Antonio Rey

From the opening notes of the overture to the final curtain, Emilio Sagi’s classic, triumphant production fully brings to life all the elegant wit and theatricality of Mozart’s comic masterpiece.
Leading baritone Ludovic Tézier shines as the lustful Count Almaviva who attempts to obtain the favours of Figaro’s bride-to-be, Susanna (Isabel Rey), while Luca Pisaroni gives a feisty performance as Figaro. Conductor Jesús López Cobos masterfully captures the enchanting score. A witty yet profound tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Seldom has an album lived up so well to its name. With each track, crafted from a combination of precious elements and featuring a whole host of guest stars, Juan Carmona puts the flamenco music so dear to his heart into the arena with jazz, that musical heavyweight, and world music. At times very outward-looking, at times introspective, with this album, he brings his art to a new level and paints a bold self-portrait underpinned by rich variety, freedom, the pleasure of new discovery and exceptionally high standards. The guitarist truly is an alchemist who has found the philosopher’s stone by focusing on the music alone.

On this, the largest set ever compiled of one of the last century's most popular composers, we may not only renew our familiarity with the Concierto de Aranjuez, or perhaps with one of the other ever-melodious guitar concertos that sustain his reputation with audiences, but also discover chamber, instrumental, choral and especially vocal works which testify to a creative imagination confident in the formation of its style but never satisfied with repetition, one which responded directly to poetic and lyric inspiration, and transformed its ideas with unfailing skill and respect for the idiom under consideration.