Albany Records Releases Río de Sangre
By: Gabrielle Sierra Dec. 09, 2011
Albany Records has released Río de Sangre, an opera with music by Don Davis and libretto by Kate Gale, in a Spanish translation by Alicia Partnoy (TROY1296/97, 2 CDs). Commissioned by the Florentine Opera Company, Río de Sangre received its world premiere by the company in October 2010. This recording was made during those performances by the Florentine Opera Company and Chorus and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra conducted by the company’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Joseph Rescigno.
“The action,” writes Corliss Phillabaum in the liner notes, “takes place in an unnamed country in the ‘Southern hemisphere’ and the text is sung in Spanish, but the characters and events clearly echo conditions and crises from any place and any time.”
RÍO DE SANGRE
An Opera by Don Davis
Libretto by Kate Gale
Spanish translation by Alicia Partnoy
Albany Records (TROY1296/97)
Two-CD Set, including 44-page booklet with synopsis and libretto in English and Spanish
The Florentine Opera Company
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Florentine Opera Chorus
Joseph Rescigno, conductor
Cast
Guido LeBron (Christian Delacruz)
Kerry Walsh (Antonia)
John Duykers (Jesus Guajardo)
Ava Pine (Blanca)
Vale Rideout (Igneo)
Mabel Ledo (Estella)
Matthew Richardson (Señor Marcos)
Scott Johnson (Señor Thomas)
Rubin Casas (Bishop Ruiz)
Jon Olsen (Miguel)
David A. Lange (Fuentes)
Darwin Sanders (Kidnapper)
RÍO DE SANGRE CD set is available online at
www.albanyrecords.com, at fine record stores or from
Albany Music Distributors, 915 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207 • 518/436-8814
“Río de Sangre is an important new opera,” states conductor Joseph Rescigno, “truly a ‘grand’ opera, more ambitious than many other contemporary works in its scope and significance.
“In this age of operas based on movies, plays, novellas or news stories, we have here a rare bird: an original plot and libretto. The characters’ development is embedded in the music as much as in the libretto. The five leading roles require top-notch musicians, which we have in this production, able to project in the widest possible range and to handle very complex rhythms. And they need powerful acting skills, which we also have in this production.”
About the music, Maestro Rescigno comments, “Don Davis has a personal musical style that is unmistakably his own, ranging from a wide array of tonalities to written-out jazz. He uses diverse styles but the music never sounds eclectic, because it so perfectly reflects the drama, serving the story admirably, from crowd scenes to more intimate moments. The opera is beautifully orchestrated. Some parts are very colorful; others are simple and spare. To some degree, I would call it ‘21st Century Impressionism.’”
ABOUT DON DAVIS (COMPOSER)
Don Davis has enjoyed a successful and widely varied musical career as a composer of contemporary orchestral and chamber works and music for film and television. His work has featured in the Monday Evening Concerts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and has been performed by such notable ensembles as The California E.A.R. Unit, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Arditti Quartet, the Debussy Trio, and the Rundfunk Kammer Orchester of Amsterdam, among others. Mr. Davis is perhaps best known in the world of film and television music for his work on the Matrix trilogy of movies (The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions).
ABOUT KATE GALE (LIBRETTIST)
Dr. Kate Gale is Managing Editor of Red Hen Press, Editor of The Los Angeles Review, and President of the American Composers Forum, L.A. She teaches in the Low Residency MFA Program at the University of Nebraska in Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Non-Fiction. She serves on the boards of A Room of Her Own Foundation and the Poetry Society of America. Dr. Gale is the author of five books of poetry and six librettos. She has published numerous articles and works of poetry and fiction in various literary journals and magazines including Gargoyle, The Brownstone Review, and Paterson Literary Review.
ABOUT ALICIA PARTNOY (TRANSLATOR)
Alicia Partnoy is a survivor from the secret detention camps of Argentina in the 1970’s, where about 30,000 Argentineans disappeared. She is the author of The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival, Revenge of the Apple-Venganza de la manzana, and the editor of You Can’t Drown the Fire: Latin American Women Writing in Exile. Partnoy is the Chair of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Loyola Marymount University and co-editor of Chicana/Latina Studies: The journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. Her poetry collection Little Low Flying/Volando bajito was recently published by Red Hen Press.
ABOUT JOSEPH RESCIGNO (CONDUCTOR)
Joseph Rescigno has served since 1981 as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Florentine Opera Company (Milwaukee). He has conducted virtually all of the core Italian repertory, including romantic, verismo, and bel canto operas; the standard French and German repertory, including the works of Wagner and Richard Strauss; and contemporary works. In addition, he has conducted symphonies, concertos, operas and oratorios, from the Baroque to the modern eras, in the Americas, Asia and Europe. Engagements include such companies as the Montreal Symphony and the New York City Opera. His other recordings include Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Verismo (arias with Diana Soviero), and J?ruri (an opera by Minoru Miki). Maestro Rescigno is now working on his first book – The View From the Pit: Where Theater Meets Music.
ABOUT THE FLORENTINE OPERA
The Florentine Opera Company’s productions reflect the highest musical and theatrical standards, while supporting community and educational programs. As a leader in Wisconsin’s arts community and the nation’s sixth oldest opera company, the Florentine Opera seeks to establish a significant presence in the cultural, educational and civic life of the state of Wisconsin and beyond. Audiences enjoy beautiful mainstage productions that include first-rate vocal artistry brought to life by established and emerging local, national and international opera stars.
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