El Pelele / Mavra. Chamber opera

This co-production by the Juan March Foundation and the Teatro La Zarzuela is being revived in Pamplona after its premiere in Madrid and presents a double bill with the chamber operasEl Peleleby Julio Gómez andMavra byIgor Stravinsky, with musical direction by Borja Mariño and stage direction by Tomás Muñoz.

The production of El Pelele is based on Gómez's original version for voice and piano and a libretto by Cipriano de Rivas Cherif inspired by 18th-century tonadillas. Set in a timeless present, the work addresses one of the problems traditionally associated with women: remaining single. Its protagonist is Cayetana, who looks out the window while waiting for a suitor who never appears. Consumed by nostalgia for a time that is slipping away, and amid rumors of her neighbors being courted and the indifference of a captain, she decides to find a solution to her problem by sewing a rag doll.

In the case of Mavra, Stravinsky took a libretto by Boris Kojnó based on a story by Aleksandr Pushkin to compose Mavra, which premiered in 1922, with the version performed in this production. In this opera, the protagonist is also a woman, Parasha, who mourns the absence of the young man she is in love with. Then her beloved appears, and she arranges a date with him before the young woman's mother appears and announces the death of her most beloved servant, for whom Parasha offers to find a replacement. Both works share the struggle of their protagonists to achieve their romantic desires.