Two works, two cities, two passionate destinies: Brno and Madrid, separated by a few years, yet united by the same dizzying sense of impossible love.

In *The Diary of One Who Disappeared*, Leoš Janáček sets to music the feverish confession of a young peasant, Janík, who is madly in love with a Gypsy woman. Fascination, fear, desire, heartbreak: the score, here in Laurent Cuniot’s arrangement, captures the protagonist’s inner turmoil, oscillating between incandescent lyricism and an almost hallucinatory tension.

With *L’Amour sorcier* in its 1915 version, Manuel de Falla transports the listener to Andalusia. Candela, an abandoned gypsy, invokes occult forces to win back her beloved. Enchanting rhythms and fiery orchestral colors mark one of the Spanish composer’s expressive high points.

Isabelle Druet embodies these heroines of flesh and flame with magnetic intensity, while tenor Petr Nekoranec lends his luminous voice to the young Janík’s impetus. The first event in the 150th anniversary celebration of Manuel de Falla, jointly organized by the OCG and La Cité Bleue, this evening does justice to the modernity and dramatic intensity of his writing.

Introduction to the performance 1 hour before the show