At Operalia, the Zarzuela Tradition Lives On

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/arts/music/zarzuela-operalia-placido-domingo.html

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BERLIN — Operalia has launched high-profile singer careers on stages around the world. But the competition has also preserved the legacy of an art form that has a long history in the Domingo family.

If Plácido Domingo was best known at the height of his career in the tenor roles of the Italian Romantics such as Puccini and Verdi, his artistic origins lie in zarzuela, a tradition of Spanish sung theater. His parents, Plácido Domingo Ferrer and Pepita Embil, were famous champions of the form in the 20th century.

Every year, Operalia awards prizes in their names to a male and female singer who have included zarzuela arias in their repertoire. (The main competition awards first, second and third cash prizes in male and female categories, and audience awards.)

But perhaps the most important benefits of any international competition for young artists are the mentoring opportunities. Former zarzuela winners such as Ana María Martínez, Angel Blue and Arturo Chacón-Cruz have gone on to tour with Mr. Domingo in concert. And he continues to extend his global reach: On Sept. 6 and Sept. 8, Mr. Domingo will share the stage with Ms. Martínez and Mr. Chacón-Cruz in a gala at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman, marking the first exclusive zarzuela program there.

The international soloist is committed to keeping the tradition alive in as many ways as possible. This November will see the publication of “Zarzuela, Síntesis Ilustrada” (“Zarzuela, an Illustrated Synthesis”), a new book written and illustrated by Manuel Rajal with a prologue by Mr. Domingo. The release coincides with a concert of Verdi’s “Requiem Mass” at the Plácido Domingo Theater in Guadalajara, Mexico, to be conducted by Mr. Domingo in honor of Ms. Embil, a soprano who became known as the Queen of Zarzuela.

Zarzuela is often compared to operetta, given its mix of sung numbers and spoken dialogue. But some works are large-scale tragedies whose arias more easily call to mind Italian verismo, albeit with distinctly Spanish rhythms and melodic turns.

Most Spanish music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was created for popular theaters, however, while Italian composers dominated opera houses. As such, Spain cannot claim its own Romantic school of national opera to the same extent as Germany, France or other Central European powers.

But there is a catalog of some 10,000 zarzuelas, and Madrid — where Plácido Domingo was born — was once a thriving creative center. As many as 30 theaters played zarzuela on a given night in the early 1900s, according to Christopher Webber, author of “The Zarzuela Companion,” until the Spanish Civil War caused an abrupt disruption. While the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid is still a temple to the art form, zarzuela is best known through recordings or single numbers captured by Teresa Berganza, Montserrat Caballé and, of course, Mr. Domingo.

His parents were close collaborators of the most important composers during zarzuela’s twilight. Mr. Domingo Ferrer, a baritone, was Federico Moreno Torroba’s favorite interpreter of the role of Vidal in his most famous work, “Luisa Fernanda,” and performed almost all the major roles in the zarzuelas of Pablo Sorozábal. Ms. Embil also worked closely with Sorozábal, performing as Sofia in the first performance of “Black, el Payaso” and recording the role of Marola in “La Tabernera del Puerto.”

In 1946, she and her husband embarked on a tour of the Americas with a zarzuela company founded by Mr. Torroba. The couple put down roots in Mexico and set up their own company in 1950.

The Domingo-Embil Company also began the professional career of their son, who sang baritone roles and accompanied other singers as a teenager before going on to become a world-famous tenor. Even as he enjoys one of the most versatile careers in the opera industry, spanning 149 roles, zarzuela occupies a central place in Mr. Domingo’s artistic identity. “We Spaniards have zarzuela in the blood,” he wrote in a foreword to “The Zarzuela Companion.”

With Operalia, Mr. Domingo has the opportunity to discover talent in the next generation. “Just as the Birgit Nilsson Prizes give focus to the voices best suited for German Romantic repertoire, the zarzuela awards give a place to Spanish operatic repertoire,” said Alvaro Domingo, Mr. Domingo’s son and vice president of Operalia, by phone from Madrid. “It has as much force and drama. It also demands a lot of temperament: chivalry in the male arias and a lot of coquettishness from the women.”

Operalia’s zarzuela winners have become increasingly international. Last year, the Romanian soprano Adela Zaharia, who took first place at the competition, won the Pepita Embil Prize. The sopranos Pretty Yende (2011) and Rachel Willis-Sorensen (2014) took clean sweeps with those two laurels and the audience award for female voice.

Alvaro Domingo said that while it had been surprising to see so many nonnative Spanish speakers win in recent years, the prize goes to “whomever does it better,” citing as an example “the temperament and clarity” of Ms. Zaharia’s performance. As the competition travels to a different city every year, Mr. Domingo’s influence has kindled interest from performers and listeners in an art form that — unlike German or Italian opera, which are in repertoire at any house — maintains the strongest roots in its country of origin.

“Whether we’re in Astana [Kazakhstan], Lisbon or — hopefully next year — Prague, people understand my father’s deep connection with Spain and zarzuela,” Alvaro Domingo said. “The audience falls in love with it immediately. That is part of the mission.”