Cast
Pedro Salazar — Stage director
Flávia Furtado — Managing Director
Luiz Fernando Malheiro — Artistic Director
João Fernandes
Elisangela Olivera — Violinist
Filipe Fernandes — Violinist
Program notes
Friedemann Hottenbacher made this magnificent documentary during preparations for the Amazonas Opera Festival, held every May in Manaus in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. In addition to showcasing this event, the film traces the fascinating history of the Manaus Opera House—built in 1896 but deprived of music in 1910 due to the country’s economic decline, before experiencing a revival at the start of the twentieth century. We discover that this iconic venue owes its existence above all to the dedication of the artists who fought to preserve it and to promote art and music in a religion that had long been resistant to cultural expression.
The Teatro Amazonas, which narrates its own story in the documentary, along with the voices of the artists involved in Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes—the centerpiece of this year’s festival—offer a poignant account of the indigenous community’s fight for access to musical culture and recognition. Britten’s opera, directed by Pedro Salazar, tells the story of a marginalized English fisherman, scorned by his village and turned into a scapegoat. Through this narrative, the performers reflect their own reality: that of a community long neglected by successive governments, yet one that ultimately finds visibility and growth through the power of music.
