WILSON. N.C. — Sept. 10, 2024 — The Barton College / Wilson Symphony Orchestra is excited to announce the performance of Enrique Granados’ “Los Majos Enamorados” (the young lovers) on Sunday, October 20, at 3 p.m. in Howard Chapel.
The program will feature American-Spanish pianist Mac McClure (a native of Wilson) and Argentine-Spanish mezzo-soprano Marisa Martins. The Martins-McClure duo have lived in Barcelona, Spain, for more than 25 years, where they have worked and helped to cultivate the culture and music life in that region.
Tickets are $20 per person and are available for purchase online at https://www.barton.edu/cultural-arts/symphony/tickets/
McClure shares that an important part of Enrique Granados’ work has been inspired by the art of Francisco de Goya. Granados’ attraction towards life and the art of Goya emerged while Spain was seeking to find its artistic place in Europe, which was much more advanced and developed at the turn of the 20th century. The bohemian character of the majo and maja, and Goya captivated Granados. McClure asks the audience to imagine the majo — his layers of lace, velvet waistcoat, silk stockings, his hat and his knife, which he conceals in his hatband. Then envision la maja — sassy and streetwise, holding low-class jobs in service as a maid, or selling goods, and usually hiding a knife under her skirt.
“The composer Granados was fascinated by the rich visual detail of Goya’s paintings, giving his music a sensuality through vocal melodic lines full of ornamentation,” McClure adds. “The music of Scarlatti, a teacher in the Spanish court, is also reflected in the music of the piano suite “Goyescas” and the tonadillas. Ornamentation, trills, and mordents, give a gallant air of romance to his composition.”
“Los Majos Enamorados (the young lovers), consists of three selections in the “Goyescas” piano suite. The Requiebros, Fandango del Candil, and the maiden and the nightingale. The suite showcases a collection of tonadillas in the old style, along with some of the Canciones amatorias, and also love songs in Catalan.
Throughout his life, Granados wrote about love, passion, and death. This program is intended to provide a broader vision of the creative and sensual world of Enrique Granados.
About Mac McClure —
An internationally acclaimed pianist, McClure is recognized for his profound and in-depth knowledge of Spanish music. In the words of Xavier Montsalvatge, “Mac knows my music just as well if not better than me, and is an excellent performer of Falla, Mompou, and Granados, and is one of the most outstanding protégés of the Marshall Academy.”
McClure has recorded more than 40 CDs among these recordings, the world premier recording for the songs by Albeniz and the first recording for the complete version of the Granados quintet, as well as the complete songs (2 CDs) and 3 CDs of piano music by Frederic Mompou.
He studied at the Marshall Academy in Barcelona with Carlota Garriga. He also studied for nine years with Alicia de Larrocha.
And, McClure has studied in detail with the following composers, learning and performing their music: Xavier Montsalvatge, Joaquin Nin-Cumell, Carlos Surinach, Ricardo Llorca, Miquel Ortega, and Carlota Garriga.
From 2011-2014, McClure served as director of the National Conservatory of Music, a part of the National University of Colombia in Bogota.
McClure currently serves as associate professor and director of the graduate keyboard studies program at the National University in Bogotá, Colombia.
About Marisa Martins —
Spanish-Argentinean mezzo-soprano Martins began her studies in Buenos Aires, where she was born, and later continued in her studies at the Superior Conservatory in Barcelona.
The core of her repertoire lies in Monteverdi (Ottavia, Proserpina, Minerva), Mozart (Dorabella, Annio, Zerlina, Idamante, Tamiri) and Rossini (Zaida, Doralice, Roggiero), roles that she has sung in the Liceu Theatre in Barcelona, La Zarzuela and Teatro Real in Madrid, Theâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Mozart Festival in La Coruña, and the Salzburger Festspiele, among others. For the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birthday, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival with L’oca del Cairo and Lo Sposo Deluso. She performed this repertoire with conductors of the stature of René Jacobs, Harry Bicket, Giovanni Antonini, Fabio Biondi, Christopher Hogwood, Alberto Zedda, Ottavio Dantone, and Attilio Cremonesi, among others.
Especially interested in the relationship between voice and movement, she has worked in productions that combine music and modern dance in the theatres of Basel and Lucerna, Hebbel-Theater in Berlin, The Opera of Cologne, Brooklyn Academy of Music of New York, Early Music Festival in Innsbruck, and for The Fischhouse in San Francisco, working with prestigious choreographers such as Trisha Brown, Joachim Schloemer, and Charles Moulton.
As a recitalist, Martins feels a predilection for the French and Spanish repertory, and she has given world premieres by Montsalvatge, Frederic Mompou, Miquel Ortega, Carlota Garriga, Ernest Borràs, Enric Paloma, David Padrós, Josep M. Quadreny, and Jordi Rossinyol.
Among her recordings are the “Madrigali guerrieri ed amorosi” by Monteverdi for Harmonia Mundi under the direction of René Jacobs; for Lauda Música “El gran Burlador” (Diapason d’or: “Grandes Voix Humaines. Henry Jacqueton”); “Frederic Mompou” – Warner Music – with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia orchestra and, for Coumna Música, “Frederic Mompou – Combat del somni-,” “Requiem” by Xavier Benguerel (Cd Compact 2007 award), “Montsalvatge integral de canto (Vol 1),” and the Grammy nominee opera “El gato con botas” with the orchestra of the Liceu Theatre.
For more information about this event, please contact Bonnie LoShiavo at blloschiavo@barton.edu or 252-399-6559.
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