Santa Catalina Classics, a festival celebrating Canary Islands traditions in a historic hotel
The façade and the orchard surrounding the Hotel Santa Catalina in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria served as the setting for the Gala that kicked off the Santa Catalina Classics festival, an event that will run through September, October, and November, with several highly attractive concerts and recitals. A commitment to music promotion in the tourism sector, by the Barceló Group , worthy of our highest appreciation.
The evening featured the star attraction of soprano Anna Netrebko , an international opera star who continues to suffer a boycott from intolerant critics due to her Russian origins; alongside the great Tenerife tenor Jorge de León , established as one of the most solid voices today. The gala program was based on the verismo repertoire, a movement represented by composers such as Puccini, Cilea, Ponchielli , and Giordano , along with selected works by Giuseppe Verdi , and managed to fill the 1,550 seats in the hotel's spacious garden. The singers were magnificently supported by the Gran Canaria Symphony Orchestra and conductor Karel Marl Chichon.
Santa Catalina, a Royal Hideaway Hotel , is a landmark in Gran Canaria; the oldest hotel on the islands , built in 1890 with British capital. Scottish architect James McLaren, who was responsible for projects in British colonies in Africa and India, created the structural design that remains the essence of what we see today. After being sold to Gran Canaria City Council in 1931, it fell into disrepair until it was demolished in 1941. The current hotel is the work of Canarian architect Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre and opened in 1951, following the original spirit and structure, with colonial touches, a pair of distinctive towers, and unique wooden balconies.
After an initial part dedicated to Cilea and Verdi, followed by a brief intermission, as night fell over Las Palmas, we were able to contemplate an attractive lighting system that created shapes and designs as a backdrop for the chosen arias and duets. The selected tones were not arbitrary, according to Manuel Martínez-Fresno , the hotel's Director of Public Relations and Protocol. "The lighting colors are not the usual LED colors, because we used the exact tones from the painting series Poema del Mar by the Canarian painter Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre , to transport us to that world," the director explained. It's worth remembering that the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid is currently dedicating a major retrospective to this Canarian painter, Néstor, as he is popularly known in the city where he was born and died (Las Palmas, 1887-1938), the older brother of the architect who carried out the hotel's reconstruction.
Néstor's influence is evident in various parts of the hotel, one of which is the grand central lounge , where the murals adorning the walls and ceilings are strikingly reminiscent of his aesthetic. They weren't his own work, but rather those of his closest disciple, Jesús Arencibia , a muralist and painter also from the Canary Islands. A fine example of Arencibia's vigorous brushwork can be found in the Carabela bar , the hotel's former reading room, which boasts a fireplace that lends warmth.
There we can contemplate a mural - actually a technique of gluing fabric on a surface - entitled Procession of the Blind around Saint Lucia , a work about which Martínez-Fresno gives us details of its hidden message : "Let's imagine the fifties in Franco's Spain . The hotel was inaugurated with this painting with a religious theme, but few realized the hidden message it contains, since its composition is very similar to the well-known Delacroix painting, Liberty Leading the People . Everyone applauded at the inauguration, without noticing the symbolism of the mural," noted the director about a claim that had no place in a dictatorship.
It was precisely under that mural that Jorge de León (Tenerife, 1970) was waiting for us hours before the concert to welcome 20minutos with his generosity and affable nature. He seemed very excited to share the gala with Anna Netrebko, with whom he has worked at other events and in productions of Aida , both in Vienna and Madrid. "She's an excellent person and a very well-rounded artist," he commented.
Many fans still remember the Tenerife tenor's debut at the Teatro Real , in a performance of Andrea Chenier , where he came in as an emergency replacement for the titular tenor, Marcelo Álvarez. It was 2010 , and beyond saving an emergency situation—which Jorge de León was accustomed to due to his position as a local police officer in Tenerife —he achieved one of those successes that definitively boost an artist's career, almost like walking out the main door of Las Ventas during the Corrida de la Beneficencia. "I had just requested a leave of absence from the police force, and it was a huge media event for that reason. Not only did I save lives on the street, but also in opera (laughs). Andrea Chenier has marked several milestones in my career: I debuted the role in Málaga in 2007, and I was ultimately able to perform five performances at the Teatro Real thanks to that substitution. In 2016, I sang that same opera here in Gran Canaria, alongside Daniela Dessí, and they were also her last performances before she passed away," she recalled sadly. The gala also included a few pages from that opera to round out the program.
Outdoor performances have their drawbacks, like those experienced the day before, when the rehearsal had to be suspended due to rain—the trade winds are fickle—creating uncertainty about what would happen the following day. Fortunately, the weather in Las Palmas was ideal on the night of the gala.
"In an opera house, you have eighty musicians in the pit and a choir of forty people behind you. We soloists have to project our voices and take them to the farthest corners of the theater, thanks to our technique and our muscles. That's the great value of lyric poetry, whether opera or zarzuela: that it's not amplified," the tenor explained.
Obviously, that doesn't happen at a gala like the one we're discussing, held in very beautiful gardens but with poor acoustics, which must be compensated for by the expertise of the sound technicians . This was the case at the gala on July 9th, we must admit. "These nights have a special magic , and this is one of the most striking opera events in the Canary Islands," the tenor concluded.
Jorge de León faces the near future with great enthusiasm, ready for his debut in the Teatro Real 's production of Otello , which will kick off next season, in a role that is not without its challenges. "It's a powerful character, with a great Shakespearean influence. In fact, top-level tenors like Franco Corelli never wanted to sing it," stated Jorge de León.
