The cast of Maese Pedro

The Altarpiece of Maese Pedro, by Manuel de Falla, is the first opera production of the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra and is presented for the first time in Colombia. It arrives on stage under the musical direction of maestro Alejandro Roca and the stage direction of Pedro Salazar, and the participation of tenor Christian Correa (Maese Pedro), mezzo-soprano Laura Mosquera (Trujamán), baritone Nelson Sierra (Don Quixote) and set designer Pablo Castillo.

The tenor Christian Correa, who will personify Master Pedro, won second prize and mention for best tenor in the XXII International Lyrical Singing Competition of the City of Trujillo, Peru (2019) and First prize in the Excellence Category (2019) of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra National Singing Competition, among others. In addition, he has received a scholarship from the Carolina Foundation to continue his postgraduate studies at the Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona. He has sung with the Colombian Opera, Civil Opera and Festival de Opera al Parque, among others.

The ingenious gentleman Don Quijote of La Mancha, will be personified by the baritone Nelson Sierra, who has a degree in Singing from the University of Antioquia and has debuted in Canada with Opera Ontario and is a member of The Canadian Actors Equity Association. He has participated in productions such as El Barbero de Sevilla, Carmen and La Traviata, among others. He has also performed concerts for the Colombian embassies in Oslo (Norway), Ankara (Turkey) and Alexandria and Cairo (Egypt).

Trujaman, is Master Pedro's assistant and invites passersby and Don Quixote to enjoy the theater. This role will be played by the mezzo-soprano Laura Mosquera, who has participated as a soloist in productions by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the EAFIT Symphony Orchestra and the Prolírica Foundation of Antioquia, among others, and has performed on stages such as the Metropolitan Theater and the Royal Library of Belgium, among others. Additionally, she played the roles of Bradamante in Alcina and Margot in the Zarzuela La Leyenda del Beso; and Mons in the recreation of the Baroque opera Le Retour des Plaisirs by the renowned director Guy van Waas, among others. He currently works as a singing teacher at the universities of Antioquia and EAFIT.

Alejandro Roca, musical director
He is one of the protagonists of the lyrical scene in Colombia. His enthusiasm and interest in the vocal repertoire have led him to promote and participate in the most important projects in this field in the country in the last decade.

Roca has been musical director in various productions: Black el clown, by Sorozábal, with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia (2015), Bastien und Bastienne and Der Schauspieldirektor, by Mozart, together with the Colombian Opera and the Bogotá Symphony Orchestra ( FOSBO, 2015), the opera Midsummer Night's Dream, by Britten, with the Bogotá Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (2016, national premiere); the opera La Cambiale di Matrimonio, by Rossini, together with the Colombian Opera and the Bogotá Youth Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (2016); the zarzuela Cecilia Valdés, by Roig, with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia and the Cali Philharmonic Orchestra (2017) and the operetta Candide, by Bernstein, with the Bogotá Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (2017), national premiere; the zarzuela Los Gavilanes, by Guerrero, together with the Colombian Opera Choir and the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia (2018), the opera La Cenerentola, by Rossini, with the Bogotá Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (2018). Added to this are I due Figaro, by Mercadante (2016) and Puss in Boots, by Montsalvatge (2017) together with the Central University Symphony Orchestra.

For all of the above, and as a result of his collaboration over the years with directors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Hilary Griffiths, Patrick Fournillier, Miguel Roa and Luiz Fernando Malheiro, among others, Roca adds His vocal repertoire includes more than fifty large-scale works, including operas and zarzuelas. Since 2007, he has directed the Opera Workshop of the Central University (Colombia) and is frequently invited to be part of relevant academic projects.

Pedro Salazar, stage director
He is a theater, opera and musical theater director. He currently directs the area of Performing Arts at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the Universidad de los Andes. For 2021, he is preparing the operas Tosca by Puccini and Bluebeard's Castle by Bartók.

He directed Rossini's El Barbero de Sevilla (Teatro Mayor, 2019), Puccini's La bohème (Bellas Artes Theater, 2012), and Donizetti's Don Pasquale (Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Theater, 2011) for the Colombian Opera. In the field of musical theater, he directed the new original musical based on the music of the Juárez divo, Así fue (Teatro Cafam, 2020), in addition to María Barilla de Gómez (XII Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá, 2012), among others.

In 2008 he started the La Compañía Estable Foundation, an entity with which he has worked in the double role of producer and director in some titles such as: Florencia en el Amazonas – opera de Catán, Macbeth by Shakespeare (Teatro Colón, 2016-17, 19, Almagro Classical Theater Festival, Spain, 2018), The Neighbors Above by Cesc Gay (National Theatre, 2018-19) and The Magic Flute by WA Mozart, among others. In addition, his work in theater also includes the works Entretelones (Noises Off) by Michel Frayn (Teatro Nacional, 2015), I don't know whether to cut my veins or leave them long by Manolo Caro (Teatro Nacional, 2013-14) and The suspicious truth of Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (Spanish Repertory, New York, 2011), among others.

As a teacher he has worked at Universidad de los Andes (currently), Universidad Central/ Teatro Libre, La Escuela de la Casa del Teatro Nacional, Purchase College (New York) and Rutgers University (New Jersey).

Pablo Castillo, set designer
Architect from the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) and master's degree in urban and environmental processes from the EAFIT University. He has worked as an architect on residential, commercial and institutional projects. He has also worked on dissemination and recovery of architectural heritage in Bogotá and Antioquia. He has been assistant to the Spanish set designer Alfons Flores, in several opera and theater productions in Europe, under the direction of Calixto Bieito and Alex Ollé of La Fura dels Baus.

“The Altarpiece of Maese Pedro is a good approach to opera, first because it is in Spanish and has a duration of approximately thirty minutes; It is also based on one of the episodes of Don Quixote, a pillar novel of Spanish literature. This fun presentation is an ideal way to relate to literature, opera and our language.” Alejandro Roca, musical director

When?
Sunday June 13
Hour
11:00 am
Channel
La Tiquetera View

Ticket office:
Comfama Affiliates
Rate A: $8,000
Rate B: $11,000
Rate C: $28,000

Unaffiliated: $30,000