'La Vorágine': the blockbuster that opens the new season at the Teatro Colón

The Teatro Colón reopens its doors: eight months of routine maintenance and adjustments were carried out, such as checking for moisture, changing carpets and seating, and renewing the paintwork of one of the most important cultural heritages of Colombians, located in the heart of La Candelaria, in Bogotá. And the 2025 season kicks off with a world premiere: La Vorágine, an opera co-produced by the Centro Nacional de las Artes and La Compañía Estable.

"It's exciting that a Colombian play will open the Teatro Colón in 2025," says Pedro Salazar, stage director of this new production, who worked for more than a year on the composition, writing the libretto and creating the stage space.

The work marks a milestone in the country's opera scene. It is an operatic adaptation that not only brings Rivera's narrative to the stage, but also vindicates the need to tell these stories from the region where they were born. "The second act, for example, begins with the chorus singing: 'What will we find in Vichada...?' When have we heard an opera that speaks of Vichada?", highlights Salazar, underlining the symbolic weight of representing these territories on stage.

To create this production, the team immersed itself in the poetry of José Eustasio Rivera, a trained poet. The work seeks to highlight his voice as a first-hand connoisseur of the reality he narrated, which led him to raise debates about rubber exploitation and violence in the territories.

Salazar also mentions that, according to Professor Carlos Páramo of the National University, Rivera was a great lover of Wagner's lyrical dramas. "There is something in his writing that calls for music, which leads us to want to articulate this universe in a musical way, and that is what we are doing with this project," explains the director.

For the baritone Valeriano Lanchas , part of the cast, this production has a particular emotional charge, since the first time he sang opera was at the Colón and, 30 years later, he will do it again, playing a character from his own land. “Personally, as I am from Bogotá, I am very excited to play the role of Don Rafo, a man from Bogotá who sells products in the plains and in the jungle. So, mentioning Colombia, mentioning Bogotá in an opera is very exciting,” he says.

Another unique aspect of this work is the possibility of having its composer, João Guilherme Ripper, present in the creative process, a rare opportunity in the world of opera, where most composers belong to another era. For Lanchas, it is exciting to be able to go to the main source of creation and resolve doubts directly with him. Luiz Fernando Malheiro, musical director of the production, agrees with the baritone and adds that, together with the composer, they must find an adequate interpretation: “a language to be able to express this music well, with an orchestra, with the singers,” he says.

The opera 'La Vorágine' is a co-production between Colombia and Brazil. After its premiere in Bogotá, it hopes to reach the Amazonas Opera Festival in Manaus, one of the most prestigious venues in Latin America for this type of creation. "It is an artistic exchange that allows us not only to share talent, but also to strengthen the relationship between our nations through music," says Malheiro.

The cast brings together outstanding voices of Latin American opera. In addition to Lanchas, the stage will feature Homero Velho (Brazil), Eliana Piedrahita, Sara Bermúdez, Juan David González, Andrés Agudelo, Ana Mora and César Gutiérrez, accompanied by the New Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Choir of Colombia.

With this opera, the National Arts Centre closes the 'Vorágine Expandida' cycle of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Knowledge, which during the last year commemorated the 100th anniversary of the iconic work of José Eustasio Rivera with various stage creations and co-productions with national companies such as La Quinta del Lobo, Mapa Teatro and the Teatro Petra, in addition to La Compañía Estable. "To see La Vorágine is to immerse oneself in a story that belongs to us, that challenges us and that, above all, reminds us of the power of opera to tell who we are," concludes Salazar.

The opera 'La Vorágine' will be presented on February 25 and 27, and March 1 and 2 at the Teatro Colón, which is now part of the National Arts Center complex in downtown Bogotá. Tickets are available at Tuboleta.