Alfredo Daza returns to the Palace of Fine Arts after seven years of absence

▲ Alfredo Daza (in a red suit) will alternate with Jorge Lagunes in the lead role in the new production of Rigoletto , which the National Opera Company is presenting starting today. Photo by Roberto García Ortiz

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, May 8, 2025, p. 2

That Mexico is a major exporter of opera singers isn't entirely true, according to baritone Alfredo Daza. "Honestly, I don't think there are that many of us ," he argues, challenging an idea that has been entrenched for several decades.

In Mexico, we like to say we're a great exporter of singers, but if we counted how many Russians there are in the world's opera houses, even though they're banned, we'd see a different reality. The same goes for Americans and Koreans, to mention other nationalities. The truth is, there aren't that many of us Mexicans.

Back in the country to alternate with fellow countryman Jorge Lagunes the lead role in the new production of Rigoletto , by Giuseppe Verdi, which the National Opera Company (CNO) will present at the Palacio de Bellas Artes starting today, the singer from Puebla highlights that the predominant vocal range internationally among Latin American performers is that of tenor.

In our case, consider that it has to do with the characteristics of the Mexican: he has a short neck and is not very tall. Ultimately, these are things that influence the instrument that one plays. Because it is not very tall, the tenor has been one of Mexico's exports .

With nearly 30 years of experience, which he will celebrate next year, and recognized as one of the most important Mexican voices internationally, Alfredo Daza speaks of the stiff competition that exists internationally for his vocal range.

Being a baritone means having very strong competition, because the abundance of operatic voices has always put us at a disadvantage: we're six to one. That is, for every seven singers, six are baritones and one is a tenor, in the case of men , he explains.

It's a tough competition, but there have been other Mexican baritones who have had honorable careers. It's very difficult, but these are the cards I've been dealt, and I'm playing with them.

In an interview, he asserts that he finds the range and development of the baritone more interesting than that of the tenor: "I love being the villain, the best friend; having to deal with being a co-star. That's the world of opera ."

For example, he mentions that, even though the opera is called Rigoletto , the most anticipated part is the aria La donna è mobile , sung by a tenor. It's a reality and one of the things that comes with being a singer in this genre. We're more than used to this inequality, but it's the cards I was dealt, I insist, and I enjoy it .

He adds: "I love being a baritone. Competition comes in all flavors, and I do my thing. I always try to do it not only from the heart and with honesty, but also to be extremely well prepared and approach everything with great responsibility ."

Born in 1976, Alfredo Daza returns to the Palacio de Bellas Artes after a seven-year absence. His most recent appearance made history by starring in two consecutive titles: Macbeth and Stiffelio , in 2018.

Now he comes to this CNO's Rigoletto with the character of that legendary jester still fresh in his mind, after debuting it a year ago at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, in an acclaimed production by American Bartlett Sher, sharing credits with Russian soprano Aida Garifullina as Gilda.

The baritone says he had to wait a long time for this role, but it came at just the right time. "I was aware of the enormous difficulties of this role; in fact, it was offered to me years ago, when it wasn't yet time. I had to decline the invitation out of respect, because I knew the character well.

Thank God, I had previous experience with 12 other Verdi roles. That's how I became aware of how difficult it can be and what it requires. It was a great decision to wait. It's essential for a singer aspiring to a long career to know how to say no and recognize when it's time.

In his opinion, the role of Rigoletto is one of the pinnacles of Verdi's baritone range, alongside Macbeth, Iago, and Falstaff. They are the most difficult because they are true vocal marathons. They require a lot of energy and acting skills .

Exhausting tour de force

Daza describes the protagonist of this opera as distinguished by his many colors and nuances in vocal and acting terms: “He begins as a buffoon and then acquires a deeper and darker tone (…) He is an unfortunate being who knows pure love, but also hate and the feeling of revenge.”

One of the challenges of this role is his physical posture. Being a hunchback affects his breathing, which is essential for singing. After each rehearsal, he ends up exhausted, and the emotional burden is also heavy , he points out.

"With this opera, Verdi reached the boundary between bel canto and Romanticism, and we can already glimpse what's next: verismo . It's an exhausting tour de force ."

Alfredo Daza describes this work as extremely relevant, as it addresses themes such as abuse of power, femicide, disappearances, and "cancellation ," as censorship is known today. He recalls that Verdi and Francesco Maria Piave, the librettist, were inspired by Victor Hugo's play The King Amuses Himself , but adapted it in response to the censorship it received, replacing Triboulet's characters with Rigoletto and the king with the Duke of Mantua.

