STORY AND LINKS: Remembering Daniel Catán

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

Six weeks ago the opera world lost one of its finest composers when Daniel Catán died unexpectedly at age 62. The South Pasadena resident, who was a long-time instructor at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, was best known for his most recent work, Il Postino (The Postman), which received its highly successful debut last September at Los Angeles Opera.

In my review of the premiere (LINK), I called the work "a stunning new opera ... one of those all-too-rare nights when every individual element melded marvelously... a performance that reminded us that opera -- at its best -- can touch emotions and tell stories like no other medium." Many other critics were equally laudatory in their reviews. (LINK) Il Postino went on to performances in Vienna and will be presented at the Theatre du Châtelet in Paris beginning June 20.

Catán was much more than just one opera, however, and his life and music will be honored in three quite different ways this weekend.

• Sunday at 4 p.m. at Occidental College's Thorne Hall, Sonia Maria de León de Vega will lead her Santa Cecilia Orchestra in the final concert of the orchestra's 18^th season, "México Sinfónico." The concert was originally scheduled as a celebration of music from south of the border, and specifically, of Catán, but it will now do double duty. The 80-piece orchestra -- which includes harpist Andrea Puente Catán, the composer's wife -- will play four of Catán's pieces along with Silvestre Revueltas' La Noche de Los Mayas, with an additional dozen or so percussionists on hand for that swashbuckling piece. Info: www.scorchestra.org

• Saturday morning at 10 a.m., KUSC (91.5-FM; www.kusc.org) will begin its fifth season of "LA Opera on Air" with a broadcast of Il Postino recorded live at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The production stars Plácido Domingo in the role of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and tenor Charles Castronovo in the role of Mario Ruppolo (the Postman in the title). Grant Gershon, LAO's associate conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale) conducts.

The online broadcast will have a live chat discussion between Christopher Koelsch, LA Opera's senior vice president/chief operating officer, with Andrea Puente Cátan, widow of the composer.

• Monday evening at 6, LAO will commemorate Catán's life and legacy with a free program at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. No details have been announced although a LAO spokesperson says there will be music.

BTW: other broadcasts in the LA Opera radio series will be Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (May 28), Wagner's Lohengrin (June 4), Rossini's The Turk in Italy (June 18) and Britten's The Turn of the Screw (June 25). All five broadcasts will be aired nationwide and internationally through the WFMT Radio Network (times will vary).

(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.