Small school, big opera

Founded by Paloma O'Shea, the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía was inaugurated by Queen Sofía in 1991 in Pozuelo, on the outskirts of Madrid, in four garages converted into classrooms. Its four professors were the most prominent in the world of each instrument.

Shortly thereafter, the great Alfredo Kraus, a tenor of legendary technique and musicality who had never had students, felt it was time to teach. Paloma O'Shea seized this unique opportunity and created for him the Ramón Areces Foundation Chair of Singing at the School.

Following Kraus, the chair has been held by Teresa Berganza, Tom Krause, Ryland Davies, Francisco Araiza, Susan Bullock CBE, and Juliane Banse. Visiting professors have included Renata Scotto, Ileana Cotrubas, Ruggiero Raimondi, Anne Sophie von Otter, Juan Diego Flórez, and Javier Camarena.

Vincent Boussard's productions are now a success in the world's leading opera houses. His direction of this Così was an early and brilliant demonstration of his enormous talent.

The main challenge in Così, as in all of Mozart's masterpieces, is to find a balance between lightness and depth, elegance and expressiveness. In this production, success was guaranteed by the baton of an outstanding Mozartian: Maestro Antoni Ros Marbà.

A good opera is a melting pot where music, theater and other arts like costume design come together. The great designer generously contributed with a wonderful collection of renderings and the production of the costumes in his studio.

The work of the répétiteur is essential in an opera, where coordination is required at every step. Teresa Berganza wanted to ensure this aspect of the project with Istvan Cserjan, the maestro with whom she had worked so often at the Salzburg Festival.

One of the success factors of this opera was the combination of the experience of great maestros with the strength and freshness of young voices, in this case those of Anna Häsler, Ana Lucrecia García, Cecilia Lavilla, Davinia Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Echeverry and Isaac Galán.