The Arriaga Theatre is presenting an innovative production made up of two short operatic playlets with music from the twentieth century. First, ‘Susana’s Secret’ which recounts the adventures of the highly jealous Count Gil (Javier Franco) who is suspicious about the faithfulness of his young wife (Isabel Rey). Does he have grounds for these suspicions? What does the parcel that she discreetly hands to the maid contain? What is Susana’s secret? With a libretto by Enrico Golisciano, in 1909, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari created his ‘intermezzo’, an example of the composer’s eclectic style, which was not very well known by the audience despite having all of the characteristics required to obtain applause.

‘The Human Voice’ (1959) has a very different tone, and is the final lyrical work written by Francis Poulenc, based on a play by Jean Cocteau. We witness the telephone conversation between a woman (Elisabete Matos) and the lover that has decided to leave her. The play is an example of total integration between stage music and text. Every gesture, every word, every orchestra response, makes up a monologue that explores the character’s soul.

The production features the stage direction of José Luis Castro and the musical direction of Lorenzo Ramos and the special collaboration of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.