Mozart to open 2022 season at Rio’s Theatro Municipal this month

This year’s artistic season at the Theatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro is expected to begin on April 16 with a concert dedicated to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the Theatro Municipal will be led by conductor Felipe Prazeres in the performance of Symphony 25 in G Minor and Mass in C Major, known as Coronation Mass.

“It will be a beautiful afternoon here at the Theatro,” Eric Herrero, the Theatro’s artistic director, told Agência Brasil. All events in this year’s season will be free for all ages to attend in person. Ticket prices range from BRL 15 to 80.

Brazilian music, with a program dedicated to indigenous themes in opera, will be the focus of a performance scheduled for April 28, as part of Série Vozes. Led by conductor Carlos Moreno, the Symphony Orchestra of the Theatro Municipal will put on a concert with excerpts from O Guarani, by Carlos Gomes, and the one-act opera Moema, by Delgado de Carvalho.

“This season, we have a wide range of Brazilian musicians and composers, and it will be an immense joy to present Delgado de Carvalho’s Moema, a beautiful opera, with soloists and the orchestra,” the artistic director noted. “After two years with no full season due to the pandemic, we’re having a colorful program that seeks to meet the expectations of the public as much as possible.”

Ballet

In May, the Theatro’s ballet should return to the stage with Tchaikovsky’s renowned Swan Lake, in a remake and adaptation by Jorge Texera, directed by Hélio Bejani. Sessions start on May 14th. A dress rehearsal will be open to the public on May 13.

For the following month, with performances on June 10 and 11, the public will have another opera in concert form in the Série Vozes. It will be Bizet’s Carmen, with the Theatro’s orchestra and choir conducted by Javier Logioia. “This is the world’s most performed opera in all of history, according to the Guinness Book of Records,” Eric Herrero pointed out. Next, the Maria Olenewa Dance School should present a remake of ballet Le Corsaire.

A presentation will be held on June 8 for students, the artistic director pointed out. “We’re having a number of initiatives under Projeto Escola this year, fruit of our concern with audience development. And the Theatro’s Education Department has worked splendidly, with regard to both the ballet pieces and the operas that we’re having throughout the year, including handouts and school visits. Students will come to the Theatro knowing what they’re going to watch. So we want to plant a great seed in the hearts of our children and adolescents.”

Celebrations

Clara Paulino, head of the Theatro Municipal Foundation, affirmed the theater is ready to welcome the public. “This year’s program was thought out carefully, bearing in mind people’s expectation in returning to the Theatro in 2022. As for the second half-year, in addition to an intense celebration on our anniversary, July 14, we’re having even more new shows, including full production of operas as well as new pieces,” she declared.