An immersive 'The Fairy Queen' will premiere at the Castell de Peralada Festival

The dreamlike setting of the Castell de Peralada and its gardens will extend to the stage of the auditorium in the premiere of The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell, the new operatic production of the Empordà festival.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
27 June 2022 Monday 23:08
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An immersive 'The Fairy Queen' will premiere at the Castell de Peralada Festival

The dreamlike setting of the Castell de Peralada and its gardens will extend to the stage of the auditorium in the premiere of The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell, the new operatic production of the Empordà festival. Under the stage direction of Joan Anton Rechi and musical by Dani Espasa, and with the countertenor Xavier Sabata in the role of fairy, the public will be able to immerse themselves in this baroque semi-opera, with five acts and sixty pieces, next Friday, July 22 (10 p.m.).

The sopranos Ana Quintans and Judit Van Wanroij and the tenors Mark Milhofer and Thomas Walker will participate in this performance. Xavi Martínez and Mar Gómez will dance a choreography devised by the latter, while the bass Nicolas Brooymans and the Ensemble O Vos Omnes choir, directed by Xavier Pastrana, will also take to the stage. La Vanguardia subscribers have a 10% discount on tickets, as long as they are purchased at Vanguardia Tickets.

However, it is a very special reinterpretation, in which Rechi has paid tribute to the return to normality of the event itself, which has lived the last two years between cancellations and capacity limitations. "There are lost opera characters waiting for the magical summer nights to return," Rechi fantasized yesterday at the presentation. “It is our way of celebrating summer”, certified Oriol Aguilà, artistic director of the festival.

Thus, alluding to its original version, composed of the text of A Midsummer Night's Dream, this The Fairy Queen will also have elements of Shakespearean comedy to address the reunion between actors and spectators at the Castell de Peralada Festival. “If you do The Fairy Queen alone you don't understand many of the things that happen, you always have to find a point to make it more understandable. I tried to take this as an excuse and let my imagination run wild, ”said the stage director. Furthermore, “Elizabethan theater creates a magical universe of things that interested us,” he declared.

On the other hand, Dani Espasa was enthusiastic, since it is the first time he has directed this piece, "one of the masterpieces of the Baroque", without forgetting its complexity. “The orchestra grows from one instrument to twenty. It's very colorful,” he noted. "There are very intimate areas, others with duets and trios and moments in which the choir is the protagonist," added the musical director.

The countertenor Xavier Sabata, who will embody The Fairy Queen unified in a single character, praised the figure of Purcell. "Her music is connected to a vitality and way of living that right now is nice to claim." An explosion that is consistent with the costume design of the play, by Gabriela Salaberri. "She has all the ingredients to like it a lot," predicted Sabata.