La Pantera Imperial

The first step is to take Bach out of musical space and take him to make-up, dressing, light, the word, and if possible, to the inevitable movement, to the theatre's game, after all, to the theatrical reading of a classic of music.

Reading, this is the word; but reading doesn't mean in this case musical interpretation neither the view of the sonorous speech.

In "La Pantera Imperial", we will think of sequenced musical reading, the movement that sorts its symbols, the flow of a language that arrange the sound, the previous position to musical exercise." (Carles Santos).

"I've come back to Bach. I went to Carles Santo's show La Pantera Imperial, a drama on Bach's music with sexuated soloists and a castrating robotic piano, but in deep a sarcasm about culture as a inquisition. One of the best shows that I have seen in a long time, a deconstructive,sadomasochist Amarcord by Carles Santos, in which he plays Bach on his knees, between two pianos, and tenor Antonio Comas sings between two bathtub tortures. Spirit always creates fake harmonies between two wars, two tortures, two inquisitions." (Manuel Vázquez Montalbán).

La Pantera Imperial has been performed in two formats used by the company: It was first performed in Frankfurt, May 1997, with the "small" format that includes Santos and other two pianists, the astonishing Olvido Lanza, who plays violin, three actresses and Antonio Comas, tenor in several of the last spectacles who plays clavichord too. And, like in other recent works, appears Santo's pianola that, in an unforgettable ending, pushes the human pianists off the scenary.

Afterwards, in Peralada's Festival of Theater that was his Spanish premiere, Santos added a choir, (Lieder Camera) that besides its singing had a theatrical role, like the choir did in Tramuntana Tremens. Furthermore, one and other format -named "approachs" by the Company- have been alternated depending on theater's size and economic resources.