Falla! Manuel de Falla: El Amor Brujo/Master Peter's Puppet Show

Perspectives Ensemble and Angel Orensanz Foundation Present

FALLA!

Two masterworks by the great Spanish composer, Manuel de Falla

El Amor Brujo (Love, the Magician)

El Retablo de Maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Show)

Buy tickets:

https://falla.brownpapertickets.com/

Perspectives Ensemble

Sato Moughalian, Artistic Director

Angel Gil-Ordòñez, Conductor

Special Guest Artists from Spain:

Esperanza Fernandez, Flamenco Cantaora

Alfredo García, Baritone

and

Jennifer Zetlan, Soprano

Jorge Garza, Tenor

Kevork Mourad, Spontaneous Painter and Visual Artist

Running time: 85 minutes

Admission is FREE, reservations suggested as seating is limited.

Email: perspectivesensemble@gmail.com

Sunday, August 26 7 p.m.

Angel Orensanz Foundation

172 Norfolk St., New York, NY 10002

Manuel de Falla’s most iconic works—the “Ritual Fire Dance” from El Amor Brujo, Three-Cornered Hat, Nights in the Gardens of Spain—earned him renown as the greatest Spanish composer of the early 20th century. Yet, as with other extraordinary nationalist composers of his era, part of his genius lay in his ability to assimilate diverse stylistic, folk, or literary influences and synthesize a new and captivating musical language. Perspectives Ensemble presents two works that embody this principle, the composer’s heartfelt representation of Gitano or Roma culture in El Amor Brujo, and his settings of scenes from Miguel Cervantes’ pioneering seventeenth-century novel, Don Quixote, which provide the literary framework for Falla’s puppet-theater rendition of El Retablo de Maese Pedro.

Perspectives Ensemble presents the original 1915 version of El Amor Brujo, featuring Esperanza Fernandez of Seville, one of Spain’s most celebrated flamenco cantaoras. Falla’s setting of Gregorio Martínez Sierra’s text—conceived as a ‘gitaneria in two acts’—depicts the journey of Candela, as she seeks to free herself from the ghost of her jealous and vengeful lover, and merges elements of flamenco with shimmering string writing, bravura dances, and some of the composer’s most famous melodies. In El Retablo de Maese Pedro, Falla integrates medieval and baroque sonorities with Stravinsky-like rhythms and harmonies, striking a delightful balance between old and new. Renowned Spanish baritone Alfredo García brings the role of Don Quixote to life, joined by Jennifer Zetlan and Jorge Garza. Perspectives Ensemble welcomes visual artist Kevork Mourad, who has created an animated puppet theater and intersperses his spontaneous painting in real time.

Perspectives Ensemble

Sato Moughalian, Artistic Director and flute; Angel Gil- Ordòñez, conductor; Cyrus Beroukhim, Emily Daggett Smith, Robin Zeh, Ragga Petursdottir, violins; William Hakim, Junah Chung, violas; Wendy Sutter, Mariko Wyrick, cellos; David Grossman, bass; Kemp Jernick, Arthur Sato, oboes; Christa Robinson, English horn; Todd Palmer, clarinet; Monica Ellis, bassoon; Patrick Pridemore, horn; Thomas Hoyt, trumpet; Jeffrey Irving, John Hadfield, percussion; Stacey Shames, harp; Renée Louprette, harpsichord; Blair McMillen, piano.

With this concert, Perspectives Ensemble celebrates the lives of three dear friends: Danièle Doctorow, Winifred J. Harris, and Si Newhouse, Jr.

Join us in the spectacular setting of the Angel Orensanz Center, 172 Norfolk St., in New York City’s historic Lower East Side. Admission is free, reservations strongly suggested: perspectivesensemble@gmail.com.

Perspectives Ensemble is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation in New York State and is deeply grateful for the generous support of the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation and the Danièle Doctorow Prize, the Hegardt Foundation, the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C., Hispanex Program Grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, the Foundation for Iberian Culture at CUNY Grad Center, as well as substantial aid from our circle of individual donors and volunteers, all of which make this performance possible.

Buy tickets:

https://falla.brownpapertickets.com/