23festivalinternacionaldr.alfonsoortiztirado 2007 / Boletín No.  315 / Enero 11, 2006

Carla Lopez Speziale and Armando Mora

Mezzo-soprano Carla Lopez Speziale, tenor Armando Mora and pianist Pablo Zinder will perform in the 23rd International Festival Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado 2007 gala nights, on Saturday 27th at 20:00 hours at Alamos’ City Hall.

Program
Opera selections:“Près des remparts de Séville…”; “Je vais danser en votre honneur…”; “La fleur que tu m’avais jettée…” y “C’est toi! C’est moi!..”, from George Bizet’s Carmen. Zarzuela: “¿Por qué de mis ojos los tuyos retiras…?” from Ruperto Chapí’s La Revoltosa. Mexican music:Alfonso Esparza Oteo’s Dime que sí Jorge del Moral’s ¿Por qué? and Tata Nacho’s Íntima, and potpourri with  María Grever and Agustín Lara’s songs.

Carla Lopez-Speziale, mezzo-soprano
Well-known for her richness and flexibility of voice, she performs just as well in opera, symphony and chamber music concerts. She graduated with Honorable Mention from the National Conservatory of Music and continued her studies in Mastery and doctorate in the Manhattan School of Music of New York with a scholarship from the Fulbright Commission and UNAM. Her debut was with the Opera from the Palace of the Fine Arts in his native Mexico, as the Duchess Federica in Luisa Miller, and was invited to open the following season performing the character of Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri. In the same place she sang Carmen (Carmen), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), La Vieja Dama (Candide), Electra (Orestes Parte), Siegrune (Die Walküre), Flosshilde and la Segunda Norna (Götterdämmerung).

Carla Speziale has sung in the Grand Théâtre of Genève, in the International Festival of Music and Scene, and the Zarzuela Domingo-Embil Company in Mexico City; the New York City Opera National Company, Zarzuela friends, Family Opera Initiative and the Caramoor Opera in New York; Golden Gate Opera and West Bay Opera in California, Da Corneto Opera in Chicago, Opera Providence in Rhode Island and Utah Opera Festival. She also has participated in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina), The Rake's Progress (Baba la Turca) La sonnambula (Teresa), Die Zauberflöte (Tercera Dama), L'enfant et les sortileges (La bergère/Un pâtre), La favorita (Leonora), La púrpura de la rosa (Cintia), Animal Tales (Pez Dorado), Madame Butterfly (Kate), Luisa Fernanda (Luisa) and in the show Viva la Zarzuela.

Special mention deserves her performances in the premieres in Mexico of Mujercitas (Jo) de Adamo and Weir’s The Consolations of Scholarship, just as well, the worldwide premiere of Gualtiero Dazzi’s susurros los muertos, where she gave voice to Cuacuauhtzin and Nezahualcoyotl’s poems. She has performed concerts in Alice Tully Hall and in the Isaa Stern forum of the Carnegie Hall in New York. 

Her presentations in symphonic scenarios includes concerts with La serenissima (Nisi Dominus y Cur sagittas, cur tela, cur faces de Vivaldi); Shanghai’s Philharmonic (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony); University of Guanajuato Symphony (Bach’s Cantata 170); Jalisco’s Philharmonic (Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah); The Camerata of Las Americas (Respighi’s Lauda per la nativitá del Signore and Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Navidad); UNAM’s Philharmonic Orchestra (Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette, Rossini’s Stabat mater and Mahler’sSecond Symphony and Des Knaben Wunderhorn); The National Symphony Orchestra (Handel’s The Messiah); Xalapa’s Symphony Orchestra (Mahler’s Second Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Bach’s The passion according to San Mateo); Mexico City’s Philharmonic Orchestra (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony); State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra (Bach’s Mass in SI minor); The Orchestra Sinaloa of the Arts (Bach’s Magnificat); The Orchestra from Mozart/Haydn Festival (Mozart’s Misa de Coronación); and The Symphony Orchestra from Mineria (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem).

