By Robert Croan Verdi’s La Traviata, as staged for Florida Grand Opera by Chía Patiño [seen at the Broward Center, Nov. 30], contained many original and unusual touches while retaining the opera’s original 19th-century milieu. Early on, in retelling Alexandre Dumas fils’ story of the courtesan who sacrifices her one chance of true love, the consumptive heroine --- … [Read more...]
FGO’s ‘Florencia’ takes pleasant journey down faux-Puccini river
Continuing with her effort to modernize and update her company, Florida Grand Opera general director Susan Danis closes the troupe’s 77th season with Florencia en el Amazonas, the 1996 magic-realist opera by the late Mexican composer Daniel Catán. Although set in the grandeur of the Amazon River as a boat wends its way to the city of Manaus in northwestern Brazil, Florencia … [Read more...]