singing Contest under the patronage of Kiri Te Kanawa, Sumi Jo, Sherrill Milnes, Lenore Rosenberg, Nicholas Sears and Renaud Lorange. She also received the special prize of The New Generation at the Oscar della Lirica in 2012 at Torre del Lago in Italy.
She has performed in Argentina on numerous stages in L’italiana in Algeri, Werther, La Cenerentola and Le nozze di Figaro at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Cosí Fan Tutte at Teatro Argentina de la Plata, Adalgisa in Norma at Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires as well as at the St. Margarethen Festival as Mercedes in Carmen. In project: Fenena in Nabucco and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Teatro Colón.
For the first time at the Opéra de Lausanne.
At the National Theatre of Zarzuela, Milagros Martin has played in many titles. In 1992 she sang at the Gala de Reyes with Placido Domingo as director. In 1994, she performed in El Manojo de Rosas at the Rome Opera and at the Odeón Theatre in Paris, La Chulapona in Paris, Luisa Fernanda in Mexico City, El Gato Montes in Washington. She has performed in Carmen in various productions. She has played in La Vida Breve at the Teatro Real in Madrid, collaborates in the zarzuela seasons in Bogotá, as part of the cultural exchange between INAEM and that city. She regularly sings different titles at the National Theatre of Zarzuela. She also participated in the world premiere of the contemporary opera El Juez by the Austrian composer Christian Kolonovits, directed by the José Carreras company.
Miguel Sola studied singing at the Conservatory of Madrid where he won first prize. His musical career is both varied and extensive: he participates in many concerts, operas, zarzuelas, oratorios and several world premieres. His numerous recordings include Un ballo in Maschera, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Le nozze di Figaro, Jenu˚fa and Werther at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and Cyrano de Bergerac, with Plácido Domingo, at the Valencia Opera. Miguel Sola is regularly invited to the Zarzuela seasons in Spain, where he sings the greatest roles of this repertoire, such as in Doña Francisquita, El Gato Montés, La Revoltosa and La Gran Via. He has worked with great conductors such as Jesús Lopez Cobos, Frühbeck de Burgos, and Riccardo Chailly, and has played the leading roles in the operatic repertoire such as Don Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and the title role in Don Pasquale.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Cosi fan Tutte (2006), Pan y Toros (2009).
Born in Cordoba, Andalusian tenor Pablo García López began his vocal studies at his hometown conservatory with tenor Juan Luque. He went on to perfect his vocal skills at the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Plácido Domingo Advanced Training Center at the Palacio de las Artes in Valencia. He completed his training in Berlin with John Norris. In recent years, he has made acclaimed appearances on Spain’s main stages, leading to international debuts at opera houses such as the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, the Opéra Royal de Muscat, the Palais des Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and the Capitole de Toulouse. He has collaborated with Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Jesús López Cobos and Omer Meir Wellber, among others. In the 2023/24 season, he reprises the role of Pedro in Jesús Torres’ contemporary opera Tránsito in Valencia, which he premiered in Madrid in 2021, portrays Paco Vegellana in Marisa Machado’s La Regenta at Madrid’s Teatro Real, and performs baroque repertoire in concert with the Forma Antiqva ensemble at the Santander Festival, as well as Spanish songs with the orchestra of his native Cordoba. His fresh, delicately expressive voice naturally associates him with the Mozartean repertoire: he was Ferrando in Così fan tutte at Málaga’s Teatro Cervantes, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at Córdoba’s Gran Teatro, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at Oviedo Opera. In summer 2022, he performed the role of the First Senator in Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian at the Teatro Real and the Castell de Peralada Festival. His first solo album entitled “Rutas” with pianist Aurelio Viribay was released in 2020, featuring 20th-century Spanish melodies. Her discography also includes Turandot conducted by Zubin Mehta (Decca), La bohème conducted by Riccardo Chailly (Accentus) and Lorenzo Palomo’s Sinfonía Córdoba conducted by Jesús López Cobos (Naxos).
At Opéra de Lausanne: La Traviata (2015) and Le nozze di Figaro (2021)
Born in Lebanon, Mohamed pursued his musical studies in Switzerland at the Geneva and Lausanne music schools with Marcin Habela and Stephan MacLeod. He made his debut at the Lausanne Opera as Ramirez in La Belle de Cadiz by Francis Lopez. Among the roles he has played on stage: Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore as well as various roles in contemporary opera creations.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Belle de Cadix (2016), La bohème (2017), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (2019), Doña Francisquita (2020) and Davel (2023)
The Opéra de Lausanne Choir is young, made up of students of singing from Lausanne’s University of Music and the Geneva HEM, and professional singers. Its members are selected by audition and periodically reheard. For each opera, they are distributed depending on their voice and/or aptitudes. Thanks mainly to their talent on stage, supported by an infectious enthusiasm, they are highly appreciated by all the theatre directors invited. For a few years the choir has benefitted from preparation by several experienced choir masters from different backgrounds, chosen depending on the works being sung and their specific interest.
A native of Valencia, Jordi Blanch Tordera studied there before becoming director and piano teacher at the conservatory of his home town. As a choirmaster, he has collaborated in various operas under the notable direction of Lorin Mazel and Riccardo Chailly. He is currently assistant conductor of the Valencia Opera Choir in a vast repertoire ranging from opera to the great symphonic works and collaborates regularly with Fabio Biondi, Nicolas Luisotti and Roberto Abbado.
For the first time at the Opéra de Lausanne.
Alejandro Andújar studied fine arts and scenography in Madrid and Munich. He works with directors such as Alfredo Sanzol, Gerardo Vera, Jose Luis Gomez and Helena Pimenta at the Spanish National Dramatic Centre, the Compañia Nacional de Teatro Clásico and other production houses. He collaborates closely with Lluís Pasqual on shows such as King Lear, Bérénice or Médée. In opera, he collaborates with the Teatro Real, the Liceu, the Teatro de la Zarzuela, the Palau des Arts de Valencia and the Grand Théâtre de Genève in various productions, including Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Médée, La Voix humaine and El Barbellio de Lavapiés.
For the first time at the Opéra de Lausanne.
Pascal Mérat makes his debut in Paris as technical director of the ballet company Théâtre du Silence and the Bouffes du Nord with Peter Brook. There he collaborated on numerous opera, theatre and ballet productions throughout Europe: Comédie-Française, Scala, Liceu, for artists such as Maurice Béjart, Pier Francesco Maestrini or Jeanne Moreau.
Nuria Castejón trains at the Spanish Ballet School. As a dancer, she works for the best Spanish companies and collaborates with renowned choreographers such as Antonio Gades, Goyo Montero or Alberto Lorca. She began her career as a choreographer with Emilio Sagi at the Zarzuela Theatre in Madrid before working for many opera houses around the world: Los Angeles, Miami, Rome, Paris, Lisbon and Buenos Aires.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La chanteur du Mexique (2017).