Florencia En El Amazonas

Event Notes

Ticket pricing is inclusive of all applicable fees.

Met Premiere!

Sung in Spanish and inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera focuses on an opera diva, Florencia Grimaldi, who returns to her native Brazil to perform and to search for her lost lover, who has vanished into the jungle. The Met premiere stars soprano Ailyn Pérez as Florencia in a new production by Mary Zimmerman that brings the mystical realm of the Amazon to the Met stage. The distinguished ensemble of artists portraying the diva’s fellow travelers on the river boat to Manaus features 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 Álvaro, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Conductor), Ailyn Pérez (Florencia Grimaldi), Gabriella Reyes (Rosalba), Nancy Fabiola Herrera (Paula), Mario Chang (Arcadio), Michael Chioldi (Álvaro), Mattia Olivieri (Riolobo), Greer Grimsley (Captain)

Production: Mary Zimmerman
Set Designer: Riccardo Hernandez
Costume Designer: Ana Kuzmanic
Lighting Designer: T.J. Gerckens
Projection Designer: S. Katy Tucker
Choreographer: Alex Sanchez

 

Pre Event Lecture

Presented by: Kelly Whitesell

Kelly Whitesell, soprano, is from Hebron, Connecticut. She graduated with BMs in Voice Performance and Music Education from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Katherine Ciesinski and Philip Silvey. She now completes her graduate studies under the tutelage of Rod Nelman and is a teaching assistant at UConn.

Whitesell made her professional debut with the Connecticut Lyric Opera as Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) in 2022. Previous credits include Monica (The Medium), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus scenes), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Celie (Signor Deluso), Witch (Into the Woods), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and chorus credits including La Boheme, Orfeo ed Euridice, and Cendrillon. She received first prize in the Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition in 2019. Kelly enjoys membership in Schola Cantorum at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford. She has performed concert repertoire such as Liebermann’s Six Songs on Poems of Nelly Sachs, Bach’s B-minor Mass, and jazz sets as “Kelly and the Cats.”