The Foundational Festivities begin to the rhythm of zarzuela

The city of Gran Canaria
will welcome the 544th anniversary of its foundation to the rhythm of '
Zarzuela Glam 3.0'. The Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra (OFGC) will become the protagonists of the musical show that will also bring together, on the night of this Friday, June 3, on the stage of Plaza de Santa Ana, the voices of
Soprano Sofia Esparzathe mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera and the tenor Celso Albelo.

Under the musical direction of Rafael Sánchez-Araña and the choral direction of Luis García Santana, the concert
will start at 9:00 p.m.after the musician and director of Barrios Orquestados, José Brito, has welcomed the 2022 Foundational Festivities with the reading of the proclamation in which he will be supported by twenty boys and girls from the community project.

After two years marked by the pandemic, the city celebrates its birthday with a
varied program in which music, theater, exhibitions, conferences, dance and even a route through the Guiniguada ravine They will meet over 23 days. And it is that the capital extends until June 26 the festive agenda that brings together more than fifty events that
they will start tomorrow in style in the neighborhood where it all began: Vegueta.

The heart of the historic center will thus become the incomparable stage on which the lyrical play will take place in which the characters will have to face hilarious situations that will have elements as commonplace in the 21st century as cinema, television or digital platforms, which will intermingle with zarzuela classics and
of the boy gender.

Antonio Torres directs
the scenery and he is the author of the text of this online musical adventure that will narrate the exploits of Glam and Vesper, Don Braulio Azín's bodyguards who will have to abandon that pose to protect their boss from the musical mess he has gotten himself into on this occasion. The protagonists will be forced to resort to other figures to solve the absence of the great stars who do not finish arriving at the concert via streaming of their boss.

The
Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra and the
OFGC Choir They will be in charge of interpreting the fifteen songs that make up the show, some of which are part of such well-known zarzuelas as El barberillo de Lavapiés, by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri; Doña Francisquita, by Amadeo Vives or Cecilia Valdés, by Gonzalo Roig. The boy genre will also be very present in the repertoire with themes from La del manojo de rosa, by Pablo Sorozábal; La Gran Vía, by Federico Chueca and Joaquín Valverde; The waffle iron, by Ruperto Chapí or The wedding of Luis Alonso, by Gerónimo Giménez, among others.

Directed by the young master
Rafael Sanchez-Aranathe first of the formations, which each edition sells out the locations of the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium with its New Year's Concert, is an association of musicians that alternates its program of symphonic concerts with performances for Amigos Canarios de la Zarzuela, Amigos Canarios de la Ópera , Gran Canaria Chamber Opera Workshop, Cuyás Theatre, Canary Islands Music Festival, Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation or Alfredo Kraus Auditorium.

soloists

In addition to these two ensembles, 'Zarzuela Glam 3.0' will feature the voices of the mezzo-soprano
Nancy Fabiola Herrerathe soprano
Sofia Esparza and the tenor
Celso Albelo. Three star guests who will act as soloists during the play in which the actress will also participate
Alicia Ramos and the actor Alberto Aliaga and in which Inmaculada González will lead the castanets.

Herrera, one of today's most relevant mezzo-sopranos who in 2018 received the award for a lifetime of career from the magazine Ópera Actual, returns in this new edition of the festivities.

More than
50 roles behind his back, Nancy Fabiola Herrera has been especially acclaimed for her "mesmerizing" interpretation of Carmen, taking her to the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Arena di Verona, Caracalla, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Sidney, Japan, among many others. Among her future engagements in opera, among others, is her debut at the
Houston Grand Opera as Paula in Florencia in Daniel Catán's Amazonas, or as Gitana in Penella's El gato montés at the Los Angeles Opera alongside Plácido Domingo.

Sofía Esparza also has experience in the city's anniversary, in the framework of which she also offered a recital in 2019, after winning the second prize in the Valleseco Zarzuela Contest that same year. Born in Pamplona, ​​the soprano accumulates
more than a dozen awards in national and international competitions, in which she has been recognized as a young emerging promise of the lyric. She received the last one just a few days ago in her homeland where she has been awarded the 2022 Artistic Talent Promotion Award.

In addition to performing at the Tbilisi Opera State Theater in Georgia, the Navarran singer has performed in
important spanish theaters in which he has shared the stage with world-famous artists such as Anna Pirozzi and Plácido Domingo.

Finally, Celso Albelo will complete the trio of soloists. Considered heir to the most genuine romantic bel canto, the singer from Tenerife makes his debut at this party, where he will show off the talent that has led him to step foot in the most prestigious venues in Spain, Japan, the United States and Belgium, among others, and to collaborate with orchestra conductors like Pappano, Mehta, Harding, Oren, Zedda, Santi, Frühbeck de Burgos, Rizzi, Pidò or Frizza.

Albelo, who achieved success in 2006 with his interpretation of Verdi's Rigoletto's Duke of Mantua in the Italian city of Busseto, was distinguished in 2013 with the
Canary Islands Gold Medal. He has also received numerous awards, including the 2008 Current Opera Award, the Verona per l'Arena Foundation's Oscar for Lyricism, which he received in 2010 and 2012, the Campoamor Theater Lyric Award in the categories of Newcomer Singer in 2010 and Best singer of the season in 2012, or the Giuseppe Lugo Award from Italy, in 2013.

Proclamation

The concert
will start at 9:00 p.m., half an hour after José Brito kicks off the capital's celebration with the reading of his proclamation. Precursor of one of the most endearing cultural projects of the municipality, Barrios Orquestados, will inaugurate under his baton the festive program supported by a group of boys and girls from this community initiative that he himself directs. Work for which he was awarded by the Spanish Royal House in 2019 with the Official Cross of the Order of Civil Merit.

'Vereda tropical', a classic that runs through the neighborhoods of the city Parallel to 'Zarzuela Glam 3.0', in the park
John Paul II the singer Olga Cerpa and the Municipal Symphonic Band of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will perform 'Vereda tropical'. A classic of the Foundational Festivities that was nominated for the Latin Grammy in 2019 and that, directed by Germán Arias, will travel this year to different parts of the capital. In this way, on June 4 it will be held at the CEIP Alcorac Henríquez (formerly CEIP Bateria de San Juan)
in the neighborhood of San Juanwhile six days later it will take place in the Plaza del Pilar.

The show will also visit the
Saturday June 11 in the park of La Mayordomía and, the following day, it will do so in the park of Las Rehoyas.

Tickets

Access to enjoy both the proclamation and 'Zarzuela Glam 3.0' will be free until full capacity is reached. Likewise, tomorrow the entrance
it will be free for the 'Vereda tropical' concert.