28th September

Concert will begin at 17:00 hours GMT

Cánovas' 'Don Juan no existe' with Labourdette, Oller & García-López from Barcelona

Peralada Festival. Helena Cánovas' 'Don Juan no existe. Sobre lo que olvidamos y lo que permanece' is an opera in two acts. The main plot of this opera is a character who really existed: the Countess of San Luis, Carmen Díaz de Mendoza, a writer, playwright, teacher and feminist activist from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, author of the play 'Don Juan no existe' (Don Juan does not exist). It seems absolutely nothing of the work that referred to the myth of the seducer has been preserved.  At the beginning of the 20th century, on a performance day at the Opéra Comique in Paris, the Countess is attending a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni, accompanied by two friends. Carmen Díaz de Mendoza then reveals to the audience the reflections on the piece she is watching, in a very beautiful opening aria: 'Here too the myth has become strong, poisoning the depths of the souls of these French people.' Her incomprehension of the situation grows: 'Here too we will applaud the evildoer, the dishonour, the opprobrium, the cruelty, the crime, the lack of morality' and she cries out against the objectification of women'.

Performers: Natalia Labourdette, David Oller, Pablo García-López.

Helena Otero, saxophone, Miquel Vich, percussion. Cosmos Quartet. Conductor: Jhoanna Sierralta.

Recorded 8 August.