With Mexican stage direction by Enrique Singer and French director Benjamin Pionnier as conductor, the cast of Rigoletto is led by Alfredo Daza and Jorge Lagunes; Arturo Chacón-Cruz and Leonardo Sánchez as the Duke of Mantua; and Leticia de Altamirano and Génesis Moreno as Gilda. The performances, which begin today and continue on the 11th, 13th, 15th, and 18th, alternate between the two.

▲ Aspects of the rehearsal of Rigoletto , a play premiered in 1851, based on Victor Hugo's drama The King Amuses Himself . Photo by Roberto García Ortiz

Merry MacMasters

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, May 8, 2025, p. 3

The opera Rigoletto , premiered in 1851, is much more than a museum piece because it addresses a topical issue. In real, concrete terms , the work, with music by Giuseppe Verdi and libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, is about "a femicide. Gilda (daughter of Rigoletto, court jester of the Duchy of Mantua) is killed. Whether it was by mistake or not doesn't matter; it's the death of a woman stabbed. If that doesn't matter to us in today's Mexico, then what does it matter to us?"

What's the point of making opera and spending everyone's money if we're not going to talk about what Verdi wanted , says Enrique Singer, stage director of the new production of Rigoletto , which opens today in the main hall of the Palacio de Bellas Artes and is conducted by Frenchman Benjamin Pionnier.

Singer recalls: This work was made as a denunciation. Verdi had to make some small concessions, very angrily, because he wanted to speak in a raw way about power, specifically patriarchal power .

Rigoletto is based on Victor Hugo's play The King Amuses Himself , a drama laden with social criticism, power, injustice, and tragedy. The piece was initially censored in France for its open criticism of the monarchy. Verdi faced a similar struggle with censorship in Italy because the composer wanted to speak about his society. This is an absolutely and unequivocally political opera, set in Italy, somewhat deliberately .

For Singer, great works allow each era to adapt them so that the original returns. The great richness of these works is their ability to give them a contemporary discourse . That's what the stage director did, by setting it in the 1960s. The original opera has a strong, almost feminist charge, insofar as all the women in it live a harsh reality. All female participation in the work is not only surrogate, but the women are in a very vulnerable position .

The actor and theater producer also emphasized this situation and placed it in Mexico because we have a very painful reality here, especially in this matter and in many others, of course. I bring it, then, to a fictional Mexico of the 1960s because it was a time of profound change in the world and here, in which two powerful worlds still coexist: one conservative, patriarchal, in which men still hold power; however, there is another in which women are beginning to express themselves not only intellectually, but also bodily and sexually, that is, on many fronts. In the 1960s, a movement began that has brought us to where we are now .

In 2014, Singer directed a version of Rigoletto removed from Mexican reality . Now, Marcelo Lombardero, artistic director of the National Opera Company of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, asked him for a new production that would address one of his guiding principles, focusing on the denunciation of abuse of power and violence against women. According to the stage director, opera can no longer remain marginalized by the conflicts of our society. We perform European opera, even the productions are very European, so why don't we venture a little bit into talking about ourselves and getting closer to our reality?

Best known as a theater director, for Singer, staging an opera is a bit of a topsy-turvy affair: "Things happen the other way around because in opera, you have to have the idea perfectly calculated from the first rehearsal. The possibilities for improvisation are very small. The production conditions are limited by the very nature of the situation: there's little time and it's a very large show. The many variables mean you have to be very assertive."

In theater, the search normally happens while the play is being performed. There's a prior concept, but there's not as much planning involved. Here, it's the other way around; it must be perfectly planned. In theater, a lot depends on what the actors do and the performance of the staging. It's different.

▲ Through movement, I find a way to communicate with the audience, who are touched by the themes addressed in the show , said Brazilian creator Joisy Amorim in an interview. Photo courtesy of Layza Vasconcelos.

Fabiola Palapa Quijas

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, May 8, 2025, p. 4

A poetry in motion that seeks to capture the essence of human relationships and the way we connect with others is what Brazilian choreographer Joisy Amorim proposes in her work "Comenzaría todo otra vez" (I Would Start All Over Again) , which will be performed by the Giro 8 dance company at the Guillermina Bravo Dance Theater today and tomorrow.

