Miami performances are at the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami.

Fort Lauderdale performances are at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.

Children must be at least six years old to attend.

Luisa Fernanda

Federico Moreno Torroba
Libretto by Federico Romero and Guillermo Fernández Shaw

Florida Grand Opera presents its first zarzuela, Federico Moreno Torroba's Luisa Fernanda. Zarzuela, a popular Spanish form of musical theater, incorporates both spoken dialogue and singing. Luisa Fernanda, which had its premiere in Madrid in 1932, is considered to be the last great romantic zarzuela. People throughout the Spanish speaking world are familiar with its great musical scenes.

Luisa Fernanda takes place during the republican-monarchist conflicts of 1868 in Spain, during which Luisa, the heroine, finds herself in a romantic triangle with Javier, a dashing young army officer, and Vidal, a wealthy landowner. The production will be conducted by Pablo Mielgo and directed by Emilio Sagi. Below is an introduction to zarzuela by Plácido Domingo, who inspired this production:

"Zarzuela is a traditional Spanish musical genre that is frequently compared to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and the Viennese operettas of Johann Strauss. For most of you, zarzuela is merely a difficult word to pronounce. For me, the word zarzuela represents something very special—they are the lullabies I heard my parents sing during my first days of life as they gently cradled me in their arms. My parents were both great singers of zarzuelas—this very traditional and very beloved operetta-like music of Spain."

Cast

Luisa Fernanda
Amparo Navarro

Javier Moreno
Antonio Gandía

Vidal Hernando
Àngel Òdena

Carolina
Davinia Rodríguez

Mariana
Raquel Pierotti

Aníbal
Rafa Castejón

Rosita
Rebekah Diaz

Don Luís Nogales
Miguel Sola

Bizco Porras
David Rubiera

Vendedor
Daniel Shirley

Saboyano
Martin Nusspaumer

Don Lucas
Ryan Milstead

Capitan
Craig Colclough

Conductor
Pablo Mielgo

Producer
Emilio Sagi

Associate Production Stage Director
Javier Ulacia

Assistant Director
Rosa Mercedes

Costume Designer
Pepa Ojanguren

Lighting Designer
Eduardo Bravo

Choreographer
Nuria Castejón

Chorus Master
John Keene

Sung in Spanish with English and Spanish projected titles.

Photo by Karin Cooper for Washington National Opera

Official magazine media sponsor of the zarzuela

This production is made possible by a generous gift from

Luisa Fernanda is a co-production of Florida Grand Opera and SaludArte Foundation.