The iconic opera by Daniel Catán arrives at the Teatro Colón in Bogotá, from October 24 to November 4, in six unique performances. The Colombian version of Florencia en el Amazonas won the Ópera al Parque award 2017, under the scenic direction of Pedro Salazar, and garnered an enormous audience and critical success at the Amazonas Opera Festival in Manaus in May 2018.

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This contemporary opera is a Fascinating journey through the Amazon River, where romanticism, landscape and images of nature are the protagonists. The piece tells the story of the diva Florencia Grimaldi, from Leticia to Manaus, in search of her roots and of Cristóbal, a legendary hunter of butterflies: her true love. Accompanying her on her journey along the river is a group of travelers with different hopes and aspirations, including seeing the diva sing for the last time.
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Florencia en el Amazonas is an opera in Spanish composed by the Mexican Daniel Catán, with a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Beráin, a direct disciple of the Colombian master of the lyrics Gabriel García Márquez. The piece was commissioned to Catán by the Grand Opera of Houston, the Opera of Los Angeles and the Opera of Seattle, and premiered in 1996.
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“It’s a musical adventure through the textures of the Amazon, which leads us to live the dream of opera in the jungle, that wild fantasy that inspired extraordinary men and women, and that today makes us feel alive. The pairing between the musical device and the vital substance is at the heart of Daniel Catan’s project, in which the concert of the wild life finds its shape in the cathedral of music, “says the Scenic Director, Pedro Salazar.
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In charge of this renowned director, was presented for the first time in Manaus the full version of Florence in the Amazon, where he was ovated by the audience of the Teatro Amazonas. This presentation was made in May of this year in the framework of the XXI Festival Amazonas de Ópera, with a Brazilian cast along with the Amazon Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of maestro Luiz Fernando Malheiro.
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“Florencia Grimaldi embarks on this journey of love that contains elements of romanticism, similar to the classic operas of Puccini and Debussy, mixed with the magic of the jungle, and with the direct legacy of Gabriel García Márquez and his penchant for interweaving myths and history, “commented the stage director, Pedro Salazar.
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Reality and fantasy are found on board the ship “El Dorado” while Florencia and her companions cross the mysterious Amazon. Finally, each character finds an experience, a truth or a shadow about himself, something with which his journey is completed.
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For this production, the Stable Company has joined forces with the Orquesta Nueva Filarmonía directed by maestro Ricardo Jaramillo. It is a project that won in 2017 the grant for the creation of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá and was premiered in the framework of the XX Festival Opera al Parque.
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The cast is made up of the most outstanding figures of national lyrical singing: Valeriano Lanchas, Ana María Ruge, Camilo Mendoza, Mónica Danilov, Hyalmar Mitrotti, Alexis Trejos, Manuel Franco and Camila Toro. The stage production team brings the experience of years of work in the Colombian professional environment, with Víctor Sánchez, former producer and technical director of the Ibero-American Theater Festival of Bogotá, Humberto Hernández in lighting design, Julián Hoyos in stage design and of art, Olga Maslova in the dressing room, and Pedro Salazar in the scenic and general direction of the project.
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“The staging compiles the visual landscape that resulted from our trip to the Amazon, a landscape composed of dawn lights, shadows, clouds that move, animal screeches, croaks, all kinds of colors and textures. We were inspired by the steamboats of the time for the scenography, which consists of a ship in 3 pieces. Also present are the bridges of the Amazon and a very beautiful video projection by the audiovisual director, Michelle Ospina. In addition to the music that sounds like the flow of water, this opera presents a song to the flow of life, “concluded Pedro Salazar.

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