LIFE Victoria's 'La voix humaine' arrives in New York
Barcelona, March 6, 2025
“On the other end of the phone, a masterful Julius Drake seemed to be speaking with Her. Just to see and hear him turn the piano into a character made attending this show worthwhile”. Scherzo
Following its success in Barcelona, Wales, and Seville, La voix humaine by LIFE Victoria arrives in New York on March 6 with the stage production by Marc Busquets and musical performances by Mercedes Gancedo and Julius Drake. The production has sold out for its performance at 89 Reade in the Big Apple.
Poulenc‘s lyric drama, based on texts by Jean Cocteau, insistently hovers over the idea of suicide through the story of Elle, a desperate lover who has been abandoned over the phone. Marc Busquets’ proposal delves into the protagonist’s loss of identity, a nameless woman, alone and desolate.
Argentine soprano Mercedes Gancedo, who has received critical acclaim for her characterization of Poulenc’s role, and acclaimed British pianist Julius Drake, one of the foremost specialists in vocal repertoire, will be responsible for bringing this one-act lyric tragedy to life.
Regarding the work’s scenic concept, Marc Busquets highlights that in this piece “the protagonist has no name; she has lost her identity and confronts her reality from a non-place: an empty room, a chair, and an unmade bed. A non-place, a concept developed by the thinker Marc Augé, but in this case more fierce due to its intimacy. This woman has changed her appearance and, nullified, is simply Elle. The audience will never know who she is or if there truly is a Lui (him) on the other end of the line.”
“Mercedes Gancedo stepped perfectly into the character of Elle to adapt her voice to the changing emotional moments, always with a well-placed, full-bodied voice, meticulously attending to the parlatos”. Diario de Sevilla
About the artists
Mercedes Gancedo, soprano
Born in Argentina, she debuted at the age of eighteen in the role of Despina in Così fan tutte at the Teatro Roma in Buenos Aires. Trained with Jaume Aragall, Teresa Berganza, Mirella Freni, Montserrat Caballé, and Cecilia Bartoli, among other singers, she combines her operatic career with intense activity in the field of Lied.
Winner of the Young International Artistic Promise Award from the Association of Critics of the Argentine Republic and the Teresa Grüneisen Scholarship from the Mozarteum Argentino to study abroad, the soprano also obtained a scholarship for the Victoria de los Ángeles Master in Lied at ESMUC, as well as the Bach Scholarship, among others. Furthermore, she has been awarded at the Competizione dell’Opera in Dresden, the Francesc Viñas Contest in Barcelona, and the El Primer Palau Award, in addition to other national and international competitions.
She has participated in major festivals and venues, such as the Schubertíada in Vilabertran, the Oxford Lieder Festival, LIFE Victoria, the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Auditori de Barcelona, and the Fundación Juan March in Madrid. In 2017, together with pianist Beatriz Miralles, she recorded her first album, Cooking America!
Julius Drake, piano
Based in London, he enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recitals and recordings. His passionate interest in song has earned him invitations to organize song cycles at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the 92nd Street Y in New York, and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. He organizes an annual series of song recitals – Julius Drake and Friends – at Middle Temple Hall in London. He teaches piano accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music in London and is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.
Julius Drake’s numerous recordings include an acclaimed collection with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records, winner of the Gramophone Award in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He has also made recordings with Ian Bostridge and Alice Coote for EMI; with Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Matthew Polenzani for Wigmore Live; and with Anna Prohaska for Alpha. His recording of Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared, with tenor Nicky Spence and mezzo-soprano Václava Housková for Hyperion Records, won both the Gramophone Award and the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020.
Marc Busquets, stage director
Born in Barcelona, he combines artistic direction with stage direction. Since 2017, he has directed the Lied Festival and the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation, combining the presence of great international artists with support for young talent. In October 2023, he debuted as a stage director at the Oxford International Song Festival with the show Goya & Granados, which created a dialogue between Granados’ songs and tonadilles and Goya’s paintings, and which was also performed at Palau Güell in Barcelona.
Together with Vincent Huguet, he developed the concept for the Victoria de los Ángeles centenary gala at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (2023) and directed the tribute to Victoria de los Ángeles at the Teatro de la Zarzuela. Recently, he debuted at the Machynlleth Festival (Wales) with Poulenc’s La voix humaine, featuring Mercedes Gancedo and Julius Drake, which was also seen in Barcelona (Palau de la Música Catalana) and Seville (Espacio Turina), and now arrives in New York (89 Reade). He opened LIFE Victoria 2024 with Mild und Leise, a program of Lieder by Wagner and Mahler performed by Elena Pankratova and Joseph Breinl, in addition to directing a show about Rilke and music.
