1. Reviews of "QUITO MITICO"DIARIO LA HORA, SEPTIEMBRE 2004:
"Un masivo despliegue de arte...Un espectáculo intenso....La obra inició con una tocada de carácter épico... La música complementada por las voces de los coros, lograron un efecto estremecedor al estilo de “Carmina Burana”...Los presentes se estremecían frente a los escalofríos que producía la intensidad del momento...La creación de Luzuriaga abarca una diversidad de artistas nunca antes vista en la ciudad."
D.M.
2. Reviews of "RESURRECCION DE QUITO"
EL COMERCIO, APRIL 2003:
"…bello espectáculo que, en torno a la dramática historia de nuestra ciudad, fundió en una sola gran realidad artística musical, cromática y hasta pirotécnica, la espectacular riqueza arquitectónica de Quito, el juego y fuego de cambiantes luces en mitad de la profunda noche ecuatorial…"
"…beautiful spectacle that used the dramatic history of our city to weld in a single great artistic musical reality–chromatic and even pyrotechnic–the spectacular architectural richness of Quito, the play and fire of changing lights in the middle of the deep equatorial night…"Jorge Salvador Lara,
DIARIO HOY, APRIL 2003:
…["Resurrección de Quito"] representó un renacer, una esperanza para los quiteños, que vieron en las innumerables explosiones de color y pólvora el camino hacia un futuro que recupere los tesoros que la capital ha guardado desde su fundación indigena.
…["Resurrección de Quito] represented a renaissance, a hope for the people of Quito, who saw in the innumerable explosions of color the path to a future where the treasures of the capital's indigenous foundation might be recovered.
Luis Maldonado,
3. Reviews of "YARAVI & YUMBO"
TRIBUNE-REVIEW, JANUARY 2003:
"Aiken played both flute and alto flute for the first performance of Diego Luzuriaga’s "Yaravi & Yumbo." The "Yaravi" is a meditative song said to descend from religious ceremonies of Incas living in the Andes mountains, while the "Yumbo" is a fast dance in 6/8 meter. The composer took the pentatonic and modal basis of the folk forms and used them with imagination, a quality that made the rhythms of his "Yumbo" intriguing. He was on hand to share in the well-deserved applause."
Mark Kanny
Classical Music Critic
4. Reviews of "LITURGIA"
"Within this composition [Liturgia] Luzuriaga expresses his own sense of beauty without any affectation, through his extensive knowledge of the writing of modern music. It is a masterpiece that joins traditional Japanese music and the traditions of the people of Ecuador."
Masataka Matsuo
Composer and Director
Phonosphere Musicale, Tokyo
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"…I also felt that the Luzuriaga piece [Liturgia] represented a universal song"
Yoshihiro Nara
music critic, Tokyo
5. Reviews of "ROMERIA A LA VIRGEN DEL CISNE"
EL COMERCIO, MARCH 2002:
"La Romería a la Virgen del Cisne para coro y orquesta de cámara de cuerdas cerró la noche. Las voces del Coro Pichincha hicieron lo suyo y elevaron oraciones para que la Virgen del Cisne proteja a este país malherido del que habla Luzuriaga en la intensa pieza que puso a circular. El público aplaudió de pie."
"The Romería a la Virgen del Cisne for choir and string chamber orchestra closed the evening. The voices of the Pichincha Choir did their best and elevated prayers to the Virgin of el Cisne (the Swan) so that she protect the injured land of which Luzuriaga speaks, in this intense piece premiered last night. The audience gave a standing ovation."
Milagros Aguirre
One of the most thrilling discoveries I've made lately is Once Canciones, a collection of lullabies and love songs by DIEGO LUZURIAGA, made by soprano DANA HANCHARD. Luzuriaga has a remarkable lyric gift; his melodies are intimate and delicate, but impassioned; they also have the feeling of durability.
Brian Kellow
OPERA NEWS, AUGUST 2001:
Here's a sleeper. Diego Luzuriaga is not a famous composer, soprano Dana Hanchard is best-known as a Baroque specialist, and Fertile Ground Music is an exceptionally obscure label. But these Latin American songs are absolute charmers, and Hanchard's performances are exquisite.
Though Luzuriaga is Ecuadorian by birth, his music incorporates a wide variety of popular and folkloric styles from all over Latin America. Accompanied softly and simply by guitar, with an occasional dab of percussion, the mood here is steadfastly intimate and unapologetically sentimental. "These songs were born, in a way, effortlessly," Luzuriaga writes in the liner notes, "without commissions or deadlines, and were inspired by my friends, my kids, my life and things dear to me." This effortlessness is audible in the music's natural unfolding and in the way melody and words (also by the composer) seem inextricably bound together.
