SPANISH SONGS & ZARZUELA

PROGRAM

Firts Part

Joaquín Rodrigo, Madrigales amatorios:
I. ¿Con qué la lavaré?
II. Vos me matásteis
IV. De los álamos vengo, madre
 Joaquín Turina, Poema en forma de canciones:
III. Cantares
 Enrique Granados, Elegia eterna
 Xavier Montsalvatge, Canciones negras:
Canción de cuna
Canto negro
José Serrano, Qué te importa que no venga
(from the zarzuela “Los claveles”)
F. Asenjo Barbieri, Canción de la Paloma
(from the zarzuela “El Barberillo de Lavapiés”)
Gerónimo Giménez, Zapateado
(from the zarzuela “La tempranica”)

Second Part

Manuel de Falla, Canciones populares españolas:
I. El paño moruno
III. Asturiana
V. Nana
Frederic Mompou, Comptines 1, 2, 3
Enrique Granados, Tonadillas en estilo antiguo:
El mirar de la maja
La maja de Goya
La maja dolorosa 1, 2, 3
Federico Chueca & Joaquín Valverde, Tango de la Menegilda
(from the zarzuela “La Gran Vía”)
Ruperto Chapí, Carceleras
(from the zarzuela “Las hijas del Zebedeo”)

A bunch of traditional Spanish songs from the tormented Spanish twentieth century demand our attention once again through the voice of a young promising Hungarian opera singer. Heiter Melinda conquers the stage with a kind of timid coquetry and perfumes the space with her clean and powerful voice, bringing other times essences to us in Spanish and Catalan languages, with the loyal support of María Álvarez who follows her with efficiency on the piano. I look around and, "us" is an audience composed mainly by Hungarian people who have in their hands a translation from those songs. I feel a bit perplex thinking how would sound El Tango de la Menegilda in Hungarian. The sometimes anonymous and cryptic lyrics from those pieces which seem to say more than they promise, are well articulated by Melinda. And beyond other remarks, a nice time is guaranteed.

Now, they perform again in the Glass Hall of the Palace of Arts, here in Budapest, and I have the chance to have a brief chat with them.

How came that you paid your attention in these Spanish songs?

Melinda: Maria had the idea to prepare a concert of some spanish songs of great spanish composers. She had a conception about what those could be, but then we chose the pieces together. I suggested to chose some zarzuela pieces too, because the audience in Hungary doesn’t know this kind of music on the one hand. But on the other hand zarzuelas are similar to the hungarian operettas and being a light and joyful genre, the audience like very much to listen.

María: Spanish vocal repertoire is not well known in Hungary. As a performer I wanted to approach to these pieces, part of the musical legacy and identity from my country and show them here n Hungary.

What are the selection criteria?

Melinda: We would have liked to give a large view of spanish songs, because we have to say that in Hungary people don’t know them well this section of classical music.

María: We picked together the most interesting pieces for us from different composers, style and genre to do a colorful and various programme.

How much time did you invest in preparation?

Melinda: We began the preparation with selecting in September 2010 and in November we began the rehearsals. It was then 2 month keen work on the pieces. Our first concert was on the 16 of January 2011 in Nádor terem.

Have you got any kind of support?

Melinda: No, unfortunately not. I organised for us all the 4 concerts what we had with this program in the last few months.  And we don not have sponsors neither.

María: Just the one from concert halls to perfom, they liked the proposal,  is very rare repertoire here.

How is the reception of the Hungarian audience?

María: Very good, they like it a lot.

Melinda: People like very much the concert, not only the Hungarians, but also the Spanish people who live in Hungary. For those Hungarians who study Spanish language it is also a great possibility to get to know this section of the Spanish culture. That’s why we always inform the sites like Spanyol portál or Lazarillo hispanisztikai portál about our concerts.

What are your future plans for the concert?

Melinda: Our next concert is on the 1st of June in the Üvegterem of MüPa. Actually this is our last concert for this season I think. I hope that in the future we’ll have the possibility to give more concerts.

HEITER MELINDA

She studied with Ilona Adorján, József Hormai and Katalin Szőke. In 2004 she passed in the Faculty of Solo Singing – Teacher of the College of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music of Budapest, where she graduated in 2008 with excellent qualifications, under the direction of Brigitta Kovács and the pianist József Balog. Between 2003 and 2009 she worked regularly with the renowned Júlia Hamari, and attended her masterclasses in Budapest, Győr and Stuttgart. She also participated in the masterclasses of György Vashegyi and of Walter Moore. In 2008 she attended a theatrical workshop of Jeanne Henny. Currently I am working with the famous Hungarian mezzo-soprano, Bernadett Wiedemann. During the academic years she interpreted the role of the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. The role of Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) entered in her regular repertoire; she performed that role during the season 2007/2008 on stage, at the Baroque Theater of the Royal Palace in Gödöllő, Hungary. The next season, in the same theater she played Cherubino in Le Nozze de Figaro, with the Savarian Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Pál Németh. In 2009, she made her debut on the stage of two principle Hungarian theaters. In Debrecen she worked with Balázs Kocsár in the first Hungarian premier of Dvořak’s Rusalka, in which she interpreted the first Wood-spirit’s role. In the 2009/2010 season she played Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in the National Theater of Miskolc. This performance – in which she had the opportunity to work with the director Ernö Weil and with the Conductors Arne Willimczik, Philippe de Chalendar and Katalin Váradi – came to fruition in association with the Theater Regensburg, Germany.

Heiter Melinda's Web Page 

MARÍA ÁLVAREZ VIDALES

Borned in León (Spain), she began studying piano in her hometown. BA in Musicology from the University of Salamanca in 2000. Since 1996 she continued the learning of the instrument under the tutelage of Alberto Rosado. During a year studying with Eldar Nebolsin in Madrid and in 2003 she obtained the Piano degree at the Conservatory of Music in Oviedo under the direction of Maestro Francisco J. Pantin. She took various master classes with the teachers Edith Fischer, Josep Colom. Stratulat Achúcarro and Lidia J., and case seminars with Charles Rosen and Luca Chiantore, among others. She has also attended master classes given by Ferenc Rados and András Schiff. Since 2003 she lives in Budapest where she continued her piano career, making a permanent course of improvement with the teacher Ervin Nagy, and eventually Csalog Gábor, András Kemenes and Károly Botvay latter chamber music. In her role as a performer, both solo repertoire and in chamber music, she has performed at several venues in Spain and Hungary, among which include the Hungarian Radio, the French Institute in Budapest, the Academy of Music Franz Liszt Academy of Ancient Music, the Literature Palace Museum Károly, and the Kossuth Nádor klub. Maria Vidales has also worked as a pianist in various cultural events such as "Lorca and his poetry" to celebrate the anniversary of the poet in 2006 at the University of Debrecen (Hungary), and at concerts organized annually by the Embassy of Spain in Budapest. In 2008 she started her artistic collaboration with the Hungarian mezzo-soprano Melinda Heiter. Since 2007 María combines professional activity with teaching piano in Spain and Budapest.

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