Maria Callas' digital comeback from beyond: Callas, the Hologram tour in Madrid.

In Spain, Maria Callas sang relatively few. Just concert tours, but not relevant in her career, unlike her famous Lisbon Traviata. She came here three times, though: in 1958, 1959 and 1973. In all those cases, she sang at least in Madrid (in 1959 she sang too in Barcelona and Bilbao).

                                  

But what her Spanish fans (many ignoring the fact that she did sing here) couldn't imagine is that in 2020, a technological device would make her to be seen on stage again. In 2018 the company Base Hologram announced the revolutionary, controversial and even macabre for many people, return of Maria Callas to world theatres, now as a hologram recreating her, 41 years after her death. Despite the suspicion of the opera fans and goers, this show has been touring successfully for the last two years. To create the hologram, they tried to recreate her face and her body movements were made by a stuntwoman, trying to imitate them as close as possible as in her videos. The voice wasn't less problematic, because in her time orchestra and voice were recorded together, unlike today, so when listened "live" sometimes it sounded old or the mono sound is recognisable. When I noticed, I vowed, as curious I am about novelties and as fan of Callas, that I would attend if it came once to Spain.

In my opinion, hologram concerts would be better being occasional and accessory, because life continues and the glory of dead artists shouldn't replace the time of alive ones, who are still here to give us their talent and artistry. The Bankia theatre has seemed to have found the time machine, because next month, Whitney Houston's hologram will perform in its stage. On the other hand, I cannot help being open minded enough to take advantages of opportunities like this to see a recreation of a performance of such an opera legend, as I am always eager of new events.

                                  

In the past, she sang in the Spanish capital in renowned venues as Teatro Monumental (then Monumental cinema) in 1958 or the Teatro de la Zarzuela in 1959. Now her hologram does in the new Gran Teatro Bankia Príncipe Pío, a private theatre named after a known bank in Madrid, in part of the former railway North station; now  part of it being a theatre and the other part being the current metro station. It started a run of performances on March but due to the Coronavirus pandemic it had to cancel after the second week and now it returns for every weekend until November 1. I had myself one ticket in March but I finally got my opportunity yesterday. This venue is different from an operatic one: with tables in the parterre, so the customers could take some drink before the concert, and some pop music replaces the instrument tunning of opera houses, since the orchestra is still behind the closed curtain.

Before the concert began, an introduction video on her life and career was projected on a screen, and I have to say that I was really moved to see how decisive she was to the opera world, as well as her tragic private life. During the show, some excerpts of the successful documentary Maria, by Callas: in her own words, by Tom Volf, were shown after some arias. In those clips we see Callas talking about herself, her perfectionism, her status of legend, with such a moving melancholy, and also a letter to Aristotle Onassis, her fatal love. The hologram tries to reproduce as faithful as possible her movements, and we see this Callas greeting the conductor, the first violin, even laughing: we could hear her known laugh before the concert begins.

                                  

For the occasion, the recordings used for this show, for the best sound possible, were the most modern ones, in which her voice is still amazing, but when her vocal maturity came, also did  the limitations she had in the last stage of her career. The program was made of her most celebrated repertoire. It started with a brilliant version of Je veux vivre from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, in which despite her artistry, the coloratura appears already troubled. It was great to listen her two great scenes from Macbeth, one of her signature roles, of which she gave a classic rendition: the voice still sounding dramatic in Vieni t'afretta, agile, passionate, portraying the energy and evil of the role in Or tutti sorgete. Before the music of this scene begins, she took the letter from the gown. Another of her most known recordings is her 1964 Carmen, from which she (hologram) sang the Habanera, sung preciously and in a mezzo-like color, and her voice fitting with the gipsy. The other excerpt from Carmen was the Card scene: the orchestra started the music but the diva "stopped" it and a stony silence was made... even as a hologram the diva commands respect. Then, the orchestra reprised the music, and the aria began, sung in a dark tone, quite dramatic, as well as the low notes which were amazing. In this point the hologram threw the cards and they were suspended on the air. Sadly, the audience started to laugh because they ignored it was actually a tragic scene. Since after the aria Carmen is replied by her friends, the recording had to be cut abruptly and the orchestra started with the Lady Macbeth sleepwalking aria, Una macchia è qui tuttora, one of her great performances, in which the dramatism mentiones in the previous scene of the same opera reaches here its peak, with Callas singing splendidly the aria, with an ethereal, unforgettable final high  note.

After the tragic Macbeth-Carmen scene, the next piece was Ebben, ne andrò lontana from La Wally. As I am not familiar with the aria, it was a revelation for me to meet its beauty, one of the best examples of Verismo music, of which I am a great fan. Callas' version is referential, such is the beauty of the singing, the pianissimo register and the high notes in this aria. The concert oficially ended with the Hamlet aria Pâle et Blonde, in which we could hear her dazzling coloratura and high notes even in her final stage years. The encores were two of her greatest creations: the Vissi d'arte from Tosca and the Casta Diva from Norma, really two beautiful, moving moments in the concert.

The accompaniment came from the Orquesta Sinfónica de Bankia (Bankia Symphony Orchestra), conducted by José Sanchís. A reduced 20-musician orchestra, sometimes the sound was sort of weak  in the strings, specially in the Carmen prelude. However, in the orchestral introduction to the sleepwalking Macbeth scene, they really did a good job, with the tempi and the sound of the instruments conveying the elegy and darkness of the score, as a dramatic prelude to a magnificent aria. The aria from La Wally was another highlight of the orchestra, with a brilliant, beautiful rendition.

At the end of the concert, she (the hologram) took a rose from the maestro and gave her final bow before disappearing. While the musicians leave, a final video made with images from her performances and career is shown while Schubert's Ave Maria sounds, sung by another singer and ending with the words: "Thank you Maria, your art will live forever". 

The audience, most of them not usual operagoers, really enjoyed and applauded this event and even though they are aware of Callas is not alive, by hearing them while leaving the hall, they seemed to have felt her in any way. Despite the initial suspicion, it was a beautiful concert: if you feel Maria Callas' voice in a show, you will always be excited. 

My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.

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