Mexican composer Daniel Catán is not yet a household name, but his three operas have garnered widespread admiration. Foremost among these is the second, Florencia en el Amazonas, a lyrical, richly orchestrated gloss on themes from Gabriel García Márquez's ineffably beautiful Love in the Time of Cholera. The libretto, in Spanish, is by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, the novelist's protégé.
Commissioned by Houston Grand Opera (naturally), which presented the world premiere in 1996 and issued a recording on Albany in 2002, Florencia has since been presented in Los Angeles, Seattle and Mexico City. The music breaks little new ground from a compositional perspective; Catán is content to pursue methods proven effective by Debussy and Puccini (and in one brief instance, to my ears, Stravinsky's Petrouchka). But there's no denying that Florencia is an effective, engaging work.
This weekend, the opera receives its university premiere when the MSU College of Music Opera Theatre at Michigan State University mounts a new production on Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31 at 8pm, and Sunday, April 1 at 3pm. While this is unlikely to draw massive hordes to East Lansing, the fact remains that this production could bring Catán's work to its largest audience ever. That's because the Sunday matinee will be webcast -- both audio and video -- via WMSU.org. The webcast begins at 2pm Eastern Standard Time, with interviews with Catán, director Melanie Helton and conductor Raphael Jimenez.
Neither the libretto nor a translation is available online. But publisher G. Schirmer, Inc. provides a concise synopsis, and Macondo, a comprehensive García Márquez website, offers an excellent summary of the opera's connection to its source, as well as other salient details.
What's more, the MSU cast and crew are blogging about the experience of putting this production together. Don't miss the plainspoken yet vivid March 26 contribution from Iris Fogderud, alterations supervisor at Macy's in Fargo, North Dakota, and costumer for the Fargo-Moorhead Opera, who is dressing these brave kids -- including her daughter Marla, who will sing the title role.
Playlist:
Vital Remains - Icons of Evil (Century Media, due Apr. 3)
King Crimson - Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA, Aug. 13, 1982 and Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, England, July 1, 1996 (DGMlive.com downloads)
Daniel Catán - Florencia en el Amazonas - Patricia Schuman, Ana Maria Martinez, Suzanna Guzmán, Chad Shelton, Mark S. Doss, Oren Gradus, Houston Grand Opera/Patrick Summers (Albany)
Comments