María José Moreno

Grief is the most profound state of heartbreak. Because the loved one is no longer there, they are gone, and memories become elusive and capricious. That's why their clothes and shoes should stay untouched in the closet, just as they were before leaving. Closets don't empty themselves. This speaks of loss, loneliness, fear, hope, and the way each human being faces that pivotal moment in life. Though capable, as we are, of burying or cremating a loved one, we nevertheless do not know how to begin emptying a closet. We intuit that the day it is empty, our hearts will truly begin the process of normalizing absence.

Javier Espada explores how Luis Buñuel, one of the greatest precursors of surrealist cinema through works like An Andalusian Dog and The Golden Age, began to move away from this movement but never completely abandoned it, maintaining a strong oneiric element in his films. Taking us deep into his past and evolution as a creator, this documentary provides an unprecedented window into the world and work of an irreplaceable genius whose influence has reached the rest of the arts.

One of the most popular zarzuelas by Amadeu Vives, directed by Lluís Pasqual and starring María José Moreno and Celso Albelo.

The central character of Mozart’s opera Lucio Silla is inspired by the historical figure of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, a dictator and Roman general who ruled during the 1st century BC. In this production at Madrid’s Teatro Real, an intriguing minimalist staging is complemented by Ivor Bolton’s expert music direction, and a talented cast.

For reasons that are by no means clear, in this production the work is set in an hotel at which the guests are invited to a soirée based on the legend of Count Ory. They dress up as the characters in a rudimentary way. The director clearly gets much fun from the disguise of the men as nuns in Act 2 when their nuns’ habits are worn over old-fashioned underwear which they take every opportunity to reveal.

The work was given its first performance in Rome in 1812. It is still unclear whether Rossini was 14 or 18 when he wrote it; what is beyond doubt, however, is the anticipation of great things to come. The libretto is a far-fetched tale of feuding kings, mistaken identities, disguises and cruel fates typical of the late 18th-century opera seria. Young stage director Davide Livermore, heading a production of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino, turns the libretto into a ghost story, setting the action behind the stage of an opera house, when everyone has left and all that remains are the spirits of an opera that yearns for the breath of life much like the practically forgotten Demetrio e Polibio itself.

Lluis Pasqual's powerful production for the Spanish capital sets Da Ponte's timeless story of sleaze and seduction into the dark world of 1940s Spain. Carlos Álvarez, in the title role, toys with the affections of Donna Anna, Zerlina and the Spanish lady Donna Elvira, before his overpowering methods finally bring his own destruction.