GENERAL INFORMATION:
Based very loosely on the historical events that surrounded the life of Juana de Castilla, the opera displays a double message throughout five scenes: on the one hand, a portrait of Juana, a 17-year-old adolescent, is displayed in her tender and dramatic human dimension, and on the other hand, the crude ambition of a ruling class determined to expand spaces of power through alliances, marriages and betrayals is exposed, totally ignoring the damage caused to its circumstantial victim. In this context, the protagonist - unable to adapt to the schemes of the political society of her time - is the emergent from the crisis who opts for madness as a liberating mechanism.
As it is known, Juana - daughter of Isabel and Fernando, the Catholic Quen and King - was united in marriage at a very early age with Felipe the Handsome, son of the Archduke of Austria, generating in the couple a powerful sentimental bond that lasted beyond the Felipe's premature death. Accused of insanity, Juana was locked up until the end of her days and forced to abdicate in favor of her son Carlos.
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The Opera was premiered on September 21, 1991 at the San Martín Theater in Tucumán, Argentina, under the direction of Eduardo Alonso-Crespo. Since then the Overture has been performed several times in different parts of the world, including the Soirées Musicales Festival in Paris and the Chorale Plantagenet Concerts (France), the Cervantino Festival (Mexico), the 1995 Season of the Sudettic Philharmony (Poland). ), Zaporozhye Philharmonic Orchestra (Ukraine), the Symphony Orchestra of the City of Asunción (Paraguay), the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, and in concerts of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Colón Theater, the National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, the Symphony Orchestra Nacional Juvenil and the Symphonic Orchestras of San Juan, Mendoza, Salta and Tucumán in Argentina. The Suite extracted for concert was performed by the Córdoba Symphony Orchestra, the San Juan Symphony Orchestra and the Tucumán Stable Orchestra, and Ballet Music was part of the programs of the San Juan, Salta and Tucumán Symphony Orchestras.
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The Overture and the Ballet Music are recorded on compact disc by the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra of the USA for the Ocean Records label (OR101), under the direction of the author.
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The first perdormance of "Juana, la loca" was broadcast live by LRA 15 Radio Nacional Tucumán to the NOA provinces (northwestern Argentina).
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The opera was televised on LW83 Channel 10 on November 25, 1991.
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The video recording of the opera was part of the cultural exhibition of the Argentine stand at Expo Sevilla'92.
Composition Date: 1990/1991