In collaboration with
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
For the first time at the Opéra de Lausanne.
Roberto Forés Veses studied orchestra conducting at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. A winner of the Orvieto competition and the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition, he is the musical and artistic director of the Orchestre d’Auvergne. He made his debut in opera conducting in 2008, at the Teatro Regio in Turin in Salome and L’elisir d’amore, and at the Bolshoi Theatre in Macbeth. Since then, he has conducted numerous productions in Nice, Montpellier, Avignon, Vichy, Helsinki, Rouen and Orvieto. With the Orchestre d’Auvergne, he has led numerous projects and in 2015 recorded two albums with trumpet player Romain Leleu and harpist Naoko Yoshino. In addition, he has conducted orchestras including NHK Symphony Orchestra from Tokyo, the orchestras of Odense, Salta and Yamagata, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre de Cannes and The Russian State ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ Symphony Orchestra. From 2018 to 2019, at the same time as an intense season in Clermont-Ferrand with the l’Orchestre d’Auvergne, he toured with his orchestra in Argentina, Spain and Japan. His future projects include Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Opéra de Reims.
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.
The Opéra de Lausanne Choir is a core group of about forty chorists who are, for the most part, students from singing or professional specialisation classes at the Lausanne Conservatory or other conservatories in Western Switzerland. Chorists are selected by audition and periodically reviewed. Choir directors are chosen from among the most experienced and vary for each performance.
The Opéra de Lausanne Choir is regularly hired by orchestras and festivals in Switzerland and abroad: Création by Haydn (December 2003 – conductor Jerzy Semkow) and Stabat Mater by Rossini (February 2006 – conductor Corrado Rovaris) as a part of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra season, Roland by Lully (concert version) at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, at the Opéra de Montpellier and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Bruxelles (January 2004 – Talens Lyriques orchestra – conductor Christophe Rousset), Die Entführung aus dem Serail concert version at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (January 2005), La grotta di Trofonio (concert version) at the Théâtre de Poissy (March 2005 – Talens Lyriques, conductor Christophe Rousset), Nocturnes by Debussy at the 2007 Montreux Septembre musical (RSO Berlin – conductor Marek Janowski).
In 2008 and 2010 the choir performed as part of the OCL season under the baton of Christian Zacharias: Te Deum by Bruckner (February 2008), Les Noces by Stravinski (December 2008, also in Saint-Gall) and Beethoven’s IXe Symphony (April 2010).
The Choir has also been on many tours with Opéra de Lausanne productions: Opéra de Vichy (Rigoletto in 2005, Il Turco in Italia in 2006, La veuve joyeuse in 2007, Carmen in 2008, Amelia al ballo in 2008 under the direction of Arie Van Beek and La Traviata in 2009 conducted by Roberto Rizzi Brignoli), Opéra Comique (Amelia al ballo by Menotti in March 2007). In October 2008, the Opéra de Lausanne and its choir toured Japan for five performances of Carmen.
The Opéra de Lausanne Choir is featured on several CDs: Le Nez by Chostakovitch, Roland by Lully and La grotta di Trofonio by Salieri. The Choir was also involved in televised performances on RTS of La fille de Madame Angot, La Belle Hélène and, for the reopening of the Opéra, L’elisir d’amore.