Frequently she offers recitals in Mexico and United States. She won the reward of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the “Vincenzo Bellini” Contest in Italy, the District of New York in the auditions from the National Council of the Metropolitan Opera and the Contest “Carlo Morelli”, among others. She recorded for Urtext Digital Classics the disc Soirée musicale: Rossini’s songs, accompanied by the pianist Sergio Vazquez.

Among her future obligations it will be the European premiere of Dazzi’s En susurros los muertos; in Switzerland and France (Cuacuauhtzin y Nezahualcoyotl); the main character of opera Carmen with Hangzhou’s Opera in China; ‘Orlofsky’ in El murcielago with Opera of the Fine Arts and “Pauline” in Pique Dame with West Bay Opera.

Armando Mora, tenor
Is native from Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. He achieved studies to improve in opera singing in Julliard School and Mannes Collage in New York, The Study of Opera in Bonn, Germany, Israel and the University of Veracruz, where he graduated with honorable mention in General Medicine.

Armando Mora has performed in: Denmark Opera Royal Theater, Cape City Opera in South Africa, Bonn’s Opera, Stuttgart’s Opera in Germany, Companion Opera in Zurich, Switzerland; Chipper’s Opera, Croatia’s Opera National Theater, Miami’s Great Opera, Dallas’s Opera, Rhode Island Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Arizona’s Opera, Caramoor Festival, Opera di Cap, Julliard’s Opera Theatre in New York, National Tour with the New York City Opera, Pittsburgh’s Opera, Eugene’s Opera, Oregon; New Jersey’s Lyric Opera Company, Pro Lyric Art in Puerto Rico and Costa Rica’s Opera and Santo Domingo. In Mexico in the Operas of, Bellas Artes, Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Tabasco and Sinaloa, among others; as well in diverse productions of opera with the  National Symphony of Mexico, National Symphony of Costa Rica and Symphony Orchestra of Westfield in New Jersey.   

He has been awarded for the Lieder Kranz Foundation, Music Awards and More Foundation; Julliard School, Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Musicians Club of America and other contests in Mexico, addition to this, he has been designated Distinguished Citizen in his hometown Jalapa. Has studied with the most famous teacher’s world wide, as, Joan Dornemann, Daniel Ferro, Franco Corelli, Ellen Repp, Denes Striny, Mike Warren, Jeffrey Goldberg, John Besson, among others. Due to his work as a singing teacher, he has students in Europe, New York and Mexico. His scenic director trajectory is well-known for productions like Carmen, Romeo and Juliet, La Traviata, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Turandot, just as well zarzuelas and other musical performances in the University of Veracruz.

Pablo Zinger, pianist
He is widely known as director, pianist, writer and expert in Spanish and Latin American music. Conducted the premieres in the United States of Astor Piazzola’s María de Buenos Aires and Pueblo Joven; Lecuona’s María la O; Roig’s Cecilia Valdés and Barbieri’s El barberillo de Lavapiés in Town Hall in New York. He also has directed zarzuela in the Spanish Repertoire Theater, Zarzuela Company Domingo-Embil in Mexico, International Festival of Zarzuela in El Paso, Jarvis Conservatory in Napa and in the Grand Opera Association of Santa Barbara. His version of La Verbena de la Paloma (El Paso, 96), was view in national television for PBS.

Pablo Zinder has been director of the National Symphony of Costa Rica, Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, Maribor Philharmonic of Slovenia, Cosmopolitan Symphony Orchestra of New York, Philharmonic of Montevideo and Pro-Opera of Montevideo, besides from Art Ensemble of Bronx with the greatest of jazz like, Tito Puente, Dave Valentin, Nestor Torres and John Faddis.

His recordings includes: Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Apasionado, Las Puertas de la Mañana (Guastavino), the Grammy nominee El Clarinetista with Paquito D’ Rivera and Quiéreme mucho with tenor Francisco Casanova. As member of “Triangulo” Latin-American chamber trio, he made the musical arrangements for the disc Tango Dreams with Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Garde’s music, which is listened in the entire world.