Opera Colorado presents the Rocky Mountain Regional Premiere of Daniel Catán's masterpiece Florencia en el Amazonas

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Four performances:
Saturday, March 24, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Friday, March 30, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 2:00 pm

Where: All performances take place at The Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis Streets in downtown Denver.

Tickets: $20, $50, $70, $95, $150
Tickets available online at OperaColorado.org or by phone at 800.982.ARTS
Special discounts for groups of 10 or more: 303.468.2030

Opera Colorado announces the Rocky Mountain regional premiere Florencia en el Amazonas, the first Spanish language opera in the company's history. The opera was created in homage to the work of Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia-Márquez and tells of an opera singer's epic journey on the Amazon River to find her lost love. The company has scheduled four performances at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, March 24 through April 1. The opera will be performed in Spanish with English and Spanish electronic subtitles at every seat.

"Florencia undertakes a journey that will bring her back to her origins," said composer Daniel Catán of the central character in his opera. "It is, I believe, the story of the return journey that we all undertake at a certain point in our lives...the moment when we look back at what we once dreamed of becoming, and then confront what we have now become."

The story concerns the great opera singer Florencia Grimaldi who embarks on a journey down the Amazon to the opera house in Manaus where she hopes to meet Cristóbal, the lover she left behind long ago. As Cristóbal searches for the rare butterfly known as the Emerald Muse, Florencia searches for the meaning in her life- a life filled with the glamour of the stage, but empty at its core. Through the arduous journey down the exotic river, Florencia seeks to achieve a mystical reunion with her former lover.

Inspired by literary works of Gabriel Garcia-Márquez and other great Latin American writers, the opera is colored by musical influences from the great European opera composers. Florencia en el Amazonas was a hit when it debuted at Houston Grand Opera in 1996. It has subsequently enchanted audiences across the country, including performances at Los Angeles and Seattle operas. Opera Colorado's all new production of the work will be a dramatic re-imagining by director José Maria Condemi and designer Phillip Lienau. The setting will be highly influenced by the lush tropical landscape of the Amazon and by the magic realism Latin American literature is known for. Video projections by designer Aaron Rhyne will enhance the magical setting of the opera.

"This will be a very special opera for our audiences and for Colorado," said opera General Director Greg Carpenter. "Not only is this Opera Colorado's first Spanish language opera, it signals the next step in my artistic vision that includes both the beloved standards and new masterpieces."

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