“O Contractador dos Diamantes” opens the season of the Amazonas Opera Festival

Manaus (AM) — The majestic Teatro Amazonas, one year after the last edition, hosts the Amazonas Opera Festival, with the right to a full house, gathering an audience of more than 550 people. The opening of the 25th edition of the biggest festival of its kind in Latin America was marked by the exuberance of a seven-meter-high set of the opera “O Contractador dos Diamantes”, by Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone.

The opera, based on a play by Afonso Arinos about the exploration of diamond mines in the interior of Minas Gerais in the 18th century, was performed in Brazil only twice: in 1924 in São Paulo and, in the 1950s, in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, some of the original manuscripts of the scores have disappeared. To resolve the issue and bet on the Manaus version, the Amazonas Opera Festival management signed a national partnership.

“When I wanted to rescue this material to put it together, I discovered that the third act had been lost. It had the scores for the first and second, but not for the third act. I contacted the Brazilian Academy of Music, at the time preceded by João Guilherme Ripper, and we decided to restore this material from the orchestral parts that existed. And that made it possible for us to now present The Contractor of Diamonds to the public”,

reveals the artistic director of the festival, Luiz Fernando Malheiro, chief conductor of the Amazonas Philharmonic.

The festival is organized by the State Government, through the Secretariat for Culture and Creative Economy and the Amazonense Agency for Cultural Development (AADC), with master sponsorship from Bradesco and cultural support from Grupo Atem, in addition to the approval of the Law of Incentive to Culture.

According to the Secretary of Culture and Creative Economy, Marcos Apolo Muniz, the festival promotes culture in the national and international lyrical scene, in addition to enabling the generation of employment and income in the state.

“The importance of reaching the 25th edition of the Amazonas de Ópera Festival, including a festival that is different due to the form and structure it presents, is of fundamental importance not only for culture, for the vocation of Teatro Amazonas, which is an opera theater , but for his ability to promote the state of Amazonas nationally and worldwide, but also for his work capacity, opportunity and income”,

said the secretary.

More than 600 direct jobs are created in the capital during the opera season. “We arrived at this festival with many professionals involved and an entire economic chain benefiting from this incentive from the Wilson Lima government to hold the Amazonas Opera Festival”, emphasizes Apolo.

The grandiose scenery, produced at the Central Técnica de Produção (CTP) with local labor, fills the entirety of the theater’s stage. The period costumes were also made in the Amazon. Materials that, after the season in Manaus, will be taken to the opera tour at Teatro Municipal de São Paulo. The partnership is the result of a co-production term between the Amazonian festival and the São Paulo theater.

artistic class

Accompanied by the Amazonas Philharmonic, the Coral do Amazonas, the Corpo de Dança do Amazonas and local artists staged the Brazilian montage.

In this edition, it also premiered on the stage of Teatro Amazonas. The Mexican soprano, Fernanda Allande, who plays the character “Cotinha Caldeira” tells about the experience. “I’m very emotional, I didn’t know what to expect because I investigated, I searched on the internet that it was a very good opera house, a spectacular theater, but when I arrived, for the first time, I saw that it was better than Google”, assures the soloist.

“It is very important because it is my debut singing here in Brazil, I had already sung only in a competition (in São Paulo), but this time I am returning as a soloist in an opera in Brazil, even better to do it in a such a beautiful theater

says Fernanda.

On the one hand, debuting artists, on the other, local veterans, such as Neuriza Figueira. She participated in the production of the opera Peter Grimes, at last year’s festival. “There are many artists participating, the Coral do Amazonas, the Corpo de Dança, our body of actors too, many of which come from the Liceu de Artes e Ofício Claudio Santoro. I’m from Liceu, since 2015, I made my career through Liceu and I’m very grateful. The FAO is great here for us”, assures the artist.

25th FAO and titles

In the 2023 season, the festival presents four major titles on the stage of Teatro Amazonas: “O Contractador dos Diamantes”, by Francisco Mignone; “Anna Bolena”, by Gaetano Donizetti; “Piedade”, by João Guilherme Ripper, and the re-editing of “Peter Grimes”, by Benjamin Britten. For information about the schedule, visit @teatroamazonas. Tickets are on sale at the Teatro Amazonas box office or at shopingressos.com.br.

In addition to theater performances, this edition features a free program of recitals, concerts, musicals and opera for children.

Bradesco and culture

With hundreds of projects sponsored annually, Bradesco believes that culture is a transforming agent in society. In addition to Teatro Bradesco, the bank supports initiatives that contribute to the sustainability of cultural manifestations that take place from north to south of the country, reinforcing its commitment to the democratization of art. There are regional events, fairs, exhibitions, cultural centers, orchestras, musicals and many others.

The bank also maintains Bradesco Cultura, a digital platform that brings together content related to cultural actions that are sponsored by the institution.

*With advisory information

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