The future wasn't always so rosy for him, and he recalls the uncertainty that the pandemic created for him. "Seeing that the situation wasn't stabilizing, I even thought about rejoining the police force," he confided. Fortunately, our country was a pioneer in returning to the stage, and the cultural sector thrived. The local police force in Adeje may have lost a significant number of personnel, but not all singers are capable of performing "Nessun Dorma" like Jorge de León did during an encore at the gala.
Maybe it's the gofio or the plantains—it's surprising to discover the variety of both at the popular Vegueta Market—but the fact is that the Canary Islands currently boast high-quality operatic voices. Leaving aside the immeasurable Alfredo Kraus , who occupies a place in the operatic Olympus, in addition to Jorge de León himself, we can mention singers such as Celso Albelo , Nancy Fabiola Herrera , Ariam Hernández , Yolanda Auyanet , and Francisco Corujo . "Canarian wrestlers always said that you had to eat a lot of gofio to stay strong (laughs). The Canary Islands were always a transit point for opera singers, between South America and Europe, and that created a remarkable cultural heritage. Furthermore, the people here are very musical, and pilgrimages and parrandas are common, with influences from the folklore of Argentina, Venezuela, and Brazil," concluded Jorge de León before we said goodbye.
Regarding the geographical location of the islands and how it has influenced the cultural life of Gran Canaria, Manuel Martínez-Fresno also elaborated, providing further details. "Revolutions stopped in the Canary Islands. Darwin and Humboldt stayed in the homes of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie in Las Palmas, as a stopover on their travels, and this allowed them to absorb new ideas. The Canary Islands were part of the circuit of great South American theaters, such as Buenos Aires and Manaus . When the seasons ended in Europe, opera companies would pass through the Canary Islands and recoup the costs of traveling to the Americas by offering a couple of performances."
All these influences led to an open-minded approach to social mores, especially in Gran Canaria. " Las Palmas has always been very liberal . Think of Néstor, an artist whose work reflected a very 'queer' world , with an evident sexual ambiguity. He was multifaceted and very innovative, a kind of Philippe Stark of the early 20th century. There are many elements in the hotel designed by him, such as the wall lights and the wooden balconies," the director acknowledged.
One of the most memorable moments at this hotel was the reception attended by Alfonso XIII , coinciding with the first visit made by a monarch to the Canary Islands, which, although it may seem unbelievable, did not take place until 1906. "There is a letter sent by the military governor of the Canary Islands to the Royal Family, warning of the great British influence exerted on the islands and the danger they ran of being dominated by the United Kingdom," Martínez-Fresno recounted. "Let's not forget that the Canarian workers had exceptional working conditions, being hired by English companies that paid for their medical insurance and their children's schooling. Alfonso XIII decided to travel to the Canary Islands and, from the port, he came to the Hotel Santa Catalina, where all of British society had gathered. There he declared that the Canary Islands were Spanish and would remain Spanish."
There's an endless list of celebrities who have stayed at the hotel, but limiting ourselves to conductors, we could mention Herbert von Karajan , Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, and Zubin Mehta. Maria Callas decided to stay at the Santa Catalina when Onassis's yacht docked in the marina right in front of the hotel. As for actors and actresses, Marcello Mastroianni, Alain Delon, Sophia Loren, Brad Pitt , and Samuel L. Jackson have all stayed here—he stayed for a month until very recently. The famous story of Ava Gardner is that she caught a young paparazzi taking photos of her while she was sunbathing on one of the balconies. She invited the young man up to her room and welcomed him in a negligee. You can imagine the rest.
This will mark the fifth edition of the Santa Catalina Classics Festival held at this impressive Las Palmas hotel. Artists such as Gustavo Dudamel , Juan Diego Florez, Roberto Alagna , and Jonas Kaufmann have performed there. We met with Felipe Aguirre , the festival's artistic director, in the hotel's main hall, adorned with Murano glass chandeliers. There is also a stage—seen in the previous photo—from which musicians would entertain at distinguished dinners in the past. "We open the festival with a more festive gala, almost always featuring an emblematic opera figure, in keeping with the islands' traditions. We then have chamber concerts throughout the year, seeking a more diverse and unseasonal audience. They are held in this hall, which has very good acoustics and seats around 300," explained the festival director.
In the near future, they will welcome pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard , guitarist Milos Karadaglic, and young tenor Gabriel Álvarez. The presentation of this singer is precisely one of the objectives of Santa Catalina Classics. "Another aspect we want to promote is young talent, and to that end, we have a collaboration agreement with the Reina Sofía School of Music . The Barceló group supports the young people of that school with an annual scholarship, and this year we are bringing a very versatile local singer, Gabriel Álvarez , winner of the Tenerife Singing Prize," said Felipe Aguirre.
The festival also offers more original experiences. "We offer a wine-music day titled Sound Pairing , featuring the sommelier from the Poemas by Hermanos Padrón restaurant." It's one of three restaurants in the hotel, two of which have Michelin stars. "That's quite something!" " Three local wines are chosen and paired with musical pieces. It's an experience in the spirit of a symposium, in a festive atmosphere, to experience classical music in a different way."
The gala was a huge success, as well as a tremendous logistical challenge, as Felipe Aguirre acknowledged. We'll remember the duet from "Aida ," brilliantly performed by Anna Netrebko and Jorge de León; as well as the final encores, where the Russian soprano chose to sing Musetta's aria from La Bohème , setting aside the microphone to unleash her vocal power. It was a splendid culmination of this opening of a festival that places the Hotel Santa Catalina on the musical scene, with an initiative worthy of the most resounding applause.
20minutos
