First Coast Opera - Northeast Florida's Repertory Opera Company

WELCOME TO FIRST COAST OPERA!

Arias from Operas, Flamenco Guitar, Classical Ballet, Spanish songs & Latin Dances – these are the ingredients that add up to a celebration of Spanish Music & Dance in VIVA ESPANA. Culminating the Romanza Week of cultural events, First Coast Opera offers a varied show featuring singers from First Coast Opera, ballerinas from St. Augustine Ballet Company, and Fermin Spanish Guitar.

First Coast Opera singers, Janet Rabe-Meyer, Regina Torres, Juan Unzueta, Hector Gonzales-Toro and Pablo Pomales-Ojeda will thrill the audience with arias from classical works. As well as singing in this production, Ms. Torres is returning to FCO to direct her fourth show. Her lyrical voice is well known to St. Augustine audiences; she has performed in recent FCO performances such as Grandi Voci, Cabaret Americana, Opera Noir, Cabaret Español and Romanza: Songs of Love. Ms. Torres has also performed with the St. Petersburg Opera, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Space Coast Symphony. Mezzo-soprano Janet Rabe-Meyer is on the faculty at Daytona State College, and has appeared with Opera Naples, St. Petersburg Opera and the Jacksonville Symphony. FCO performances include Cabaret Español, Master Class, Cabaret Americana and Romanza: Songs of Love. Audiences last heard tenor Juan Carlos Unzueta in FCO’s Threepenny Opera, Cabaret Español, and Romanza: Songs of Love; he has become a leading singer in the Jacksonville musical theatre, and appears at Rhett’s Piano Bar in downtown St. Augustine. Tenor Pablo Pomales-Ojeda was born in Puerto Rico, and performed numerous roles in operas in his native country. Since moving to Jacksonville he has sung with the Jacksonville Symphony in L a Bohème, La Traviata, and Turandot. Countertenor Hector Gonzales-Toro has sung in FCO’s Grandi Voci, Cabaret Espanol, Cabaret Americana and Voices of Love-Encore.

The St. Augustine Ballet, under the direction of Artistic Director, Luis Abella, will perform excerpts from Paquita Suite, a classical ballet set in Spain, choreographed in 1847 by the master Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia. Dennis Fermin, an accomplished Flamenco guitarist, will play several selections of classical Flamenco guitar, and accompany the band in other selections.

Visit Dennis Fermin's site at Fermin Spanish Guitar to hear a sample of the beautiful music he will be playing at Viva Espana!

Visit St. Augustine Ballet to learn more about this premiere ballet company.