Opera Latinoamérica Conference Opens in Lima to Explore New Audiences and Times

Lima, Peru – The 19th Annual Conference of Opera Latinoamérica (OLA) commenced in Lima, aiming to explore opera's future reach and relevance. The event gathers cultural leaders, artists, and officials over three days to foster dialogue and initiate collaborative projects.

"OLA exists so we can accompany and support each other on this journey, so we can listen, grow, inspire each other, and mutually empower, thus taking opera to new places, new audiences, and new times," said Paulina Ricciardi, executive director of the Opera Latinoamérica Network. She added, "We hope it will be a productive meeting and, above all, a space that strengthens human relationships."

Carmen Gloria Larenas, president of the Opera Latinoamérica Network and general director of the Municipal Theater of Santiago, highlighted the challenges facing live arts, including technological disruption, attracting new audiences, educational crises, polarization, and the future of humanity. "The arts are a way of constructing meaning. Undoubtedly, the debate to come is ethical: what limit will we agree upon between technology and the human? It is worth remembering our sanctuary, emotion, human emotion, which allows us to express and transform so many others, pain, loneliness, joy, even reality itself," she stated.

Larenas emphasized that opera must modernize its outreach through marketing and technology to appeal to younger demographics, a task she described as more complex than in previous years. The conference also featured a performance of 'La púrpura de la rosa,' considered the first opera composed and performed in the Americas, presented 325 years after its creation. Lima Mayor Renzo Reggiardo officially opened the conference, celebrating Lima's role as a hub for these discussions.