The titular orchestra of the Royal Theater has triumphed again at the Carnegie Hall in New York, last Thursday, June 5, with a gala titled A Musical Fantasy from Spain. An attractive combination of works that connected the Spanish tradition and the history of this mythical auditorium of the Midtown Manhattan district, opened in 1891 with Piotr Ilich Chaikovski as a guest star. The program began with the Fantastic dancesby Joaquín Turina, whose orgy Final also opened the second performance of the Argentinita and her company in this same room, in February 1940. And for its closure it included The waltzby Maurice Ravel, that the composer himself directed here as a culmination of his historic New York concert of March 1928. But the first part also included the Concert for violinby Erich Wolfgang Korngold, which Jascha Heife play There is! Laughing, next to that woman of The brief lifeby Manuel de Falla, which had been interpreted twice previously in the Carnegie Hall: in 1957 with Victoria de Los Angeles and, in 1971, with Pilar Lorengar, which replaced Montserrat Caballé.
It was the fourth visit of the Real Theater Orchestra to New York, after its debut in the historic Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage of the Carnegie Hall, in September 2022. On that occasion, the direction was in charge of Juanjo Mena and had the solo interventions of the soprano Sabina Puértolas and the pianist Javier Perianes to defend a completely Spanish program. Albéniz and Falla, along with several fragments of Zarzuela. The following year, the visit was transferred to David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center to combine the original version as Gitería of Witch loveof fault, with singer Esperanza Fernández, next to the Concert for celloby Antonín Dvořák, who had Pablo Ferrández as a soloist. And in 2024, the Madrid Theater Orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall with its first string trails, but to its camera room or Zankel Hall, to interpret Vivaldi and Piazzolla’s eight stationsled by violinist Leticia Moreno. On this occasion, the podium was occupied by David Affham, current artistic and musical director of the national orchestra and choir of Spain, and as soloists the violinist María Dueñas and the soprano Saioa Hernández acted.
The Real Theater aims to consolidate this annual event in New York. It was explained by its general director, Ignacio García-Belenguer, during a press conference at the IESE Business School on the same day of the concert. It is an international expansion project of Madrid theater as a standard of Spanish culture, included in its 2030 strategic plan, which will continue with performances in China and Korea. But it has also been consolidated in the New York case with the creation of the first community of friends of the Real Theater outside of Spain: the American Fellows. In fact, García-Belenguer took the opportunity to announce the next visit from the orchestra to New York, on October 15, 2026, and his willingness to continue gathering the Spaniards residing in the Grande apple and the American lovers of Spanish culture around these events. The president of the Royal Theater, Gregorio Marañón, and the artistic director, Joan Matabosch, who introduced the event and presented the program, also participated in the press conference. There were also artists interventions. Aphkham spoke briefly about the Franco-Spanish interconnections of several compositions and clarified that it was his debut at Carnegie Hall. It is not the case of the Granada violinist, who despite her youth has already acted three times in the New York room; For the Madrid soprano, it is its debut in the United States, although it has to come commitments in US theaters.
Last Thursday you could hear more Spanish than English through the Carnegie Hall halls, which has been covered by a canvas and scaffolding for several years due to its renewal process. Before the concert, a reception and dinner were held in the historic roof of the building, today remodeled and surrounded by immense skyscrapers, but that for many decades was an epicenter of the Bohemia cultural life of New York, where many artists lived and worked, as can be seen in the fascinating documentary Lost Bohemiaby Josef Astor. Already in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, all the looks and objectives of the cameras were put in Princess Leonor, who attended the concert in uniform and next to several colleagues of the ship’s ship of the school ship school Juan Sebastián Elcanositting in three rows of the armchair. But soon the attention was transferred to the stage, with its masonry walls of almost a meter thick that contribute to the room admirable acoustic qualities with a generous reverberation.
Aphkham began the very concentrated concert to fill the room space with the exquisite sound of the titular orchestra of the Royal Theater in the Fantastic dancesof Turina, inspired by the novel The orgyof his friend José Mas. The composition includes an appointment of the novel in each movement, which evokes the atmosphere heard. In exaltationthe work begins with a flower that smells like Dukas and advances towards a Aragonese jota; in dreamWe listen to an aromatized guitar with Debussy that evolves towards a Basque Zorcic. However, in Farruca entitled orgythe director preferred the German order to Spanish racial debauchery. However, the public applauded without stopping between each piece or movement.
The gala uploaded several integers with the appearance of María Dueñas on stage. Its version of the Concert for violinof Korngold, based on themes of his soundtracks for Hollywood, has continued to evolve in the last six months. Following the composer’s formula to have a soloist who combines the singable virtues of a caruso and the virtuous of a Paganini, Dueñas opts for the singer. Demonstrated it in the romance Central based on movie themes Anthony Adversewith an exquisite accompaniment of AFKHAM and the Madrid orchestra. But the violinist unleashed in the finaleassuming more musical risks between the tangle of arch of the work, and the German director knew how to channel that flexibility with the orchestra and lead towards an apotheosic end, which surprisingly did not flow into any tip.
In the second part, Afkham opened with an orderly reading of Alborada of the funnyby Ravel, although without flashes. And the appearance of the soprano Saioa Hernández on stage again raised interest with his intense and verista approach to the health character, of The brief lifeFalla, in his Aryan There is! Laughing, next to that womanwhich seems to be ideally written for her. Next, the German again bet on music in the face of any excess or effectiveness in the popular danza of the same opera. But the Madrid soprano unleashed the delirium between the public, shortly after, with two fragments of Zarzuela: a brilliant tale of Soleá, in The Montés Catby Manuel Penellá, and a powerful interpretation of romanza What do you care not to come?of The carnationsby José Serrano. The public reacted asking for a bis and filling the singer of bouquets of flowers. However, Aphkham continued with The waltzby Ravel, which became one of the best moments of the gala, and where the Orchestra of the Royal Theater reached its highest levels of quality in all its sections.
The evening was extended more than expected, but there was time for two tips: a powerful expressive incarnation of solitude in its famous Verification of Marcheraraby Federico Moreno Torroba, and a brilliant although little inspired intermediate of Luis Alonso’s weddingsby Gerónimo Giménez. But the annual landing of the Royal Theater in New York also covers these days flamenco and chamber music. On Wednesday 4 she premiered at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, an old synagogue turned into a cultural center, the show Rope and heelby the magnetic Bailaora Patricia Donn. And on Friday 6, a string quartet formed by soloistas of the Royal Theater offered a camera recital with works by Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga and Heitor Villa-Lobos at The University Club. In addition to several private promoters and sponsors, this initiative of the Real Theater has counted, one more year, with the collaboration of public administrations: the Ministry, the Community of Madrid and the City Council, these last two represented these days in New York by the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Community of Madrid, Mariano de Paco, and the delegate of the area of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the City Council of Madrid, Marta Rivera de la Cruz.