Two new productions of the operas Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and L'elisir d'amore, by Gaetano Donizetti, will start in the 33rd Opera and Ballet Season of the Teatre Principal de Palma, which will take place between 6 March and 16 June 2019. Two other titles -Madama Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini, and Los Elementos, by Antoni Literes-, the symphonic recital of the tenor Gregory Kunde and the ballet Don Quijote by the National Dance Company (NDC) complete the annual lyrical event.

On 6 March 2019 the Principal’s season will commence with a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni by the director and set designer Paco Azorín (Yecla, 1974), who we have already been able to see in Palma in his acclaimed version of María Moliner by Antoni Parera Fons. After Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro the famous Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy (with performances on 8 and 10 March) will conclude with maestro Cristóbal Soler as head of the musical part in front of a highly rated cast led by Nicola Ulivieri, Ugo Guagliardo, Ainhoa Arteta, María José Moreno, Giovanni Sala, Simon Lin, or the Mallorcan artists Susana Cordón and Tomeu Bibiloni. Azorín, with more than 150 productions behind him as a theatrical director, set designer or opera and zarzuela producer, is one of the most outstanding names in the current national panorama, a regular at the Teatro Real, the Teatro de la Zarzuela, the Festival Castell de Peralada or Mérida, the Gran Teatre del Liceu or the Teatro de la Maestranza. Don Giovanni has not been on the Principal’s stage since 2000.

It will be followed by the première (31 March, and performances on 3, 5 and 7 April) of Madama Butterfly by Puccini in a production by the Amigos Canarios de la Ópera (Canarian Friends of Opera) (ACO) signed by Mario Pontiggia. The title is attractive in that it has the musical part with the renowned Mallorcan director Antonio Méndez (Palma, 1984), in what will be his debut on the island in front of the Simfònica Illes Balears (Balearic Islands Symphony). Méndez, who has just been named principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (Tenerife Symphony Orchestra), develops a career at the highest level, in which he has been put in front of recognised groups, such as the Wiener Symphoniker, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchestra Berlin, Weimar Staatskapelle or the Orquesta Nacional de España (National Orchestra of Spain), where he has already been invited four times. He will lead a cast of great command, headed by the Korean soprano Sae-Kyung Rim (who has successfully taken on the role in the Leipzig opera, Arena di Verona and the Wiener Staatsoper) along with names like Lorena Valero, Eduardo Aladrén, Javier Franco, and the Mallorcan artists José Manuel Sánchez, Pablo López and Marga Cloquell.

The première of the second new lyrical production that will be hosted by the Coliseo Palma, L'elisir d'amore by Donizetti, will be scheduled for 28 April, which will be repeated on 1, 3 and 5 May, in what will be its first performance in a staged version in the history of the season. The staged part has been entrusted to the Mallorcan director Jose Martret, one of the names of the current scene, who will set the love story between Nemorino and Adina in a Mallorcan hotel from the 1960s. Costume will have the contributions of the fashion designer, Lorenzo Caprile. The musical part will be entrusted to the director Yi-Chen Lin, who returns to the Principal’s orchestra pit after his highly praised Bodas that was performed this season, and by a cast that includes some of the fundamental names of the current Belcanto, such as Xabier Anduaga, Sara Blanch, Joan Martin Royo, Simon Orfila and the Mallorcan, Irene Mas.

Los Elementos by the Mallorcan, Antoni Literes (Artá, 1673 - Madrid, 1747) will be the last of the lyrical titles present in the 33rd season, which will be performed on 17 and 18 May (with an educational talk on the 17 May), in the production of the Teatro de la Zarzuela and the Fundación Juan March, which premièred with great success by critics and audiences last April. It will be created by Tomás Muñoz in the staged part, while the musical part will be by Aarón Zapico and the Baroque Orchestra Forma Antiqva, with a cast consisting of specialised singers.

The acclaimed North American tenor Gregory Kunde, one of the most recognised figures of the current international vocal scene, will offer a recital accompanied by the Orquestra Simfònica Illes Balears (Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra) and the choir of the Teatre Principal of Palma on 7 June, conducted by the maestro Sergio Alapont. He will share the stage with the baritone, Damián del Castillo. Considered one of the most comprehensive singers of the current operatic scene, Gregory Kunde has sung regularly in the most important opera houses around the world, along with the best orchestras and conductors. His achievements have been recognised with numerous awards, the most recent being the Best Male Singer of the Year Award at the International Opera Awards 2016 and the 2015 Male Opera Singer Award at the Teatro Campoamor Lyric Awards. Acclaimed throughout his career for his interpretations of roles of the Italian and French Belcanto, in recent times he has forged a great prestige in the Verdiano repertoire and in other dramatic roles. In the current season he plays Radamés Aida (ROH Muscat), Pollione Norma (Opéra Royal de Wallonie and ABAO), Jean de Leyden Le prophète (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Poliuto (Liceu), Peter Grimes (Palau de les Arts), Radames Aida (Teatro Real), Don Alvaro La forza del destino (Dresden) and Des Grieux Manon Lescaut (Liceu). 

The 33rd Opera and Ballet Season of the Teatre Principal will come to an end on 15 and 16 June with the Don Quijote ballet, by the National Dance Company and created by the dancer, choreographer and director of the NDC, José Carlos Martínez. With live music from the Orquestra Simfònica Illes Balears (Symphony Orchestra of the Balearic Islands), this spectacular Don Quixote in three acts that is the first choreography of a complete classical ballet that the National Dance Company has incorporated in 25 years. Since its acclaimed premiere in 2015 at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, the piece has been performed all over the world, generating applause along the way. Martínez, Principal Dancer of the Ópera de París (Paris Opera) and winner of the National Dance Award, recovers this vision of Don Quixote from a perspective that respects the essence of Spanish culture and dance. Based on the famous score by Ludwig Minkus, Martínez creates a choreography inspired by the famous romantic versions of Petipa and Groski.