Curtis on Tour, the touring initiative of the Curtis Institute of Music, brings a mixed program to Fundación Juan March featuring arias, zarzuela excerpts, Spanish art songs, and instrumental showpieces. The ensemble comprises sopranos Jeysla Rosario Santos and Nikan Ingabire Kanate, baritone Emilio Vásquez, guitarist Xingxing Yao, and pianist Kārlis Bukovskis. The Madrid appearance is presented by Fundación Juan March. The concert is structured to juxtapose Italian bel canto with Spanish song and stage traditions in a single recital format.
The program opens with Gaetano Donizetti’s concert scena “Uno sguardo ed una voce,” followed by a focused sequence from Gioachino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia: “Largo al factotum,” “Una voce poco fa,” and the duet “Dunque io son….” The Rossini set balances a baritone showcase, a coloratura aria, and a rapid-exchange duet to frame the operatic core of the evening. The instrumental centerpiece is Federico Moreno Torroba’s Sonatina for solo guitar (Allegretto, Andante, Allegro), a mid-twentieth-century cornerstone of the Spanish guitar repertoire. Spanish-language selections by Ernesto Cordero—“La Hija del Viejo Pancho,” “Madrugada,” and “El Viaje Definitivo”—highlight a soprano-guitar pairing, while Franz Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase provides a Romantic-era transcription vehicle for solo piano.
Performance assignments are shared across the ensemble. Rosario Santos and Ingabire Kanate join Bukovskis for the Donizetti selection. Vásquez and Ingabire Kanate collaborate with Bukovskis on the Rossini set. Yao appears in the solo role for Torroba’s Sonatina. Rosario Santos partners with Yao for the Cordero songs, and Bukovskis takes the solo spotlight for the Liszt paraphrase. The closing numbers draw on Iberian stage and popular traditions with Gerónimo Giménez’s “Me llaman la primorosa” from El barbero de Sevilla and Agustín Lara’s “Granada.”
Curtis on Tour presents early-career artists from the Curtis Institute’s vocal, guitar, and piano programs. The initiative is designed to place Curtis musicians before international audiences with programs that connect standard repertoire and regionally rooted selections. In Madrid, the combination of Italian opera excerpts, Spanish guitar literature, and zarzuela underscores that approach, aligning bel canto writing with twentieth-century instrumental idioms and a widely recognized song from the popular tradition.
Artists: Emilio Vásquez (baritone); Xingxing Yao (guitar); Kārlis Bukovskis (piano); Jeysla Rosario Santos (soprano); Nikan Ingabire Kanate (soprano).
Presenter: Fundación Juan March.
Venue and dates: Fundación Juan March, Madrid (Castelló 77) — Sunday, October 12, 2025, 12:00 p.m.; Monday, October 13, 2025, 12:00 p.m.**
