Florencia en el Amazonas Is the Met's Dec. 9, 2023, Saturday Broadcast

Summary: Florencia en el Amazonas is the Met's Dec. 9, 2023, Saturday broadcast, airing as first of the 2023-2024 season's 27 Saturday matinee radio broadcasts.

American opera and theater director and playwright Mary Zimmerman's premiere production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas features sets by Riccardo Hernandez, costumes by Ana Kuzmanic, lighting by T.J. (Timothy J.) Gerckens and projection by S. Katy Tucker: The Metropolitan Opera, via Facebook June 17, 2023

Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas is Met Opera's Dec. 9, 2023, Saturday matinee broadcast, scheduled as the first of 27 Saturday matinee radio broadcasts in the 2023-2024 season.

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Florencia en el Amazonas by Mexican composer Daniel Catán (April 3, 1949-April 9, 2011) took place Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Spanish-language, magical realism-themed opera receives eight premiere performances in the 2023-2024 season. The second through fifth performances were held Sunday matinee, Nov. 19, at 3:00 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 25, at 8:00 p.m.; Monday, Nov. 27, at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday matinee, Dec. 2, at 1:00 p.m. The sixth through closing, eighth performances are scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday matinee, Dec. 9, at 1:00 p.m.; and Thursday, Dec. 14, at 8:00 p.m.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts all eight performances of the Amazon-set opera. Met Opera's maestro had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009, in the opera company's 946th performance of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Ailyn Pérez creates the title role at Met Opera. She appears in all eight performances as Florencia Grimaldi, a legendary opera singer traveling incognito aboard the steamboat El Dorado in hopes of a reunion with her lost lover, Cristóbal the butterfly hunter, via her performance at Manaus’s famed Belle Époque opera house. The American operatic soprano had made her Metropolitan Opera debut Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, as Micaëla in the opera company’s 994th performance of Bizet's Carmen.

Nicaraguan-American soprano Gabriella Reyes sings Rosalba, a journalist who seeks to biographize Florencia, slowly recognizes Florencia as the subject of her research and accepts, via Florencia's example, the reciprocated love of Arcadio, the steamboat captain’s nephew. Gabriella Reyes had made her Met Opera debut Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2018, as the Priestess in the opera company's 1,163rd performance of Aida by 19th-century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Nancy Fabiola Herrera sings Paula, whose faltering marriage with Alvaro is refreshed during their Amazonian voyage. The Venezuelan-born Canarian mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Friday, Feb. 4, 2005, as Suzuki in the opera company's 795th performance of Madama Butterfly by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Mario Chang appears as Arcadio, the El Dorado steamship captain's nephew, who finds reciprocated love with journalistic passenger Rosalba during their Manaus-destined voyage. The Guatemalan bel canto tenor had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, as the Fourth Esquire in the opera company's 289th performance of Parsifal by 19th-century German composer and librettist Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883).

Michael Chioldi sings Alvaro, whose miraculous rescue from drowning, via his wife's genuine sorrow and shapeshifting mystic Riolobo's supernatural intervention, saves his and Paula's marriage. The American operatic baritone had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, April 6, 1996, as Fléville in the opera company's 152nd performance of Andrea Chénier by Italian verismo (“realism”) composer Umberto Giordano (Aug. 28, 1867-Nov. 12, 1948).

Mattia Olivieri creates Riolobo, a shapeshifting mystic whose powers include his death-defying revival of Alvaro. The Italian baritone's appearance in the opera's premiere on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, marked his Met Opera debut.

Greer Grimsley appears as the El Dorado steamship's captain, who reveals to Florencia the seemingly untraceable vanishment of her butterfly-hunting muse, Cristóbal, into the jungle. The American bass-baritone had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Dec. 23, 1994, as Captain Balstrode in the opera house's 56th performance of Peter Grimes by Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (Nov. 22, 1913-Dec. 4, 1976).

