Mrs Dudamel makes opera debut
Why BeethovenThe Málaga Film Festival last night premiered a documentary on Beethoven’s Fidelio, directed by the Spanish actor María Valverde, who is married to the conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
The project, originating in Barcelona last year, features deaf musicians from Venezuela coming to terms with the deaf composer.
‘It has been a project of great learning, of great encounters, and of great understanding. The most beautiful thing has been seeing that, with a work as beautiful as ‘Fidelio,’ those barriers and walls begin to fall, and we see that music has a power far beyond its sound,’ said Dudamel.
Valverde, making her debut as director, said: ‘I needed to tell this story of a minority and have the opportunity to understand music beyond what we know or want to know.’
‘Beethoven would think we’re crazy, but he’d also love it,’ said Dudamel at the festival.
It didn’t originate in Barcelona. The initial project was with the LA Phil in April 2022 and was followed by performances featuring the soloists of the Coro de Manos Blancas in Caracas, in June 2023. Then returning to LA in 2024.
The film contains footage from LA and Venezuela.
Correct, and thank you! The LA performance of Fidelio added deaf performers, signing along side the singing ones, and there was a chorus of deaf performers signing the choral parts. Fidelio contains spoken dialect, and instead of spoken English translations, the dialogue was signed (in English) for the Los Angeles Audience.
It was positively eerie and absolutely amazing! Hearing audience members learned how to applaud, this done by holding hands high and shaking with wrists and fingers.
Brava María!
Will this Venezuelan who is friendly with Maduro be deported by Trump?
Why would he be? Trump is fine with Maduro.
Not sure, if we follow certain other examples that aren’t connected to Vanezuela… If education gets more advanced locally, maybe they will finally give jobs to local citizens. But, it always who pays or sponsors…
Is this the usual arts ‘meritocracy? The arts are corrupt as hell.
In which way? There are politics in it, it seems so. This exists in many fields, science included. A lot of it is style & it doesn’t matter how great a musician you are, if you aren’t correct age, stage, and some other things you will not get representation.
It’s a rough field for sure. However, arts & music isn’t where it all originates… If it would be done right & well funded, others could work & create too — not just popular & lucky ones. I have a child who is musical and an extended family member who is a strong, 3rd generation musician, trying to get ahead, but not right age, not right look & his sound is too strong for more than a couple seats in an orchestra… This is why my parents don’t support his musical interests. One needs to eat. It’s now impossible to survive on music field only, even for strong professionals.
Exactly, that’s why I went into the medical field. Classical music, or any music, is best done as a lobby unless you are independently wealthy.