Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, the first Spanish-language opera to be performed at the Met in nearly a century, becomes the third opera of the season to be broadcast live to UK cinemas on Saturday 9th December. This is also the first opera by a Mexican composer to be presented by the company. With a majority Latinx cast led by leading Mexican-American soprano Ailyn Pérez, the premiere of Florencia marks an unprecedented Latin American cultural and artistic moment for the Met.
Inspired by the magical realism of novelist Gabriel García Márquez, with a libretto by Mexican writer Marcela Fuentes-Berain, Catán’s 1996 opera follows Florencia, a South American opera diva who returns to her homeland to perform at the legendary opera house of Manaus, and to search for her lost lover, who has vanished into the jungle. Led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, the cast stars Pérez in the title role and also features a distinguished ensemble of singers portraying the diva’s fellow travelers on the river boat to Manaus – soprano Gabriella Reyes as the journalist Rosalba, bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as the ship’s captain, baritone Mattia Olivieri as his enigmatic first mate, tenor Mario Chang as the captain’s nephew Arcadio, and mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera and baritone Michael Chioldi as the feuding couple Paula and Alvaro.
The new production by award-winning director Mary Zimmerman brings the mysterious and magical realm of the Amazon to the Met stage. The creative team includes Havana-born, Buenos Aires-raised set designer Riccardo Hernandez in his Met debut, with costume designer Ana Kuzmanic, lighting designer T.J. Gerckens, projection designer S. Katy Tucker, and choreographer Alex Sanchez.
Gary Halvorson will direct the Live in HD presentation for cinemas, with critically acclaimed Mexican tenor, theater director, and artistic director Rolando Villazón serving as host.
Tickets are on sale now at MetLiveInHD.co.uk.
The 2023–24 Live in HD season continues with Nabucco (6th January), Carmen (27th January), La Forza del Destino (9th March), Roméo et Juliette (23rd March), La Rondine (20th April), and Madama Butterfly (11th May).
All performances will be Saturday matinees broadcast live from the Met stage.
