Florencia en el Amazonas opens Saturday, November 13

November 13-28, 2021

View Florencia en el Amazonas images here

CHICAGO (11/12/21)—Join Lyric Opera of Chicago on a journey down the Amazon with the company premiere of Florencia en el Amazonas, the first Spanish-language work to be presented as part of Lyric's mainstage season. The opera's lush music was composed by the late Daniel Catán, who has been hailed as Mexico's finest composer. Marcela Fuentes-Berain penned the opera's libretto, suffusing it with the trademark magical realism of her mentor, the novelist Gabriel García Márquez. Conductor Jordan de Souza makes his Lyric debut leading the Lyric Opera Orchestra in interpreting Catán's dreamlike score. Acclaimed director Francesca Zambello revisits her world-premiere production with members of her original creative team alongside new talents, creating a fresh take on this contemporary classic especially for Chicago audiences.

Audience favorite Ana María Martínez returns to Lyric for her 11th mainstage role as the passionate and hopeful Florencia. Also starring Gabriella Reyes in her Lyric debut as Rosalba, Deborah Nansteel as Paula, Mario Rojas as Arcadio, Levi Hernandez as Álvaro, Ethan Vincent in his Lyric debut as Riolobo, and Raymond Aceto as the Captain.

View Lyric's Florencia en el Amazonas program book here

View Lyric's Florencia en el Amazonas music information summary here

View Florencia en el Amazonas images here

Please utilize Lyric Opera's online press room, where you can easily access the latest images, artwork, and video files, plus press releases—all in one place. We've introduced a password-protected area within the press room to enable media access to images.

A high-resolution video trailer will also be posted soon to Lyric's YouTube channel.

Performance dates for Florencia en el Amazonas are November 13, 18, 21, 26, and 28 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N Wacker Dr., Chicago. Performance times vary.

For tickets and information, call 312.827.5600 or go to lyricopera.org/florencia.

Florencia en el Amazonas is performed in Spanish with projected English texts. Running time is 2 hours and 5 minutes, including one 25-minute intermission.

Lyric's premiere of Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas is generously made possible by an Anonymous Donor and Marion A. Cameron-Gray.

Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, American Airlines.

Lyric Opera of Chicago is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Lyric’s premiere of Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas is generously made possible by

About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists—magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

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For more information on Lyric's upcoming 2024/25 Season, visit lyricopera.org/newseason.