Living in Peru : your everyday companion

The Regional Government of the Callao, with the Asociación Amigos Peruanos de la Opera, in accordance with other institutions, have today signed an agreement to initiate The International Opera Festival Alejandro Granda. The first opera being featured will be "Rigoletto" and will be performed by none other than Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez.

The festival, the first of its kind established in the South Pacific, will turn the Callao into an international attraction, where each year they will offer caliber operas, as well as feature the best interpreters the genre has to offer. These shows will be directly broadcast to all of the districts of the Callao.

The first editions of the Festival will take place March 31 and April 3 at 7:30 pm in the Teatro Alejandro Granda del Callao and will feature the debut of Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" by our own Juan Diego Florez. Internationally-recognized artists will join him, such as orchestra director Michele Mariotti, baritone Roberto Frontali, soprano Alessandra Marianelli, bass Carlo Malinverno and scene director Mássimo Gasparón, who visited Lima in 2004 during his successful production of the "Fille du régiment".

Also participating in the Festival are national artists, the National Choir and the Orchestra of the University of Lima.

For this event, important personalities will visit Lima, such as representatives of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Covent Garden of London, the Teatro Real of Madrid, the National Opera of Washington, the Rossini Festival of Pesaro, the Sferisterio of Macearata, the San Carlo de Nápoles,the Royal Opera of Wallonie, the Opera of Puerto Rico, the President of the Decca and important critics from various countries, as well as an infinite number of opera aficionados.

Tickets will go on sale at teleticket.com after the 15th of January. For those who wish, tickets featuring transportation from Lima to the Callao will also be made available.

*Giuseppe Verdi is the composer of the opera, not The Duke of Mantua as erroneously posted. We apologize for the mistake.