Dance as a language helps me reach people more quickly. Through movement, I find a way to communicate with the audience, who are touched by the themes addressed in the show , says the creator, director, and professor of performing arts from the Federal University of Goiás in an interview.

Under the direction of Joisy Amorim, Giro 8 has developed works that combine technique and creativity, creating innovative and impactful proposals in which the body is the fundamental instrument. "Communication with the audience is achieved through movement and emotions, so it is necessary to work the body with discipline and technique, as well as memory and sensations, to achieve that connection with people."

Nowadays, shows are very emotional, and the body is present. The dancer is the generator of movement, of dance, reflecting his feelings to connect with people.

With a background in physical education and dance dramaturgy, Amorim not only conceived Giro 8, but also instilled a unique artistic vision that transcends dance and reaches the roots of Brazilian culture and identity.

Amorim's post-pandemic work, C omenzaría todo otra vez , celebrates the essence of love, tracing its journey from the philosophical reflections of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to more contemporary discussions and concepts embedded in the complexity of human relationships.

For her proposal, the choreographer returns to the compositions of Maria Bethania, considered one of the most emblematic interpreters of Brazilian Romanticism, as the piece seeks to reveal the multiple faces and nuances of love in the manifestations of Eros, Philia, and Agape.

We've performed several times outside of Brazil. I was very interested in bringing this project to the stage, so I chose Maria Bethania's songs and, based on love, created the dramaturgy of the show. With each song, I portrayed situations related to love.

For the creator, the message of her piece is that love is the strength to start over, hence the title, and it doesn't matter if we experience heartbreak or disagreement. It's always okay to start over, to endure—that's what happened to all of us during the pandemic .

An important material in choreography is paper, which is used as a stage prop and sometimes as costume. Joisy Amorim explained that this refers to love letters and poems. Paper is our writing surface for the work as the great poetry of life. It also symbolizes what the performer is experiencing at that moment when recalling those letters. Ultimately, this element has several scenic functions .

Founded 14 years ago, the Giro 8 group has dedicated itself to exploring contemporary dance as a language that connects and engages audiences, and its research into its themes allows for a constant dialogue between art and society.

It Would All Begin Again , by Joisy Amorim, will be presented today and tomorrow at 8 p.m. at the Guillermina Bravo Dance Theater of the Bosque Cultural Center (Paseo de la Reforma and Campo Marte).

Fabiola Palapa Quijas

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, May 8, 2025, p. 4

Choreographer Bárbara Alvarado, in her work Loss of Memory , creates a space for reflection by exploring the complexity of the human experience and the importance of reinventing oneself in diverse situations until we find new meanings in life.

From today through Sunday, the Benito Juárez Theater will host a performance that fuses dance, music, and painting, where the body becomes a paintbrush and the stage becomes a canvas that narrates the deterioration and resilience of memory.

In an interview with La Jornada , Alvarado explains that her work is inspired by several things at the same time, including her personal experience after suffering a knee injury that forced her to rethink her life and career.

I wondered who I am if I can't dance, if I can't do what I love. I realized that the greatest fear we have in life isn't death, but ceasing to mean anything to others . This reflection led her to explore the idea of ​​memory and how it relates to our identity and our experiences.

Amidst boleros, Chopin, and the legendary XEW, the choreographic proposal presents the story of a couple struggling with memory loss. Alvarado seeks to shed light on the process of Alzheimer's and how it affects people and their relationships.

Renaissance and resignification

The work poses questions and at the same time illustrates a real force, which is the vital essence, this life force to reawaken, to try life again, and to die again. It's a natural process of forgetting and death, but also of rebirth and redefinition , the creator shares.

This is a living exhibition in which dance and art intertwine to narrate the life of a painter with Alzheimer's and her life partner, who inhabit a poetic space between memory and oblivion.

▲ The greatest fear we have in life is not death, but ceasing to mean something to others , said Bárbara Alvarado regarding the piece "Loss of Memory ." Photo courtesy of the choreographer.

The protagonist in her bathtub is reborn each time to return to her partner. Through his paintings, he calls her again and again, trapping her in a shared memory. "We are potentially many possibilities, and psycho-emotional or bodily processes make us redefine or change ," Alvarado says.

According to the choreographer, Memory Loss "is a reflection on the process of Alzheimer's, but we go through similar processes in life and don't realize it; we die and are reborn in our meanings, in our memories, and in our search for experiences, and that's necessary to redefine ourselves."

