Parque Lage Hosts Opera Film Festival in Rio

By Beatriz Miranda, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Until next Wednesday, November 8th, Parque Lage, in Jardim Botânico, hosts the “Ópera na Tela” (Opera on the Screen) festival. Screening ten films of the world’s most iconic operas, the third edition of the festival also included a master class and educational activities.

“Ópera na Tela” aims to bring the latest from the European opera season to the Carioca audiences, as well as to make opera a more accessible art.

According to the curators Emmanuelle and Christian Boudier, the festival returns to Rio after the last edition’s huge success.

“We had over 10,000 spectators last year. Thus, we managed to bring the best opera productions to our event  this year”, said the curators.

The selection includes both classic operas and masterpieces that are still little known among Cariocas. Besides Puccinni’s “La Boheme”, directed by Enrico Castiglione, and Bizet’s “Carmen, run by Dmitri Tcherniakov, the festival will present Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” this Saturday, November 4th, and the Russian opera “The Snow Maiden”, by Rimsky-Korsakov, to be displayed this Sunday, November 5th.

One of the event’s highlights is Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs”, directed by Carlos Padrissa. Run by renowned maestro Zubin Mehta, this version was granted with seven international awards. “Ring of the Nibelungs” will be screened on Monday, November 6th, and Tuesday, November 7th.

Closing the festival on November 8th, will be Verdi’s “Don Carlos”, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski. All the opera films participating in the festival will be exhibited at 7:30 PM at the Parque Lage’s tent.

Besides the exhibitions, “Ópera na Tela” also promoted a masterclass with Raphael Sikorski, a French renowned opera teacher, and educational activities with Brazilian maestro Ricardo Prado, specialist in musical education.

After being displayed in Parque Lage, the opera films are planned to be screened in Brazil’s movie theaters until July 2018.

What: “Ópera na Tela” (Opera on the Screen)
When: October 28th – November 8th – 7:30 PM
Where: Parque Lage – Rua Jardim Botânico, 414 – Jardim Botânico – Tel: (21) 3257-1800
Entrance: R$12- R$24