Directorship of the Metropolitan Opera premiere production of Florencia en el Amazonas is credited to Mary Zimmerman. The American theater and opera director had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Sep. 24, 2007, in the opera company's 558th performance of Lucia di Lammermoor by Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Mary Zimmerman's production team comprises Riccardo Hernandez, set designer; Ana Kuzmanic, costume designer; T.J. Gerckens, lighting designer; S. Katy Tucker, projection designer; and Alex Sanchez, choreographer. American lighting designer T.J. (Timothy J.) Gerckens had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Sep. 24, 2007, alongside Mary Zimmerman, in her new production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Chicago-based, Yugoslavian costume designer Ana Kuzmanic had made her Met Opera debut Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, in the Met Opera premiere of Eurydice by American composer, conductor and pianist Matthew Aucoin (born April 4, 1990). American projection designer S. Katy Tucker had made her Met Opera debut Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014, in the opera company's 11th performance of Prince Igor by Georgian-Russian Romantic composer Alexander Borodin (Nov. 12, 1833-Feb. 27, 1887).

Cuban scenic designer Riccardo Hernandez and New York City-based, Chicago-born choreographer of Puerto Rican heritage Alex Sanchez made their Met Opera debuts in Florencia's Met Opera premiere on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023.

Mozart's The Magic Flute airs Dec. 16 as the 2023-2024 season's second Saturday matinee radio broadcast. The abridged English-language, holiday version of Die Zauberflöte broadcasts at 12:00 p.m. noon.

In Daniel Catán’s magical-realism opera, Florencia en el Amazonas, passengers on the El Dorado steamship are journeying to hear legendary, reclusive opera singer Florencia Grimaldi in performance at Teatro Amazonas (Amazon Theatre), the fabled Belle Époque (ca. 1871/1880-July 28, 1914) opera house inaugurated Thursday, Dec. 31, 1896, in Amazonas state's Amazon Rainforest capital of Manaus; shapeshifting mystic Riolobo motivates miracles of love, pairing journalist Rosalba with Arcadio, the steamship captain's nephew; smoothing Paula and Alvaro's pride-troubled marriage; and reuniting Florencia and her vanished muse, butterfly-hunting Cristóbal, via their spiritual transformation; Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, image of Teatro Amazonas and Largo de São Sebastião: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

American opera and theater director and playwright Mary Zimmerman's premiere production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas features sets by Riccardo Hernandez, costumes by Ana Kuzmanic, lighting by T.J. (Timothy J.) Gerckens and projection by S. Katy Tucker: The Metropolitan Opera, via Facebook June 17, 2023, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/pfbid02B5NiDJQTXs99V7rowPhV6SnpoFUYwmLy9pwhCCrqEnKGvDEhrnjyFpzdeDyoNZ6ul

In Daniel Catán’s magical-realism opera, Florencia en el Amazonas, passengers on the El Dorado steamship are journeying to hear legendary, reclusive opera singer Florencia Grimaldi in performance at Teatro Amazonas (Amazon Theatre), the fabled Belle Époque (ca. 1871/1880-July 28, 1914) opera house inaugurated Thursday, Dec. 31, 1896, in Amazonas state's Amazon Rainforest capital of Manaus; shapeshifting mystic Riolobo motivates miracles of love, pairing journalist Rosalba with Arcadio, the steamship captain's nephew; smoothing Paula and Alvaro's pride-troubled marriage; and reuniting Florencia and her vanished muse, butterfly-hunting Cristóbal, via their spiritual transformation; Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, image of Teatro Amazonas and Largo de São Sebastião: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amazon_Theatre_(Manaus,_Brazil).jpg; Ivo Brasil, Free to Use, via Pexels @ https://www.pexels.com/photo/city-opera-house-1965792/

For further information:

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The Metropolitan Opera. "Our stagehands are busy this week with tech rehearsals for next season’s company premiere of Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas! Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Mary Zimmerman’s magical staging, starring soprano Ailyn Pérez in the title role. The distinguished cast also features soprano Gabriella Reyes, bass-baritone Greer Grimsley, tenor Mario Chang, mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera, and baritones Michael Chioldi and Mattia Olivieri. Single tickets go on sale next Tuesday, June 20: bit.ly/3WQJAw5." Facebook. June 17, 2023.
Available via Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/pfbid02B5NiDJQTXs99V7rowPhV6SnpoFUYwmLy9pwhCCrqEnKGvDEhrnjyFpzdeDyoNZ6ul
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