Opera San José Presents the Bay Area Premiere of FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS 

Opera San José will conclude its 40th anniversary season with the Bay Area premiere of Daniel Catán's opera Florencia en el Amazonas, marking its debut at the California Theatre as the company's first Spanish language opera performed on its mainstage. In this two-act work, Mexican composer Catán transports audiences to a 20th-century riverboat sailing the Amazon River.

There, a famous opera singer is returning home to perform, while hoping to reunite with her lover, a butterfly hunter who has disappeared into the jungle. A story rich in allusion that bridges drama and fantasy, Florencia en el Amazonas will be performed in Spanish with English and Spanish supertitles. Celebrated Latina international director Crystal Manich returns to OSJ where she helmed the company's award-winning production of West Side Story. Opera San José Director of Music Joseph Marcheso will conduct.

Florencia en el Amazonas, the third opera by acclaimed Mexican composer Daniel Catán, with a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, includes motifs taken from and characters inspired by the novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Colombian Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez. It was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Seattle Opera – making it the first Spanish language opera to be commissioned by major U.S. opera houses. Florencia en el Amazonas made its world premiere in Houston in 1996, followed by premieres in 1997 and 1998 in Los Angeles and Seattle, and its Latin American premiere in 1999 in Mexico City. It has since gone on to presentations throughout the world, making its New York Metropolitan Opera debut in November 2023, the Met's first work by a Latin American composer and its third-ever work presented in Spanish. The New York Times hailed Florencia en el Amazonas as “impressive,” noting “Catán's score endlessly undulates and glitters,” while New York Classical Review praised Catán's work as “lush, lyrical, and colorful.” Florencia en el Amazonas is presented under license by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. copyright owners. 

Opera San José has announced the cast that will bring this magical realism tale to life including soprano Marlen Nahhas, who will make her OSJ debut as opera singer Florencia Grimaldi, and OSJ Wadhwani Artist-in-Residence soprano Melissa Sondhi who will make her role debut as the journalist Rosalba documenting Florencia's journey. Joining them are mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz making her OSJ debut as Paula and former Resident Artist and OSJ audience-favorite baritone Efraín Solís as Alvaro – a couple on board hoping to reignite their flame. Tenor César Delgado, recently seen in both The Metropolitan Opera and Mexico City productions of this work, will make his OSJ debut as Arcadio, the nephew of the steamboat captain. Baritone Ricardo José Rivera – who charmed audiences as Figaro in this season's The Barber of Seville – returns to OSJ as the mysterious man Riolobo, with bass-baritone OSJ Artist-in-Residence Vartan Gabrielian making his role debut as the Captain, who helms the steamboat El Dorado. 

The chorus ensemble is comprised of Rachel Beninghof, Lauren Biglow, Rebecca Bradley, Elise van Etten, Andrew Fellows, Glen Hall, Danielle Imai, Brennah Kemmerly, Kyounghee Lee, Joachim Luis, Eric Mellum, Daniel Rios, Brendan Stone, and Nicolas Vasquez-Gerst. 

“Florencia en el Amazonas is a production that I have been very much looking forward to presenting here at Opera San José. We know that more than a third of San José's population is Latinx, with nearly 25 percent speaking Spanish in the home. It is more than time for us to present a Spanish language production on our mainstage, as we welcome all members of our community to experience this incandescent opera,” said Opera San José General Director/CEO Shawna Lucey. “Daniel Catán's beautiful opera will take audiences on a life-changing adventure down the Amazon, where the boundaries of the real and the fantastic are blurred. This stunning, magical work is a wonderful piece to close out our fabulous 40th season and signals our commitment to incubating operatic artists and audiences of the future.” 

The creative team for this production is Joseph Marcheso (Conductor), Crystal Manich (Director), Haley Stamats (Associate Director), Liliana Duque-Piñeiro (Scenic Designer), Tláloc López-Watermann (Lighting Designer), Ulises Alcala (Costume Designer), Sharon Peng (Hair and Makeup Designer), Johannes Löhner (Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master), and Michelle Ainna Cuizon (Assistant Director). 

Tickets

Florencia en el Amazonas will be presented April 20 - May 5, 2024 (performance dates/times below) at the California Theatre, 345 South First Street, San José.  For more information or to purchase tickets ($55–$195), the public can visit operasj.org or call 408-437-4450 (open Monday through Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm).   

About Classically Curious

“Classically Curious” night for Florencia en el Amazonas will be held Friday, April 26, bringing together people ages 21-40 who have a passion for deepening their involvement with opera. This young professionals program was created to introduce new audiences to opera, offering access to discounted tickets, exclusive behind-the-scenes opportunities, and social and community events that will connect young adult opera lovers.  More information can be found at go.operasj.org/ClassicallyCurious.  

Opera San José received a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) more than $20,000 to engage with the South Bay community and celebrate the Bay Area premiere of Florencia en el Amazonas.  This generous grant has enabled Opera San José to collaborate with other San José organizations to share this rich opera with the wider community, including Florencia en el Amazonas at Mexican Heritage Plaza at 5:00pm, Friday, March 22, library concerts at the Biblioteca Latinoamericana Library at 3:00pm, Sunday, March 24, and at the East San José Carnegie Branch on 3:00pm, Sunday, April 7, a South of First Friday presentation at the California Theatre on Friday, April 5 at 5:30pm, plus a panel discussion at 3:00pm Thursday, April 24. 

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