Ópera de Tenerife’s 2019-2020 season features great composers like Donizetti, Verdi or Handel, but it also includes more avant-garde authors like Ullmann and Krenek, increasing the opera offer to a total of eight titles, which consolidates Auditorio de Tenerife as the major production centre in the Canaries. The details of this new season were disclosed today, Monday the 25^th, by the President of the Cabildo, Carlos Alonso; the Island Director for Culture, José Luis Rivero, and Ópera de Tenerife’s intendant, Alejandro Abrante.

The President highlighted the success of the current Ópera de Tenerife season, “that is not over yet and is being very successful”. “As it happens, last Saturday tickets for Turandot were sold out and the audience at Sala Sinfónica gave standing ovation”, recalled Alonso, who added that “when one talks about opera, the first thing that comes to mind is creativity, that’s why Ópera de Tenerife helps understand what Tenerife 2030 means; and they take care of it from very young ages, with the Manos a la Ópera project”, to then admit that at the Cabildo “we are very proud of this project, which opens Tenerife to the exterior”.

Carlos Alonso explained that Ópera de Tenerife season is the most reasonably priced in Spain thanks to its subscriptions, discounts and price reductions. “A new thing is that we have extended to 30 the age limit to benefit from the Young Subscription or the young discount for standard single tickets”.

The island director for Culture detailed that “there are many factors that come into play for the success of Ópera de Tenerife, like professional, technical, educational, social, creative, territorial and the work done to increase audiences”. “Ópera de Tenerife carries Tenerife 2030 as a banner from its home, Auditorio de Tenerife, which has become an Opera house”, he stated.

The Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife and Auditorio de Tenerife are the two mainstays that make Ópera de Tenerife possible, “a project with which we are leaders in opera, at the same level as the great theatres in the world”.

José Luis Rivero detailed that more than 127 cultural activities related to opera are made with programmes that spread the knowledge of opera across the island, like the schemes Ópera en Ruta, Aperitivos Líricos or Ópera Fórum, and just 19 take place at Auditorio de Tenerife, as the remaining 108 go to different municipalities on the Island. “We have over 27,000 viewers, thanks to our pricing policy too, which is the right one to encourage access to opera”.

Alejandro Abrante was clear that “Ópera and Tenerife are two terms that must go together”. In Abrante’s opinion, “Opera (e)Studio is one of our major projects because it encourages young talent and leads to singers who feel from Tenerife”. “Great artists start here and later on come back during the season to return what they received”, said the intendant, who added that out of the 70 artists who have been to this voice improvement academy, 40 are currently following their careers. “We are now a model of opera production”, he concluded.

The season raises the curtain with the seventh Opera (e)Studio, the comprehensive training academy for the development of young artists, which this year is funded by the European Commission through Creative Europe.  The title chosen by the projects’ artistic director, maestro Giulio Zappa, is the melodramma giocoso by Gaetano Donizetti, L’elisir d’amore. This co-production of Ópera de Tenerife, Teatro Comunale di Bolognia and Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre will be performed four times from 24 to 27 October.

On 19, 21 and 23 November, Rigoletto comes on stage. The title is part of Giuseppe Verdi’s famous popular trilogy, where the title role will be performed by one of the most acclaimed artists of Verdi’s repertoire, Leo Nucci.

To close the first quarter of the season, we’ll enjoy two operas composed by Austrian composers of the first half of the 20^th century, who using sarcasm, deals with the issue of totalitarian power. Der Diktator (The Dictator) by Ernst Krenek, composed in 1928 in fascist Italy, and Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of the Atlantid) by Viktor Ullmann, composed in 1943 at a concentration camp.

The adventures and misfortunes of the daughter of a Pope, Lucrezia Borgia, by Donizetti, reach Ópera de Tenerife on 17, 19 and 21 March. Stage director Silvia Paoli, who made her debut in Ópera de Tenerife with La Cenerentola (2014) and repeated, with equal success, with Le nozze di Figaro (2015) and I Capuleti e i Montecchi(2017), returns with this international co-production of Ópera de Tenerife, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Ópera de Oviedo and Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla. Her interpretation of the opera transports us to the 1930s, where the rise of fascism in Italy marks female behaviour, ruled by the hidden vices and public virtues of a male-centred society.

Ópera en familia is putting on Rinaldo on 25 and 26 April. Ardent battles, spells, and beautiful melodies, like the famous ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ make this title by George Frideric Handel one of the most acclaimed of his works. The next in-house production, for the Ópera Pocket programme will take us to the unforgettable love story composed by Verdi in The Traviata, which, as in previous occasions, will tour the Island municipalities with the intention of bringing opera to new venues and audiences. Continuing our support to zarzuela, the programme includes the romance La tabernera del puerto by Pablo Sorozábal, one of the most renowned zarzuela composers in the 20^th century.

The new opera season also brings the 7^th Opera de Tenerife Singing International Competition, which is now established as a not-to-be-missed engagement in the international opera world. We will once again enjoy a range of great voices in La final on 24 June, admission is free, and the Award-winner Concert on 25 June. This season includes masterclasses on voice and performance for young talents, to be held from 28 October to 2 November. In addition, the learning activity Ópera en Ruta, will explain to new audiences the ins and outs of the world of opera and the titles offered.

Antonio Méndez, Philippe Auguin, Pedro Halffter, Andriy Yurkevych, Giovanni Paganelli, Rubén Sánchez-Vieco and Alessandro Palumbo -the latter with Orquesta de la Academia Ópera de Tenerife- will be leading Sinfónica de Tenerife to put music to one more season of productions to be performed in Auditorio de Tenerife along with Coro de Ópera de Tenerife directed by Carmen Cruz.

As in previous years, Ópera de Tenerife offers the chance to get different types of subscriptions which do not only involve a discount on ticket prices, but they also allow you to enjoy exclusive advantages including securing your seat, priority access to the auditorium, free Ópera Bus, or receiving the digital programme ahead of the première.

The titles included in all types of subscription available, Club Ópera and Club Ópera Joven, are: L’elisir d’amore, Rigoletto, Der Diktator and Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Lucrezia Borgia and La tabernera del puerto. The Club Ópera Joven subscription also includes Rinaldo and the Award-winner concerts of the Singing International Competition. This will also enjoy an additional 15% discount for different events at Auditorio de Tenerife like Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife, Quantum Ensemble, Ópera en familia, Ópera Pocket. The offer also includes 10% off at Gastromag in Auditorio, as well as in some cafeterias and restaurants in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The Club Ópera subscription includes different rates like: Ambassador, First-timer, Corporate, Large Families and Groups (conservatoires, music schools and universities) which involve a specific discount for each group ranging from 30 to 40%. If you do not opt for a season subscription, Ópera de Tenerife offers a series of special discounts on standard single tickets for students, unemployed, large families, Ópera en Ruta participants and Ten+ Mayor card holders. Also, new this year, the age range to enjoy the young people discount has been extended to 30 years of age, with tickets at a single price of 5 euros.

The period to renew subscriptions starts tomorrow, [Tuesday, the 26^th] and ends on 14 April. The period for new subscribers is from 7 May to 24 October. In both cases, the purchase can be arranged via the Internet, on www.auditoriodetenerife.com, or in person at Auditorio de Tenerife box office from 10 am to 7:30 pm, Monday to Saturday.

All the information on the titles of the 2019 - 2020 season are available on Ópera de Tenerife