Hanchard's voice has an appropriately dark, earthy quality, with a quick, tremulous vibrato. She sings with a natural-sounding rhythmic fluidity that sounds convincingly improvisational, greatly enhancing the expressive power of these songs. She wraps herself in the music the way an actress assumes a character. In "Bendita la tierra" (Blessed be the Earth), for example, she allows her ardor to build gradually until the final lines, "El recuerdo es la única cosa que me mata, corazón necio" (Remembering is the only thing that kills me, stubborn heart), which are given an almost unbearable intensity of feeling.
Guitarist Bill Girolamo provides the atmospheric if somewhat deferential accompaniment, and the recording quality is first-class. This is an unusually beautiful and touching album.
Andrew Farach-Colton
Diego Luzuriaga's "Once Canciones: Eleven Songs" (Fertile Ground Music) are the simplest of all these pieces [Tan Dun’s and George Rochberg’s], but their joys go even deeper.
Luzuriaga wrote his own words for these melancholy and affecting songs about children, family, and the ordinary trials of life, and their dressed-down style will be as attractive to Jobim fans as they will to lovers of classical art song
Russell Plat
Hanchard puts a voice well schooled in the Baroque to compelling use in Luzuriaga’s short, bittersweet song sequence.
Diego Luzuriaga (b 1955), originally from Ecuador, uses elements from music of several other South American countries in this sequence of 11 songs. People familiar with music of the Andes will recognize some of the melodic forms.
Although the moods seem to hark back to the traditional guitar-accompanied songs that have come from South America, the poetry is modern.
Dana Hanchard first started singing with Luzuriaga when they were both students in New York in the 1980s.
Although she has specialized in the Baroque repertory, her voice and dramatic sense meld perfectly into the more relaxed, folk-tinged style required here.
Bill Girolamo is joined by the composer for a couple of songs that have two-guitar accompaniment.
The music is on the cusp between concert hall and cabaret. At only 40 minutes […] it is a beautiful, haunting disc.
Patrick O’Connor
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7. Reviews of Luzuriaga's new Opera, Manuela y Bolívar
"THE PREMIERE NIGHT OF MANUELA AND BOLIVAR… ...It was not only the premiere…the voices, the quality of the set design, it was the birth of a classic–the birth of something that will move all audiences, here and abroad, today, and in decades to come. A classic that is a credit to its author, and that honors the Teatro Sucre…and the public…" (Gonzalo Ortíz Crespo, Desde El Teatro, Quito, December, 2006)
LA SENSIBILIDAD EPICA DE LA OPERA POR PRIMERA VEZ HABLA DEL PAIS
“…Es cierto, el patetismo de la música y la virtud espiritual de las voces remueven algo dentro del alma, algo que grita y se estremece. Algo que se exalta y se extasía, que reflexiona como aquel que se ve en le espejo y se ve otro, nuevo, renovado…”
Diario El Comercio, Quito, November 9, 2006
FOR THE FIRST TIME, AN OPERA THAT SPEAKS TO OUR COUNTRY
“…The pathos of the music [of Manuela y Bolívar] and the spirituality of the voices move something within the soul – something that screams and shakes – a feeling of ecstasy and exultation, of looking at yourself in a mirror and seeing someone else reflected back, someone new, renewed…”
Diario El Comercio, Quito, November 9, 2006Top
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MANUELA Y SIMÓN
”...Debo reconocer que la letra de las canciones, la puesta en escena, la adaptación de la obra a la época en que se desarrolla aquel amor intenso entre la quiteña y el Libertador, es digno de una ovación de pie y con orgullo de saber que esta pieza fue compuesta por un ecuatoriano.”
Pablo Ortiz Garcia. Diario El Comercio, Quito, 24 de Noviembre 2006
MANUELA AND SIMÓN
“…It has to be acknowledged that the lyrics, the staging, the adaptation of the opera to the historic period where the intense love story between the Quitenian woman and the liberator takes place, are all worthy of a standing ovation, and the pride of knowing that this piece was composed by an Ecuadorian…”
Pablo Ortiz Garcia. Diario El Comercio, Quito, November 24, 2006
Read the complete article: http://www.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=77076&id_seccion=1------------
OPERA
“…al verlos (A Manuela y Boívar) en esta ópera, tan bien realizada, hemos vuelto a emocionarnos como la primera vez que escuchamos su historia…”
Rodrigo Villacís Molina. Diario Hoy. 24 de Noviembre 2006OPERA
“…To see them (Manuela and Bolívar) in this opera, so well performed, we are moved again, as though we are hearing their story for the first time…”
Rodrigo Villacís Molina. Diario Hoy. November 24, 2006
Read the complete article:
http://www.hoy.com.ec/NoticiaNue.asp?row_id=251598Top
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BOLIVAR Y MANUELA EN UNA OPERA
“…Es la primera vez que el género mayor de esa música sublime se dispone a hablar español con acento ecuatoriano….”“…Y en la garganta empieza a apretarse un nudo, mientras se siente a la belleza que aprieta el pecho y se abre paso a los ojos…”
Diario El Comercio Quito - Ecuador, 23 de noviembre del 2006
MANUELA AND BOLÍVAR IN AN OPERA
“…This is the first time that this major art form with its sublime music is ready to speak Spanish with an Ecuadorian accent…”“…And in your throat a lump begins to form, as you feel the beauty that presses into the chest and moves up to the eyes…”
Diario El Comercio Quito - Ecuador, November 23, 2006Top
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MANUELA Y BOLÍVAR: UN CANTO A LA LIBERTAD, HECHO EN ECUADOR
"El poder ver una ópera 100% ecuatoriana es sumamente inspirador y emocionante. La composicion me parece excelente, tiene momentos muy emotivos que nos conmovieron a todos los asistentes. Definitivamente se trata de uno de los momentos más importantes para las artes y la cultura en el Ecuador".
C. Mejia. Diario Hoy, Quito, 12 de Noviemrbe de 2006
MANUELA AND BOLÍVAR: A SONG TO LIBERTY MADE IN ECUADOR
“To be able to see a 100% Ecuadorian opera is supremely inspiring and moving. I think the composition is excellent. It has moments of extreme emotion that moved us all. Without at doubt, it was one of the most important moments for Ecuadorian arts and culture.”
C. Mejia. Diario Hoy, Quito, November 12, 2006Read the complete article:
http://www.hoy.com.ec/NoticiaNue.asp?row_id=250597
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MANUELA Y BOLÍVAR
“Muy por el contrario a lo que suponía, quedé fascinado …por el aire de modernidad que exhalaba la concepción de la… ¿opera?“…quedé gratamente sorprendido por la forma desenfadada y hasta iconoclasta que el libreto humaniza a estos personajes, tan arquetípicos como míticos, que la voz de la historia ha terminado casi por canonizar…”
Jorge Alberto G. Fernández. Quit. Siglo XXI. 25 de Noviembre 2006
MANUELA AND BOLÍVAR
“Contrary to my expectations, I was fascinated by the air of modernity that the opera exhaled”“…I was happily surprised by the easy and even iconoclastic way that the libretto humanizes the protagonists, who are so archetypal and mythical that they have ended up almost canonized by the voice of history…”
Jorge Alberto G. Fernández. Quit. Siglo XXI. 25 of November, 2006Read the complete article: http://www.diariosigloxxi.com/noticia.php?id=18478
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------------GRAN MONTAJE DE UNA ÓPERA ÉPICA DE LIBERTADORES
El montaje de la obra es excelente en todo sentido, la escenografía está bien diseñada, la iluminación coopera en la creación de las atmósferas, el vestuario es impecable, la música en muchos pasajes es realmente hermosa, en otros épica y en algunos llega a ser divertida. En tanto, la orquesta cumple impecablemente.Musicalmente, Manuela y Bolívar es una ópera bien hilvanada y que es latinoamericana y ecuatoriana sin que recurra a folclorismos ni a frívolos adornos sonoros. Se nota la madurez de Diego Luzuriaga como músico.
César Ricaurte. Diario El Universo. Quito. 15 de Noviembre de 2006
GREAT PRESENTATION OF AN EPIC OPERA ABOUT THE LIBERATORS
“The staging of the work is excellent in all senses. The scenography is well designed, the lighting atmospheric, the costumes impeccable. The music at many points is truly beautiful, at others epic and at others amusing, and the orchestra rises impeccably to the occasion.Musically speaking, Manuela y Bolivar is a well-threaded opera, and it is Latin American and Ecuadorian, without ever becoming either too folkloric or frivolously ornamental. The maturity of composer Diego Luzuriaga is apparent.”
César Ricaurte. Diario El Universo. Quito, November 15, 2006
Read the complete article: http://www.eluniverso.com/2006/11/15/0001/262/D8A00F2B8D594984A51B98FED80391F3.aspx
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ELANTEMANO, Internet blog.
UNA NOCHE EN LA ÓPERA O SIENDO ZELIG OTRA VEZ.
“…en la primera nota sostenida de Manuela, me visitó el conocido y manoseado nudo en la garganta…Y aunque me obligaba a tragar saliva y respirar hondo, el nudo necio no se iba. Y luego mis ojos empujados al parpadeo superlativo, decidieron revelarse y soltaron gotitas…”Blogger, jueves, noviembre 16, 2006
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA OR BEING ZELIG AGAIN.
“..At the first sustained note of Manuela, that well-known lump in the throat visited me… And, even as I forced myself to swallow saliva and breathe deeply, the stubborn lump wouldn’t go away. And then my eyes – blinking rapidly – gave in and released a few drops…”Blogger, 16 November, 2006
Read the complete article: http://www.elantemano.blogspot.com/
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MANUELA Y BOLÍVAR ENCANTA AL PUBLICO EN LA PRIMERA ÓPERA ECUATORIANA
“ La obra del compositor Diego Luzuriaga cumplió con todas las expectativas que se habían tejido en su torno. Un montaje bien cuidado, con un elenco versátil que respondió a las exigencias del guión y de la partitura, lograron la aceptación del publico, que recibió emocionado la historia del romance entre la prócer quiteña Manuela Sáenz y el libertador Simón Bolívar.”Diana Proaño. Diario HOY. 10 de Noviemrbe de 2006
AUDIENCES ARE ENCHANTED BY THE FIRST EVER ECUADORIAN OPERA
“ The work by Diego Luzuriaga met all the expectations that have been woven around its premiere. Well-directed, with a versatile cast that matched the demands of the libretto and score, it was a resounding success with the audience who was moved by the romantic story of Manuela and Bolivar.”Diana Proaño. Diario HOY, November 10, 2006
Read the complete article: http://www.hoy.com.ec/NoticiaNue.asp?row_id=250309
"WITH SUCRE FLAVOR… I applaud the group of people that gave us “Manuela and Bolívar,” which, in one word, is extraordinary." (César Ulloa Tapia. Diario La Hora, Quito, Noviembre 19,2006)
8. Further Press Reviews of Luzuriaga's Work
LA TRAVERSIERE (French Flute magazine). MAY — JUNE 1998:
Diego Luzuriaga’s Tierra…Tierra…, for two flutes. Published by Henry Lemoine — 26518 H.L.
The composer, born in a small city in Ecuador, explains in the introductory note that he has been fascinated since his childhood by the "primordial" aspect of the flute sound. He also says that this duo represents a sort of meditation about the connection between the universal Man and earth, thanks, precisely, to the primitive side of the sonorities employed.
The first flute uses also the piccolo, whereas the second flute starts with the alto flute. Some superb colors are found as a result of mixing the piccolo and the alto flute, going through the whole instrumental register.
Is is a splendid piece that forces the public to never relax its attention.
The piece was premiered in December 1992 by its dedicatees: Aurele Nicolet and Robert Aitken
O.R.
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LA TRAVERSIERE (French Flute magazine). JANUARY 2000:
Diego Luzuriaga’s Duos Faciles for two flutes. Published by Zimmermann — ZM 32570.
Those who would like to open new horizons and enrich their music repertoire, should acquire this little score. They will find themselves transposed into a rich and strange musical universe somewhere between Villa-Lobos and Bartok.
The first piece is called Lamento, thus summarizing perfectly well its sad, incantation-like, insistent and character. The second piece, maybe in homage to Poulenc, is a Cantilene in which the two voices are in imitation. The third one, without offering big technical difficulties, is somehow delicate to put together, but it would be a pity to be discouraged by an small obstacle, because the result is worthwhile!
E.K.
EL COMERCIO (Ecuadorian national newspaper) Jan-21-01:
Good news for Ecuadorian musical creation. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra has commissioned Diego Luzuriaga another orchestral work. [...] All musicians interested in Luzuriaga’s work applaud his coherent exploration and fusion of the ancestral rhythms of our country with the more contemporary.
LA SCENA MUSICALE (Montreal) May 2000:
Diego Luzuriaga, this Ecuadorian master of musical color