Manaus will host Opera Latinoamérica’s Annual Conference; event is unprecedented in Brazil

Manaus (AM) – Governor Wilson Lima declared open, on Thursday, the 16th Annual Conference of Ópera Latinoamérica (OLA), which takes place for the first time in Brazil, in the capital of Amazonas, with support from the State Government. Manaus, represented by Teatro Amazonas, is a founding member of OLA and, in 2022, joined the directory of the seven theaters that command the institution, forming part of the association’s summit.

In the governor’s assessment, the fact that the conference is, for the first time, in Brazil and being held in Amazonas symbolizes recognition of the work done by artists and by the State, through the Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy, especially in a period in which that the Amazonas Opera Festival completes two and a half decades.

“The coming of OLA here is important for this exchange of experiences between the artists, but it also gives great weight, recognition, attracting the attention of people from other states, from other authorities. And this also facilitates fundraising from the private sector, facilitates the relationship that we have built with the Federal Government. Funarte is here supporting an activity that is so important in this construction of popularizing opera, of the erudite, of making culture reach more people”, declared Wilson Lima.

Also participating in the ceremony, at Teatro Amazonas, were the secretary of Culture and Creative Economy, Marcos Apolo Muniz; the president of the National Arts Foundation (Funarte), linked to the Ministry of Culture), Maria Marighella; the president of the Brazilian Academy of Music, André Cardoso; the executive director of the Amazonas Opera Festival, Flávia Furtado; the director of Teatro Mayor Julio Mário Santo Domingo (Colombia), Ramiro Osorio; and the executive director of Ópera Latinoamérica, Alejandra Martí.

The event is the biggest Annual Conference of Opera Latinoamérica since its creation, 16 years ago. It is the first time that OLA opens its conference for the participation of non-members of the opera theater network, allowing the presence of people who are part of the Brazilian lyrical music market.

“For us it is an immense honor to be here celebrating, not only the Amazonas Opera Festival, but singularly the edition of Opera Latino-America in a single event. Culture is what makes this junction happen. I really want to salute the directors, the artists. Culture, the arts, are part of the richness of the Brazilian people”, said the president of Funarte, Maria Marighella, in a press interview alongside Governor Wilson Lima.

Held in the context of the 25th Amazonas Festival of Opera, the conference in Manaus has the participation of the top of Ópera Latino América, the largest network of theaters in Latin America and Spain, in addition to names of expressiveness in the artistic, cultural and economic fields, among which is the head of Creative Economy at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington (USA), Trinidad Zaldivar; the president of the Brazilian Academy of Music (ABM), André Cardoso; the artistic coordinator of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Nikolay Sapoundjiev; secretaries of culture, tourism and national and international press professionals.

The meeting seeks to discuss the challenges of opera production in Latin America, management models, possibilities for co-production and circulation of operas in the Ibero-American region. These and other subjects will be addressed in lectures and panels that will be on the agenda of the event, which takes place until May 21, at the Palácio da Justiça Cultural Center, Centro.

“The Amazonas Opera Festival has already established itself as the most important Opera Festival, perhaps, in Latin America. Receiving the General Assembly of Ópera Latino-América places the Festival on an even greater level. All theaters in the Americas will be gathered here, talking, exchanging ideas, anticipating co-productions. This insertion of Brazil through the Festival in this international opera scene is of fundamental importance”, said the president of the Brazilian Academy of Music, André Cardoso.

For the secretary of Culture and Creative Economy, Marcos Apolo, the meeting represents a milestone for Amazonas, which is already a reference in the area and considered a “culture factory”, represented by seven artistic bodies, many of them formed with the Amazonas Festival of Opera, event coordinated and held by the State. Apolo points out that the local lyrical scene has fostered the economy, generating jobs and income.

“The Government of Amazonas welcomes Ópera Latinoamérica, which is an entity that operates in this opera region of Latin America. And also adding Spain. We will be here debating the opera market, the culture market, the creative economy, bringing this debate to having the Amazon as the center of this dialogue”, evaluated the secretary.

For Marco Apolo, in this way it is possible to transform Amazonas into the center of this debate so that paths can be traced for the development of the economy, of culture, not only in our state, but throughout the country.

HELLO in Manaus

Since the creation of OLA, in 2007, every year, representatives of the lyrical theaters belonging to the organization – more than 40 institutions from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela – come together to jointly address industry challenges and trends.

The Manaus Annual Conference will continue with the guidelines outlined last year at the Ibero-American Theater Meeting, held at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and organized jointly with “Ópera XXI” – an organization of Spanish organizations linked to opera – and at the last conference, held at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Networking is at the heart of OLA’s management, that is, putting theaters, festivals, companies and agents from different countries in contact to share management models, good practices and experiences that may be useful, from different angles, to members of the OLA. network.

In this sense, during the Annual Conference in Manaus, specialists from different entities – Inter-American Development Bank, University of Guadalajara, Teknecultura consultancy and IE University – will share their knowledge on management models based on data analysis. Financing is also a relevant topic for theaters, whose income comes – in different proportions – from own resources, public and private contributions.

Another fundamental axis of OLA’s work is to promote the collaboration of theaters in the conception of artistic programming, namely in the circulation and co-production of shows, since in them converge important elements for theater management in the 21st century.

The 16th Annual Conference will feature panels such as “The production and circulation of opera in Ibero-America” or “Best production practices”, in which the directors of the Ibero-American spaces that are part of OLA will participate. The next artistic projects that may circulate or be co-produced will also be presented.

*With advisory information

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