Freddie De Tommaso closed them first Easter edition of the Castell de Peralada Festival which took place from April 6th to 8th. The proposal that aims to deseasonalize competition recorded a lecture with operatic arias and songs prepared for the occasion. The tenor who performed this Saturday afternoon at the Carmen del Castell church, accompanied by the pianist and director Audrey Saint Gil, will return to this stage on July 28 to open the summer edition of the festival. The organizational values very positive the public response to this new cultural proposal with three plenary sessions, 95% occupancy and one 30% international viewers.
In addition to Freddie De Tommaso, the countertenor also made his debut at this edition Jacob Jozef Olrinski amb Il Giardino D’Amore, the soprano Barcelona Serena Saenz who made his debut in the role of “Giuditta” in Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio, and the polyphonic cantoría formation. An edition that also relied on the faithfulness of the countertenor Xavier Sabata, Dani Espasa and Vespres d’Arnadi.
Freddie De Tommaso
The Castell de Peralada Festival is a festival of voices with a certain soft spot for that tenor voice It is therefore not surprising that in this successful Easter edition, which has just opened, the festival wanted to present one of the most celebrated tenors of our time, who has a lyrical-spinto-like tenor voice of great projection.
The young tenor of 30 yearsan exclusive artist of Decca Classics and the first tenor to sign with the label since Jonas Kaufmman, gained notoriety by winning First Prize, Plácido Domingo Prize for Best Tenor and Verdi Prize at the Vinyes International Tenor Singing Competition in 2018. In December In 2021 he returned to Highlight if possible play Cavaradossi in the Royal Opera’s production of Tosca becoming the youngest tenor to ever perform the role on such an iconic stage, and the first Briton since 1963. De Tommaso had to play the role at the last minute when the tenor left original program feeling uncomfortable during the first of three acts led the press to unanimously declare that this was the birth of a great career.
The program put together for this occasion he has combined familiar sides of the sacred repertoire for tenor, romances, Neapolitans and operatic arias. With a great voice and talent in the entourage of the best Italian tenor voices, the evening began with “Ave Maria” by Charles Gounod and Johan Sebastian Bach. After the first welcome applause, the artist released the piece “Ingemisco” from Verdi’s Requiem. After this beginning of the first part, the artist sang Cèsar Franck’s “Panis angelicus”, a fragment of the Sacris Solemniis, a Catholic hymn written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi, to Schubert’s “Ave Maria”. The first part continued with Thaïs’ “Meditation” performed by Audrey Saint-Giles. The tenor has returned to the stage to play ‘Pietà, signore’ by Rafaele’ Mongardo, followed by ‘Non t’accostare all’urna’ by Verdi to complete the first part with ‘È la solita Storia’ (Lamento di Federico ) to finish Francesco Cileas Alresiana.
After a 15 minute break, the second part of the concert began with Puccini: ‘Sun and Love’ one of the romances of the young Puccini, published in 1888, dedicated to Paolo Tosti and “Che gelida manina” from La bohème. Since De Tommaso was not on stage, Saint-Giles performed “Ent’acte” from Bizet’s Carmen. Neapolitan songs illuminated the rest of the program with gems such as Stanislao Gastaldon’s “Musica prohibida”, Eduardo di Capua’s “I te vurria vasa”, Tosti’s “Non t’amp più” and Tosti’s “Fenesta che lucive”, published by Bellini in 1842 des Neapolitan song editor Guglielmo Cottraud.
The audience gave the two artists awards loud applause to express gratitude that there have been two artists of such a high standard who have given Peralada a unique recital. Applause, which was rewarded with “O sole mio” by Alfredo Mazzucchi and Eduardo di Capua and ended the evening with the Neapolitan song “Core’ngrato”.
Freddie De Tommaso and Audrey Saint-Giles will open the summer edition of the 37th Edition of Peralada Castle Festival with a new recital in the Carmel Church on the afternoon of July 28th.
95% utilization
The director of the Castell de Peralada Festival, Oriol Aguilà, explains that this new proposal “it is born to stay and has achieved the objectives”. The intention was to make itself known among the music lovers who already visit the Costa Brava, but also to position the brand in theinternational scope. In addition, he emphasized “the excellence of the artistic proposals that have been presented and the “high satisfaction of the audience” that encourage them to start work on the following Easter editions.
And that’s it afterwards three days and four shows The Festival Castell de Peralada, held in the Carmel Church, closes its Easter edition with 95% occupancy and 30% international audience. In a few weeks, The Castell de Peralada Festival announces the program of its summer edition.
