Wild Cat

Maybe it’s because opera tickets are often expensive but there is a tendency to play safe and book old favourites. The mantra “there’s always a good reason for it being rarely performed” is often recited. However, Wexford only perform rarities and Valencia are putting on something by Manuel Penella – que?.

He is a prolific composer born in Valencia in 1880. El Gato Montés was first performed here in 1916. It was popular and frequently performed before slipping into obscurity along with the rest of his oeuvre. It was briefly taken down from the shelf and dusted when Plácido Domingo sang the tenor lead in the 1990s. Now to mark the centenary of its premiere it is back where it started; in Valencia.

The synopsis sounds a lot like Carmen. A bullfighter, an outlaw (the wild cat of the title) and a beautiful gypsy girl. Spoiler: as so often happens in opera both men love the girl and both are dead by the end of the show. I’m looking forward to seeing it and, added bonus, it is being performed in the striking Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, opened in 2005. No sign of Churrigueresque here; pure Futurist.

Later: now I’ve seen it and actually in this production the girl dies too. There were enough good bits from the singers and the orchestra to make it an engaging melodrama but I’m no opera critic. The picture above is from the internet; this is what it actually looked like bathed in Sunday evening sun yesterday.