Portraying Florencia Grimaldi, the singer who heads for the jungles of the Amazon to find her missing lover, will be the wonderful Ailyn Pérez, with the atmosphere of magical realism being created by director Mary Zimmerman up on the stage, and by chief music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin down in the orchestra pit.
Another justification for invoking magical realism as a description is the fact that the plot of Catán's 1996 opera was largely inspired by the novels of Gabriel García Márquez, and thus love accordingly proves indomitable even in the ‘time of cholera', and even if the title character has to transform into a butterfly in the end. The plot, which largely takes place on a steamship, also promises other wonders, as do the visuals conjuring up the Amazon on the stage of the Met. And in the meantime, we will find magnificent singers on board the steamer, some portraying passengers, others the captain and first officer. Thus, commanding the ship will be the veteran American bass-baritone Greer Grimsley, who made his Met debut almost three decades ago in a similar role, as the sea captain Balstrode in Peter Grimes. And serving as its attractively enigmatic first officer is the young Italian rising star baritone - and equally impressive-looking ‘barihunk' - Mattia Olivieri, who is preparing to introduce himself in this role to the audience at the Met in New York and others watching around the world.
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Presented by: Müpa Budapest
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Performers:
Florencia Grimaldi: ......................................Ailyn Pérez
Rosalba: ......................................................Gabriella Reyes
Paula: ..........................................................Nancy Fabiola Herrera
Arcadio: .......................................................Mario Chang
Álvaro: .........................................................Michael Chioldi
Riolobo: .......................................................Mattia Olivieri
Captain: .......................................................Greer Grimsley
Featuring:
The Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Creators:
Set design: Riccardo Hernandez
Costumes: Ana Kuzmanic
Lighting: T. J. Gerckens
Projections: S. Katy Tucker
Choreographer: Alex Sanchez
Director: Mary Zimmerman