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Opera

Beteca Music is exclusively distributed by Subito Music (store.subitomusic.com)

Direct Link to Subito Music listing: http://store.subitomusic.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3_101_1128)

HANGMAN,HANGMAN! (1982), chamber opera one act (50’)-8 instr.-. (Text by the composer in English, Spanish  and Catalan versions) Commissioned & Prem. Barcelona International Festival.) (Publ. G.Schirmer Inc)

[other perf.: Carnegie Mellon Univ.(Amer.prem.); Moorhead State Univ.(Minn.); Tallahasse,Fla.; Amarillo College, Teatro Zarzuela, Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona]  (CD Naxos Records, Carnegie Mellon Opera Theater, C. Pearce cond.]  (CD Naxos Records, Carnegie Mellon Opera Theater, C. Pearce cond)]

"(It is) an imaginative opera... (Balada’s) purpose was to write a work...inspired by a cowboy ballad, that in its comic nature expresses a sour criticism of society and the greediness of human beings...The music is alive, up-to-date...the match between words and music is total...It is interesting for its strong personality...It is a work of a musician-intelligent, challenging,diversified and imaginative, always with an interesting compositional process at work."-La Vanguardia-Barcelona ; "‘Hangman! ‘is very much American, despite its composer’s Spanish roots...the setting is the Old West, and the folk melody is woven through a sophisticated musical web."-Opera News. “…emphatically recommended”- Klassic  Heute.

THE TOWN OF GREED (1997) (A ‘cartoon’ tragi-comic chamber opera in one act)(35’)-8 instr.- a sequel to "Hangman,Hangman!"(book by A. Midani and L Balada, libreto by L. Balada in English, Spanish and Catalan). (An irreverent story that makes a strong social-criticism.) World premiere Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, Sept. 2007. (Beteca Music, distributed by Subito Music)

[other perform. Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona]

CD Naxos Records perf. Carnegie Mellon Opera Theater, c. Pearce cond.)

“… brilliantly told parables of predatory capitalism and its consequences”- Klassic Heute

ZAPATA (2h.) (1984) grand opera in two acts. (On the life and death of the Mexican revolutionary.) .Commissioned by San Diego Opera. (In English) (Beteca Music, distributed by Subito Music)

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (1986) ( 2h.) grand opera in two acts comm. by Government Spain (Text by A.Gala, in Spanish) to commemorate the 500 years of the arrival of the Spaniards to the Americas.(The opera depicts the history and passions that lead Columbus to the Indies.). Prem.Opera House del Liceu, Barcelona with Jose Carreras and Montserrat Caballe. Comm. Spanish Govmnt. This event was covered and reviwed by the principal media from the USA-New York Times, Washington Times, Opera News, International Herald Tribune,CBS-Sunday Morning, Etc-, Europe- Le Monde, Die Welt, Der Rheinische Merku, Il Giornale, The Independent, Le Soir de Bruxelles, Financial Times,Opera Now(London),Opera International (Paris),L’Opera(Milan)Das Oppernwelt (Zurich), Die Buhne (Viena), Ut Mi Sol(Paris) Etc.-, Latinamerica-La Folha de Sao Paulo (Brasil), El Tiempo(Colombia), La Nacion(Argentina), El Dia (Mexico), Galavision, Etc.- (Beteca Music, distributed by Subito Music)

CD Naxos Records perf. Gran Teatre del Liceu chorus and orch. with singers Jose Carreras and Montserrat Caballe, cond. Theo Alcantara.

"It is a masterpiece...a landmark score in the lyric theater of our time."-The Washington Times; "(Balada)brought back from years of labor in America a gift to his native Catalonia...(his)melodies serve the verismo style of singing...this opera succeeds largely on the shoulders of its orchestra writing...(he) exersices his own kind of anthropomorphism."-The New York Times; "A great success"-Corriere della Sera;" A colorful, thoroughly professional score."- The Financial Times;"A writing always of high quality."- Il Giornale;

DEATH OF COLUMBUS (1996) (1h 45 min.) grand opera in two acts. Comm. National Endowment for the Arts and Caja de Madrid. (A sequel to "Christopher Columbus" which starts when Columbus returns to Barcelona after his trip of discovery and ends with his death in Valladolid.) (Text by the composer in Spanish) World premiere concert version by Carnegie Mellon Opera conducted by Robert Page, sang by Jon Garrison (Columbus), David Okerlund (Mysterious Character), Judith Jenkins (Queen Isabella). (Beteca Music, distributed by Subito Music)

CD Naxos Records perf. Carnegie Mellon Philh. and Chorus with singers Jon Garrison and David Okerlund , cond. R. Page.

