VIDEO: Elina Garanca Talks Performing At Carnegie Hall

At the age of 17, mezzo soprano El?na Garan?a decided to dedicate her life to music. Watch her sing at Carnegie Hall October 23, 2018 with accompanist Malcolm Martineau.

The first half of this evening's program is devoted to German cycles that were written in the heat of the composers' passionate love affairs. For years, Schumann waged a public battle to win Clara Wieck's hand over the objections of her father, who ultimately took the composer to court in a vain effort to prevent the marriage. Schumann's song cycle Myrthen was a bridal gift to Wieck just before their wedding in 1840. Far more clandestine was Wagner's adulterous love for Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of his Swiss benefactor while he was writing Tristan und Isolde. Wagner's sumptuous Wesendonck Lieder set Wesendonck's hothouse poetry and included test pieces for Tristan und Isolde's radical score.

The French and the Spanish share a deep fascination with each other's music. On the second half of this evening's program, we hear song cycles by Ravel and Falla, who became close friends in Paris in the first decades of the 20th century. Ravel's Shéhérazade exemplifies the French love of foreign cultures, while Falla's Siete canciones populares españolas depict a Spaniard re-embracing his native land after absorbing the flavors of France.

For tickets and more visit https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2018/10/23/El299na-Garan269a-Mezzo-Soprano-Malcolm-Martineau-Piano-0800PM