People with Alzheimer's begin to forget things, and what they need is to disconnect from the world, because that world doesn't provide a bridge back to the self. We're immersed in having, in pretending, in showing, but not in cultivating self, in expressing ourselves. That's reality, and it's everyone's responsibility to redefine human existence.

Alvarado explains that the work is a reminder that life is a process of growth and change. We must be willing to face our fears and find new ways of being and doing .

Under the direction of Bárbara Alvarado, the Aletheia Cuerpo Escénico de México company presents Loss of Memory at the Benito Juárez Theater (Villalongín 15, Cuauhtémoc neighborhood) from today through Sunday, with performances Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 6 p.m.

▲ Byung-Chul Han has insisted on the need to regain the ability to say no, that not everything is possible, that not everything can be done, that we shouldn't even try. Photo taken from the Princess of Asturias Foundation website.

Armando G. Tejeda

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, May 8, 2025, p. 5

Madrid. The philosopher Byung-Chul Han, of South Korean origin but naturalized German, defends slowness in the face of the dizzying subjugation of technology, pointing out the deep contradictions of the digital world in which we are immersed, and does so from a monastic discretion, isolated among his books and writings. Precisely for his brilliance in interpreting the challenges of technological society , Han was chosen as the new Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, an award that in previous years has recognized the work of thinkers such as María Zambrano, Ryszard Kapuściński, and Umberto Eco.

The jury, made up of academics and intellectuals such as Estrella de Diego, Taciana Fisac ​​Badell, Santiago González Suárez, Alma Guillermoprieto, Carmen Riera i Guilera, and Diana Sorensen, among others, explained their decision: "His work reveals an extraordinary capacity to communicate new ideas precisely and directly, drawing on philosophical traditions from both East and West. Han's analysis is extremely fruitful and provides explanations for issues such as dehumanization, digitalization, and the isolation of individuals. His intercultural perspective sheds light on complex phenomena in our contemporary world and has found a wide resonation among audiences of diverse generations ."

Byung-Chul Han was born in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 1959. He studied German literature and theology at the University of Munich and philosophy at the University of Freiburg, where he received his doctorate in 1994 with a thesis on Martin Heidegger. He taught at the University of Basel (Switzerland, 2000-2012) and was a professor of philosophy and cultural studies at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin. He also taught at the Karlsruhe School of Design, alongside Peter Sloterdijk.

Society of fatigue

The laureate is considered one of the most prominent contemporary philosophers. He has devoted his reflections primarily to what he calls the society of fatigue and the society of transparency , as well as to the concept of shanzhai, a neologism that identifies the modes of deconstruction in contemporary practices of Chinese capitalism. In his writings, he has been highly critical of neoliberalism, since for Han, we live in an age of neuronal disorders (depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) caused by an excess of positivity in a society that has abandoned reflection, retreat, and meditation, and therefore does not value individuality. He argues that this is a society increasingly dominated by narcissism and suffering from a loss of desire, in which we become progressively incapable of relating to others, and he insists on the need to regain the ability to say no, that not everything is possible, that not everything can be done, that one shouldn't even try.

In his most recent works, he has broadened his critical approach to contemporary society, incorporating reflections on hope and contemplation. He is considered the successor of philosophers such as Roland Barthes, Giorgio Agamben, and Peter Sloterdijk. Some of his notable books are On Power (2016), The Scent of Time (2015), The Society of Fatigue (2012), Topology of Violence (2016), The Transparency Society (2013), The Agony of Eros (2014), In the Swarm (2014), Psychopolitics : Neoliberalism and New Techniques of Power (2014), The Expulsion of the Different (2017), Good Understanding (2018), and The Crisis of Narrative (2024).

This was the award given out of eight Princess of Asturias Awards this year, the 45th edition of the awards. The awards for Literature, Social Sciences, Arts, Sports, Harmony, Scientific and Technical Research, and International Cooperation will be announced in the coming weeks. As usual, the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony will be held in October in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, at the Campoamor Theater.

▲ The exhibition Endless Sunday: Maurizio Cattelan and the Collection at the Centre Pompidou commemorates the venue's 15th anniversary with a display featuring more than 400 of the artist's works. The exhibition attracted numerous visitors in its initial days and will be open to the public until February 2, 2027. Pictured is the piece titled Felix . Photo: Afp

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, May 8, 2025, p. 5