Warm reception from the public for a concert that brought together up to three generations of sopranos directly related to Montserrat Caballé. The emotional performance of Josep Carreras, received with a standing ovation, signed a benefit recital for young singers organized by the Montserrat Caballé Foundation. The recital, presented by the President of the Foundation, Montserrat Claus, Caballé's niece, was also a remembrance tribute to the tenor Bernabé Martí, widower of the diva, and to the mezzo Teresa Berganza, honorary patron of the Foundation, both of whom recently passed away.
The program combined the voices of Montserrat Martí, daughter of La superba, who performed opera, musical, the song that Vangelis wrote for her mother: Like a dream and Neapolitan, the latter an emotional Non ti scordar di me a duet with Carreras.
The lyrical soprano from Madrid Saioa Hernández also performed, with an intense instrument, a student and recognized by Caballé herself as the Spanish voice of the 21st century. Hernández, the only Spanish soprano in history to open a season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, lavished charisma as Verdi's Lady Macbeth and drama with Puccini's Sola, perduta abbandonata.
The winner of the last edition of the Caballé Contest, and the first Spaniard to win the first prize in its XVI editions, the Barcelona soprano Serena Sáenz, shone as Olympia and made the public stand up as Gilda, in addition to making people fall in love with the Eternal Elegy of Pomegranates.
The repertorist Josep Buforn accompanied all the lyrical performances with his recognized excellence on the piano.
The crossover wink was signed by the vocal power of Ruth Lorenzo, accompanied by her pianist Didac and a great admirer of Caballé, with Memories from the musical Cats and the Oscar-winning The way we were from the film Just as we were.
Josep Carreras, fully in his farewell round of the stages, sang Grieg's T'estimo, which sounded like La Caballé's declaration of love in memoriam.
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