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Buenos Aires, Argentina: The 2011 season – variety and consolidation (JSJ)

Juventus Lyrica’s 2010 production of La Cenerentola – its 65th production since its founding in 1999. (Photo Liliana Morsia)

Variety and consolidation seem to mark the 2011 season of opera in and around Buenos Aires, with a mix of more familiar crowd-pullers and less familiar works  to offer something for everyone and much to look forward to.

“It will be a season of consolidation,” said Juventus Lyrica’s executive director María Jaunarena at the company’s end of year function shortly before Christmas, while Buenos Aires Lírica promises a “varied program, comprising diverse tastes and styles” – across the centuries and in different languages.

In addition to these two independent companies, which put on their productions at the historic Teatro Avenida in Buenos Aires, there is also the provincial Teatro Argentino in the capital of Buenos Aires province, La Plata, approximately 60 km to the southeast, which last year celebrated its 120^th anniversary (but its 10^th in its present building).

This of course excludes the Teatro Colón, whose 2010 reopening season started with such promise but ended in a fiasco of labour problems, and which has yet to announce its 2011 season.

According to information available at this time ,the 2011 season  is as follows:

Eugene Onegin: Magda Nowacka/Daniela Tabernig, Mónica Sardi/Guadalupe Barrientos, Elisabeth Canis/Matilde Isnardi, Vasily Ladyuk/Luciano Garay, Darío Schmunck/Pedro Espinoza, Ariel Cazes, Michal Znaniecki (d), Stefan Lano (c), March 18, 20, 22, 26, 27. (Teatro Argentino, co-production with Poland’s Teatr Wielki and Opera Krakowska and the Bilbao Association of Friends of the Opera)

Carmen: Includes Adriana Mastrángelo, Leonardo Estévez, Oriana Favaro, Marcelo Lombardero (d), Alejo Pérez (c), opens March 23. (Buenos Aires Lírica)

Il Trovatore: Includes Darío Sayegh, Macarena Valenzuela, Ana D’Anna (d), Antonio Maria Russo (c), April 8, 10, 14, 16. (Juventus Lyrica)

Madama Butterfly: Daniela Tabernig/Florencia Fabris, Alejandra Malvino/Gabriela Cipriani Zec, Pedro Espinoza, Víctor Torres/Fabián Veloz, Sergio Spina/Patricio Oliveira, Rita Cosentino (d), Guillermo Brizzio (c), May 15, 19, 21, 22, 29. (Teatro Argentino)

Der Freischütz: Includes Carla Filipcic Holm, Enrique Folger, Hernán Iturralde, Mercedes Marmorek (d), Javier Logioia Orbe (c), opens May 20. (Buenos Aires Lírica)

Les Pêcheurs de Perles: Includes Carlos Ullán, Florencia Sanguinetti (d), Antonio Maria Russo (c), June 24, 26, 30, July 2. (Juventus Lyrica)

Il Mondo della Luna: Includes Osvaldo Peroni, Hernán Iturralde, Ivanna Speranza, Oriana Favaro, Vanina Guilledo, Pablo Maritano (d), Rodolfo Fischer (c), opens July 15. (Buenos Aires Lírica)

Il Viaggio a Reims: Paula Almerares/Oriana Favaro, Nidia Palacios/Gabriela Cipriani Zec, Marisú Pavón/Eleonora Sancho, María Bugallo, Alessandro Luciano/Carlos Ullán, Fernando Radó, Gustavo De Genaro / Santiago Bürgi, Ricardo Seguel/Gustavo Gibert, Luis Gaeta/Norberto Marcos, Leonardo Estévez/Ernesto Bauer, Emilio Sagi (d), Sergio Monterisi (c), July 17, 23, 24, 30, 31. (Teatro Argentino)

Tristan und Isolde: Leonid Zakhozhaev/Enrique Folger, Natalia Kreslina/Eiko Senda, Christian Peregrino, Hernán Iturralde/Fabián Veloz, Federico Sanguinetti/Ernesto Bauer, Adriana Mastrángelo/Eugenia Fuente, Marcelo Lombardero (d), Alejo Pérez (c), August 14, 18, 20, 21, 28. (Teatro Argentino)

Lucia di Lammermoor: Includes Laura Polverini, Leonor Manso (d), Hernán Sánchez Arteaga (c), August 26, 28, September 1, 3. (Juventus Lyrica)

Suor Angelica / I Pagliacci : Includes Florencia Fabris, Elisabeth Canis / Luis Lima, Florencia Fabris, Omar Carrión, Ernesto Bauer, Marcelo Perusso (d), Carlos Vieu (c), opens September 9. (Buenos Aires Lírica)

La Ciudad Ausente: Marisú Pavón, Luciano Garay, Leonardo Estévez, Gustavo Gibert, Alejandra Malvino, Patricio Oliveira, Eleonora Sancho, Pablo Maritano (d), Erik Oña (c), September 11, 15, 18. (Teatro Argentino)

Die Fledermaus: Includes Macarena Valenzuela, Santiago Bürgi, Mariana Carnovali, Ana D’Anna (d), Carlos Calleja (c), October 28, 30, November 3, 5. (Juventus Lyrica)

Macbeth: Includes Luis Gaeta, Mónica Ferracani, Enrique Folger, Fabian von Matt (d), Javier Logioia Orbe (c), opens November 11. (Buenos Aires Lírica)

Don Carlos: Luca Lombardo/Enrique Folger, Rubén Amoretti/Homero Pérez Miranda, Carla Filipcic Holm/Florencia Fabris, Cecilia Díaz, Jorge Lagunes/Omar Carrión, Mario de Salvo, Christian Peregrino / Fernando Radó, Mario Pontiggia (d), Alejo Pérez (c), November 13, 17, 18, 24, 27. (Teatro Argentino)

Jonathan Spencer Jones