Performances are at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, 2901 West Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33135.

Children must be at least six years old to attend.

El matrimonio secreto[COVID]

Presenting opera is our passion, and the safety of our patrons, artists, and staff is our top priority. Florida Grand Opera is closely monitoring the situation regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus). We are staying up to date with the recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and local public officials, including Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and the Florida Department of Health.

Florida Grand Opera has suspended all performances for the remaining 2019/20 season, including:

• Rigoletto, March 28 – April 5 at the Adrienne Arsht Center, and April 30 and May 2 at the Broward Center, will be postponed and rescheduled in the 2021/22 season;
• El Matrimonio Secreto (The Secret Marriage), April 18 – 26 at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, will be postponed and rescheduled in the 2020/21 season.

The postponement of performances will have an enormous financial impact on our non-profit organization. We are asking patrons to please keep your tickets. All tickets will be honored on the new performance date, seat, and price. We understand that you may not be able to attend, and additional options will be available when the new dates are announced. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, and join the conversation with #FGOpera. For more information, call 800.741.1010 or email tickets@fgo.org.

Watch a 2-minute preview of El matrimonio secreto with Justin Moss

By DOMENICO CIMAROSA

Join us in Miami for the company premiere of Domenico Cimarosa’s El matrimonio segreto (The Secret Marriage).


Florida Grand Opera has commissioned a new translation and created a new production of one of the most successful comic operas from the late 18th century with a Miami twist, performed in Spanish. Now updated and relocated to South Florida, a Cuban family is running Hotel Paraiso in 1980s' Miami Beach. The new Spanish-translated production features the six characters' getting into awkward cultural situations, caught in compromising positions, and drinking Cuba Libres (rum and Coke) until a family secret is uncovered.

El matrimonio secreto is the perfect opera for anyone who loves the music of Rossini (The Barber of Seville) and the comedy of Mozart (The Marriage of Figaro). Discover this charming score with a telenovela (Spanish soap opera) spin, and become part of the bochinche (gossip) when a father attempts to marry off his two daughters, who already have their own plans for the future.

Synopsis

Act I

Carolina, the younger daughter of the rich merchant Geronimo, has secretly married Paolino, her father’s clerk. They worry about how to break the news to her irascible and slightly deaf father. Paolino, believing that the status-hungry Geronimo will be more likely to treat them kindly if at least one of his daughters has married above her station, has contracted a match between Count Robinson and Geronimo’s older daughter Elisetta.

Elisetta takes to the idea of becoming a countess and immediately accuses Carolina of impertinence. The girls’ widowed aunt Fidalma, who lives with them, tries to keep the peace. After Carolina leaves, Fidalma confesses to Elisetta that she is interested in remarrying—none other than Paulino.

Paolino introduces the Count, who is happy to address the pretty Carolina as his fiancée. When told that this assumption is incorrect, he turns to Fidalma. Disabused there as well, he is confronted with Elisetta, the least attractive of the three. He is not pleased, and he tells Paulino that he has decided that he would rather marry Carolina.

Elisetta overhears the Count’s proposal to Carolina. As Carolina and Paulino worry about the situation they find themselves in, Elisetta feels angry and betrayed, Fidalma confused, and Geronimo clueless as to what is happening around him.

Act II

The Count tells Geronimo that he refuses to marry Elisetta, and Geronimo insists that he must do so—that is, until the Count offers to cut the dowry in half if Geronimo will give him Carolina.

Paolino decides to confide in Fidalma and enlist her help. However, Fidalma mistakes his confused state as a profession of love, and she agrees to marry him, causing him to faint. Carolina comes upon them and mistakes the situation, getting hurt and angry at what she perceives as Paolino’s betrayal. Paolina convinces Carolina of his good faith, and he tells her they have no option but to escape.

The Count tries to convince Elisetta that he is no good for her. She refuses to believe his catalogue of defects. Geronimo decides that Carolina must go to a convent.

That night, the fugitive couple are caught together in Carolina’s room as they prepare to leave the household. They confess that they have been married for two months. The Count quickly decides to make the best of the situation and to marry Elisetta. All ends happily.