Madrid's Royal Opera House is remembering renowned Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus this weekend with two special concerts, one a recital with piano accompaniment of arias and duos Kraus sang over the years to resounding ovations from opera lovers, and the other, a concert with full orchestra featuring polish tenor Piotr Beczala singing more of the many arias for which Kraus was famous. Today's program features Kraus singing Donizetti, including the famous aria "Ah, mes amis," from the opera "La fille du régiment" (The Daughter of the Regiment), which is currently being performed at the Teatro Real (the Royal Opera House), with Mexican tenor Javier Camarena singing the role of Tonio and Polish soprano singing that of Marie, the daughter of the regiment. We also hear music by the composer considered to be the father of German Baroque, Heinrich Schütz, who was born in 1585, one hundred years before J. S. Bach. The German early music ensemble Cantus Cölln have just been in Spain, where they gave two concerts of music by Schütz and contemporaries Johann Hermann Schein and Heinrich Albert (curious? then go to: www.cantuscoelln.com . And we end the virtual broadcast with the "Sonata for Violin and Piano" by Spanish composer Enrique Granados (1867-1916), one of the works performed this past week at the chamber music hall of Madrid's National Auditorium by Spanish violin virtuoso Leticia Moreno, who was accompanied by French pianist Bertrand Chamayou. Leticia's website is: http://leticiamoreno.com .
