Ainadamar at the Opéra de Montréal: power and efficiency / by David Hwang

Pier-Olivier Pinard In Ainadamar, Golijov and his librettist, David Henry Hwang, transcend historical facts (the rise of fascism in Spain and the death of García Lorca) to show through the central figure Lorca's favorite actress, Margarita Xirgu, that art and culture are immortal if they manage to be transmitted.

With Ainadamar, by the Argentinian Osvaldo Golijov, at the Théâtre Maisonneuve, the Opéra de Montréal puts to its credit a powerful and effective performance of one of the eminent lyrical works of the 21st century.

It's no wonder that Ainadamar, opera of 2003, revised in the wake (2005), returns to the front of the stage. The work is as strong as it is symbolic in various ways.

Granada's “Fountain of Tears” (Ainadamar) is at the heart of many intertwined destinies. Culturally, Granada is in history a crossroads of Christian, Jewish and Muslim civilizations. In the 20th century, Federico García Lorca was executed there in 1936 by fascist militiamen. It is then a voice that we want to silence for many reasons, in particular what he writes and represents, as the vociferous militiaman Ramon Ruiz Alonso, perfectly personified by Alfredo Tejada. The violent imprecations of the militiaman are written in a musical style reminiscent of the Arab-Muslim soil of Andalusia.

Read more at The Times Hub