Teresa Berganza (Mezzo Soprano) - Spain
Cecilia Lavilla Berganza (Soprano) - Spain

Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza is one of those rare legendary voices of the operatic world.

She was born in Madrid and had a well-rounded musical education there at the National Conservatory of Music, studying piano, harmony, composition and singing. Her international career began at the 1957 Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Since then, Berganza has appeared on the greatest of world stages such as Covent Garden in London , La Scala in Milan , the Paris Opera, the Metropolitan in New York , as well as in Vienna , Edinburgh and Salzburg ). She has worked with the greatest contemporary conductors, including Von Karajan, Solti, Mehta, Abbado, Baremboim, Muti and Adler and has a widely varied repertoire of Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Purcell, Offenbach, Bizet and Massenet.

Teresa Berganza was the first woman and the first opera singer to become a member of the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts San Fernando in Madrid . Delicacy, sensuality and a sense of poetry characterize the style and voice of Teresa Berganza, who imbues her singing with the very essence of her being.

Berganza will share the Fes Festival stage with her daughter, the soprano Cecilia Lavilla Berganza who continues the family tradition.

Lavilla devotes herself mostly to chamber music and recitals, particularly in the field of French and Spanish song and has appeared on the principle stages of Spain , France and Portugal.

She has participated in large productions in the great Spanish theatres in well-known works such as Cosi Fan Tutte, The Magic Flute, Tannhaüser, La Traviata and Manon. Mostly presenting oratorios, Lavilla works regularly with renowned orchestras such as the Queen Sophie Chamber Orchestra, the Galicia Symphony Orchestra and the European Symphony Orchestra.

Stabat Mater Dolorosa is a poem from the Roman Catholic liturgy, portraying the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. This poignant work is sung as a hymn on Good Friday and has been set to music by numerous composers. The Italian Giovanni Battista Pergolèse (1710-1736) wrote one of the most beautiful versions, and it is this Stabat Mater, a major work of sacred music, that forms the heart of the concert presented by Teresa Berganza and Cecilia Lavilla with the Orchestra and the Choir of the Community of Madrid.