Manaus will host the Annual Conference of Ópera Latinoamérica, an unprecedented event in Brazil

Manaus (AM) – Manaus will host the 16th Annual Conference of Ópera Latinoamérica (OLA), an unprecedented meeting in Brazil, 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 between May 17th and 21st, at the Palácio da Justiça Cultural Center, in the city center.

Held in the context of the 25th Amazonas Festival of Opera, the conference in the capital of Amazonas will have the participation of the summit 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 field, among which, 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.

It will be the biggest Annual Conference of Opera Latinoamérica since its creation, 16 years ago. It is the first time that the OLA has opened its conference to non-members of the opera house network. The participation of people who are part of the Brazilian lyrical music market will be admitted.

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.

The OLA is held in Manaus with the support of the Government of the State of Amazonas, through the Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy. The holder of the folder, Marcos Apolo Muniz, believes that the meeting represents a milestone in the state, being the first in Brazil to host a conference of its kind, with great cultural and artistic relevance.

“We are honored to host the OLA conference and be able to exchange experiences with different lyrical houses in Brazil and abroad, in addition to showing the work that the Government of Amazonas has been carrying out in the cultural field”,

reveals the secretary.

Culture Factory

According to Marcos Apolo, the state of Amazonas is a “culture factory”, represented by seven artistic bodies, many of which were formed and prospered with the Amazonas Opera Festival.

“The Amazonas Philharmonic is one of the most respected orchestras in Brazil, the Coral do Amazonas is formed by more than 50 Amazonian choristers and the Liceu de Artes e Ofício Claudio Santoro has more than six thousand students enrolled in music, dance and theater courses” ,

points out Apolo, emphasizing the promotion of the creative economy, job generation and income provided by the growth of the lyrical scene in the state.

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.

The executive director of FAO, Flávia Furtado, focuses on the uniqueness of the event in Manaus and the new ways of prospering operatic activities.

“FAO’s 25th anniversary takes place precisely at a time when the opera and concert music sector is being structured in Brazil and we can celebrate the achievements with all our Latin American partners in this first OLA Annual Conference in our country. Exchanging experiences with our neighbors changes the view on the potential of the opera market around us and around the world”,

reveals Flávia who, this year, commands titles such as “O Contractador dos Diamantes”, by Francisco Mignone, “Anna Bolena”, by Gaetano Donizetti; “Piedade”, by João Guilherme Ripper and “Peter Grimes”, by Benjamin Britten.

Innovation and networking

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. One of the conversations at the meeting will reveal the motivations of some companies to invest in culture and another will address philanthropy.

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 the theatrical management of the 21st century: the realization of lyrical and arts productions in a collaborative way, it is more sustainable in terms of management – ​​as it reduces costs – in addition to allowing the same production to be programmed on more than one stage in a country or region.

In this regard, 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 information from the Amazonas agency

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