The celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Lied Cycle of National Center for Musical Diffusion (CNDM) in the Zarzuela Theaterwith a new date featuring the Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley (Montreal, 1960), which will face a selection of overwhelming Schwanengesang by Franz Schubert. In the company of the experienced pianist Jules Drake, will also cover some gems from the leadership repertoire during a tour that will include authors such as Robert Schumann, Henri Duparc, Benjamin Britten, Franz Liszt, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Ives and Cole Porter. He the concert will take place on Monday November 20 at 8:00 p.m. at the Zarzuela Theater.

Recently praised by critics for his remarkable Wolfram in the Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner from Covent Garden in London and in Antony and Cleopatra at the Liceu de Barcelona, ​​Gerald Finley is one of the most influential figures in the world of music thanks to his privileged voice. With a Grammy Behind him, this renowned bass-baritone has a career filled with acclaimed performances at major opera houses and concert halls around the world, as well as collaborations with eminent composers, orchestras and conductors. With the virtuoso pianist Jules Drakewho has a great passion for lied, will perform a program which will extend over some of the genre’s most moving songs.

From darkness to light

The recital will open with eight lieder from Robert Schumann which capture some of the most famous musicalizations of Book of Lieder (songbook), a collection of poems by the German poet Heinrich Heine whose verses explore the euphoria of romantic love, the transience of time, the despair of grief or the fear of death. Schumann composed these melodies in 1840, a record year during which he composed more than a hundred lieder. Then he will make his way the most anticipated moment of the concert with a selection of Schwanengesanga posthumous collection of lieder composed by Franz Schubert at the end of his life. The music that Finley and Drake will face evokes the most haunting quality of the six poems Heine rewrote. A sample can be seen in songs like The city (The city), whose mysterious music will take the audience into the dark romanticism and gothic novel of the turn of the century.

The second part of the concert will be a contrast of emotions, led by the elegant melodies of Henri Duparc. After the darkness of Doppleganger Schubertian, Finley will walk towards luminosity in some of the pieces composed by this French author, such as Serenade either Sigh, which invites the search for an inaccessible love. The tour will continue this path in the songs of composers such as Benjamin Brittenwith In MitternachtAnd Franz Liszt, Don’t go, have a nice day, which will also be performed at the Teatro de la Zarzuela. pieces of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Ives And Cole Porter They complete a magical evening that will delight participants in a series that continues to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary.