The 22nd New Year's Grand Gala of Zarzuela, organised by Sinfolírica and sponsored by UCAM to benefit the FEDER and Princesa RETT associations to promote research into rare diseases, was a resounding success in Madrid last night.

The National Auditorium of Madrid, which seats over 2,300 people, looked stunning last night. It was packed to the rafters and welcomed 2023 with its now traditional show of the Spanish lyric genre, in which pieces from 'El huésped del sevillano' , 'Los gavilanes', 'Doña Francisquita', 'La leyenda del beso', 'Luisa Fernanda', etc. were performed and chanted by an audience which included many prominent Murcian residents in Madrid and prestigious professionals linked to UCAM.

The UCAM Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of its conductor, Borja Quintas, who ran the gala, accompanied the sopranos Miren Urbieta, Juana Castillo and Guiomar Cantó; the tenors Enrique Ferrer, David Barrera, Antonio Vázquez and Juanma Cifuentes; baritones Manuel Lanza, Andrés del Pino and Quique Bustos; bass Rubén Amoretti; The Barembar Quartet; the choirs of Coslada-Madrid, Voces del Alma and VoCaLe and the ballet Estampas de Zarzuela. The finale was 'Por la calle de Alcalá', by Las Leandras.

UCAM: Research and solidarity

At the beginning of the Gala, the president of the Fundación Sinfolírica, Sito Tejeiro, thanked UCAM and especially its president, José Luis Mendoza, ‘every year they support this gala, helping us make it a musical and public success, which benefits the entities for which we do this’. In this regard, the President of the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases, Juan Carrión, from Murcia, pointed out that ‘UCAM not only provides constant solidarity aid to social and humanitarian organisations such as ours, but is also a reference in Spain in research into curing rare diseases’.

OSUCAM's intense agenda

In just a few days, the UCAM Symphony Orchestra has developed a busy programme of concerts characterised by its charitable nature. Their

performance on the night of 7 January, at the 22nd New Year's Solidary Grand Gala of Zarzuela, in aid of research into rare diseases, was preceded by the performance of The Messiah, by Händel, on 20 December at the Cathedral in Murcia, and the charity concerts 'no child without a toy' at the Auditorio Víctor Villegas in Murcia on 17 December and 'Nightmare before Christmas' in collaboration with Cáritas at the Teatro Vico in Jumilla on 18 December.