Nashville Opera Awarded NEA Grant for 2024 Production of Daniel Catán’s FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS 

NEA Grants for Arts Projects award expands opportunities for community engagement surrounding revival of this magical realism masterpiece. 

The Nashville Opera has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the 2024 production of Daniel Catán’s opera, FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS. This Grant for Arts Projects is among 1,130 across the country selected during this second round of funding for the fiscal year 2023. It provides resources for expanded educational and community engagement opportunities with Nashville’s ever-growing Latine/Latinx and Hispanic populations surrounding the revival of this important modern opera inspired by the writings of Gabriel García Márquez. 

FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS opens at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Polk Theater in January 2024, with performances on the 26th and 27th at 7:30 p.m. and on the 28th at 3:00 p.m. 

Nashville Opera will advance its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility goals by promoting understanding of Latine/Latinx culture, reflecting the history and traditions of more than 20 countries. The mainstage production will be supplemented by Nashville Opera On Wheels, the company’s mobile stage. Taking opera into Nashville’s neighborhoods, and featuring diverse artists while doing it, helps to democratize our art form and build bridges to historically marginalized communities. 

“The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to support a wide range of projects, including Nashville Opera’s FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS, demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.” 

Nashville Opera CEO & Artistic Director John Hoomes adds, “Nashville Opera presented FLORENCIA in 2015 before taking this production to Lincoln Center for its New York City premiere in conjunction with New York City Opera. I have hoped to stage this work again to share its beauty with new Nashville Opera audiences and the NEA’s support makes this a reality. Music City is a diverse, vibrant community and we are thrilled to bring this work back.” 

More information on FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS can be found at https://www.nashvilleopera.org/florencia

Nashville Opera’s 23.24 Season, JOURNEY, opens with Leoncavallo’s PAGLIACCI in September, continues with Michael Nyman’s THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT in November, moves into 2024 with Daniel Catán’s FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS, and concludes in April with Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE. 

About Nashville Opera 

Nashville Opera, Tennessee’s largest professional opera company, creates artistic experiences that re-imagine the power and passion of opera. Among the most successful regional companies in the country, Nashville Opera has presented eight different world premiere operas since its inception in 1981. Mainstage performances are presented at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Noah Liff Opera Center, playing to 10,000 people annually. Nashville Opera’s extensive education and engagement touring program reaches over 25,000 students and over 12,000 community members throughout Middle Tennessee. Visit nashvilleopera.org for more information. 

For more information on other projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.