“Energetic, sweeping and expressive, Balada’s score probes Columbus’s psychological world”. American Record Guide.

“…an uncommonly impressive and winning contemporary opera that visits the discoverer of the New World on his deathbed, where memory and imagination mix.” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

 “…The score is quite gorgeous…combines a variety of 20th-century techniques into a style that is recognizably his own.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

FAUST-BAL grand opera in two acts comm. by Teatro Real of Madrid. Librettist, Fernando Arrabal. Premiered Feb. 2009. (A surrealist 21th C. interpretation of the classical Faust) (Subito Music)

“Balada’s very personal style, at once edgy and contemporary but deeply rooted in melody…Fortunately, Balada’s music, especially his delicate, varied and rhythmic orchestral scoring, managed to tell a story…”-Opera News-New York ;
“This is moody, melodic, expansive music, replete with beautiful arias and duos, contrasting trios, and chorus of angels and soldiers…His latest (opera) tackles the universal theme of ‘warring violence’ versus ‘the love of goodness’…Balada succeeded…”-Opera-London ;
“…he does not write music in which the singers are his enemies, as so often happens with modern operas…his handling of choral music is probably the best part of the score.” Seen and Heard International-MusicWeb International.;
“…a homogeneous score…with some brilliant moments”. Opera y Zarzuela;
“Balada strongly wielded the whirl of eclecticism and whipped up a rich sauce of children’s chorus cum cluster, sizable arias and sound storms.” Manuel Brug-Die Welt-Welt Online;
“Balada’s music conjures all the ghosts of neoromantic silence …the music is seamlessly projected on the drama with its dramatically charged belcanto.” Frankfurter Rundschau/Wiener Zeitung- Joachim Lange;
“…the colorful score …The musical factor in the whole has a very homogenous character despite many heterogeneous elements, musical citations and allusions, sharp contrasts and exaggerations, tender and almost mystical moods. The work bears the hallmark of Balada’s late works.i.e., the fusion of atonal avant-garde techniques with lyrical tonality; on the other hand, the integration of folkloric elements almost totally recedes to the background. The Madrid audience, full-house and concentrated, visibly enjoyed the evening. Much applause, no objection.”-Dirk Ufermann, Opernetz.de-Zeitschrift fuer Musictheater und Oper. ;
”Balada has set the libretto to music with facility and the wisdom of one who has travelled this path and come up with a score that is heterogeneous, rich, dense and non-controversial”- Alberto Gonzales-ABC, Madrid.;
“Balada’s music is beautiful, very beautiful”. Vela del Campo, El Pais, Madrid;
“A stimulating world premiere…should become repertory item: Balada has humor, a humor that is lucid, reflexive, and bright…Contemporary opera has gained a strong, positive push as a result of this splendid ‘Faust-bal’ ”- Alvaro del Amo. El Mundo, Madrid;
“The score, treated with the security of the professional artist, is replete with diverse effects…[Balada] demonstrates technical virtuosity in the delicate treatment of passages such as the attractive citing of the Catalan tune, ‘The Song of the Birds,’ assigned to Faust-bal, the ultimate hope of humanity.”-Arturo Reverter, La Razon, Madrid

La Resurrección de Colón (The Resurrection of Columbus), 2012 (50’) grand opera in one act, a sequel to “La Muerte de Colon”. (After one thousand years of Columbus death the earth is flat. God resurrects Columbus and blames the uncontrolled technical advances of his civilization for the destruction of the earth. Columbus in turn criticizes God for his imperfect creation. The conclusion of the opera is an unexpected one.)