The Amazon's historic opera house

There is a historic opera house in the Amazon that is a destination for some famous singers, musicians and local fans.

Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Now a story about the mighty Amazon rainforest that isn't about its biodiversity or threats from climate change. It's about opera. Yeah, deep in the Amazon sits a century-old Renaissance theater complete with its own philharmonic. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports from Brazil.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: The Amazonas Philharmonic tuning up for a packed house in the theater's 700-seat, opulent main hall.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Portuguese).

KAHN: Welcome to the Amazonas Theater. Tonight, South Korean baritone Taehan Kim performs Wagner in German to an audience of local Portuguese speakers.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

TAEHAN KIM: (Singing in German).

KAHN: This is Manaus, Brazil's largest city in the Amazon, a gritty metropolis of more than 2 million sitting at the confluence of two major tributaries that form the mighty Amazon River.

(APPLAUSE)

KAHN: In the late 1800s, Manaus was dubbed the Paris of the tropics. Flush with cash from the booming production of latex, the city's rubber barons spared no expense building this pink Belle Epoque opera house in the main square.

SARAH OLIVEIRA MARQUES: The construction starts in 1884 but ends in 1896.

KAHN: Sarah Oliveira Marques is our official guide to the theater, pointing out the Italian marble and glass, velvet-covered French furniture and tens of thousands of imported tiles for the building's distinctive dome, a mosaic of the then-new Brazilian republic's flag.

MARQUES: Twelve years to be complete.

KAHN: After rubber plants were smuggled out of the Amazon and ultimately replaced by synthetics, Manaus went bust, its indigenous population decimated by slavery. The opera house closed for decades until its cameo in the 1982 epic film...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FITZCARRALDO")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Fitzcarraldo. How do you spell it? What an interesting name.

KAHN: ...Werner Herzog's drama, "Fitzcarraldo," about a would-be rubber baron who dreamt of building an opera house deep in the Amazon. Nearly a decade later with a multimillion-dollar renovation, the Amazonas Theater reopened. The Los Angeles Times reported from opening night of local residents, unable to afford tickets, shouting as well-heeled patrons discharged from chauffeured cars. It was a painful reminder of Manaus' enduring economic divide.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KAHN: These days, the opera house is fully funded by the state, with tickets free to nearly all residents. The orchestra used to be filled with Eastern Europeans and very few Brazilians.

CLAUDIO ABRANTES: Now is more Brazilian.

KAHN: More than a quarter of the orchestra is home grown from the Amazon, says piccolo and flute player Claudio Abrantes, an original member. Trombonist Matthew Lynch from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, joined 10 years ago.

MATTHEW LYNCH: In the U.S., you go to an orchestral concert and you see a lot of gray hair. Here, you look out and you see lots of, like, kids under 10 years old in, like, a normal concert like this.

KAHN: He says, sure, that means a lot of crying through many passages, but worth it to expose new generations to opera.

RUTHIE KIMBERLYN ROLIM: (Speaking Portuguese).

KAHN: This is 18-year-old Ruthie Kimberlyn Rolim's first opera. She'll see if she likes it. Her and her mother took the bus 40 minutes to get here. They're waiting in line, decked out in long dresses and high heels. Her hair is tied back in an elegant bun.

ROLIM: (Speaking Portuguese)

KAHN: "The opera house is important to our city. But don't forget its segregationist and elitist past," she says. "The neighborhoods are still rough just blocks from here," she adds. They'll have to get a ride home. It's too dangerous for them to be out that late at night.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KIM: (Singing in German).

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