New York City Opera to Perform FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS at Lincoln Center

For people the world over, New York City represents the epicenter of arts and culture. With its renowned theatres and concert halls, attending a performance in the city often comes with a level of reverence and expectation. Countless artistic innovations, movements, even entire genres can trace their roots back to the city that never sleeps. Next week, New York City audiences can add to this the experience a cutting-edge opera production that was conceptualized and created in the globally creative city of Nashville, Tennessee.

The legendary company known as "The People's Opera," New York City Opera will present four performances of Nashville Opera's 2014 critically-acclaimed production of Florencia en el Amazonas starting on June 22 and running through June 26. Directed by John Hoomes, CEO and Artistic Director of Nashville Opera, the production will feature Mr. Hoomes' ground-breaking concept and elaborate digital stage-craft when it debuts at the prestigious Rose Hall at Lincoln Center.

Additionally, in a nod to the storied past of NYCO, the cast of Florencia en el Amazonas will present a public preview featuring excerpts from the upcoming production on Friday, June 17 at 12:30 PM in New York's famed Bryant Park. A capacity crowd of more than 3,000 is expected when NYCO hosts the afternoon concert featuring selections from Daniel Catán's Spanish-language masterpiece.

Originally commissioned in 1995 by Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera and Los Angeles Opera, the two-act opera is loosely based on the novel "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez. Catán, with librettist Maria Fuentes Berain, was the first Mexican-American composer commissioned by a major American opera company to create a new work for the opera stage. New York City Opera's production of Florencia en el Amazonas also marks the New York City debut for an opera which has been playing to sold out houses since its premiere in 1996. Tickets are available at nycopera.com.

In 1910, seven people board a small steamboat for a voyage down the Amazon River toward an unexplored jungle paradise. But soon the characters find themselves on a surreal journey that dares to venture deep into the mysteries of the human heart. Among all the passengers, Florencia seeks the most desperate love of all: lost love. A true love she long ago let slip through her fingers, and now vows to find again.

Says Hoomes, "I wanted to tell this story using the power of modern technology to capture the magical realism of this incredible journey through one of the world's most exotic locations. Florencia en el Amazonas is an exceptionally effective piece of opera theatre because it is more than a love story-it is an exploration of desire, connection, ambition and loss-told through the metaphor of Florencia Grimaldi's journey as she searches for her lost love. Ultimately, she discovers something even more powerful: herself. Our production captures the mysticism, the longing, the universal search for connection and self-discovery told through some of the most stunning music ever composed for the opera stage."

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