A new opera, “Carmen Burana,” is starting at the Teatro Opera and is being presented by the famous Argentine dancer Iñaki Urlezaga.According to My Buenos Aires Travel Guide, the production was choreographed by Jean Pierre Aviotte, accompanied by his company Ballet Concierto and Teatro Colón´s Orchestra and Choir.The material for the opera comes from a collection of chants from the 12th and 13th centuries; the words from the chants were eventually set to music by the German composer Carl Orff and now Iñaki Urlezaga has created an operatic performance around them.Urlezaga studied at the Teatro Colon and received a scholarship to go to The School of American Ballet.He was Principle Dancer at the Royal Ballet of London and Principle Guest Dancer and the Dutch National Ballet.Today he is actively creating new projects of his own.

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Buenos Aires is known for having great opera at the Teatro Colon, and now a deal with the Metropolitan Opera House of New York City means that there is even more great opera for people in the city to enjoy. According to My Buenos Aires Travel Guide, the Subsecratary of Culture for Buenos Aires is presenting eleven high definition transmissions, captured by thirty-two cameras live from the Metropolitan Opera stage.The 2008-2009 New York opera season can be enjoyed in Buenos Aires at the Centro Cultural Cine Teatro 25 de Mayo.The first opera will be shown on September 22nd and the last on May 9th.Operas include Madame Butterfly, Doctor Atomic, Salome, and many more!Tickets range from 50 to 80 pesos and can be purchased at the theater’s box office.

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The opera Iphigenie en Tauride opens this Friday in the Teatro Avenida on Av. de Mayo and will be performed by the Buenos Aires Lirica Chorus and Camerata Bariloche every other day until the 20th.The opera was written by Christoph Willibald Gluck and was first performed in Paris in 1779. According to the Buenos Aires Lírica’s official website, the story is about the journey home of the Greeks after the Trojan War.On the way home, Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphienie (though she is secretly saved by the god Diane) to ensure good winds for the fleet.Killings and betrayals ensue, as they must in any good Greek tragedy.Tickets can be bought at the theater from 1pm to 8pm, Tuesday through Sunday.

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Last Friday, the opera The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell opened in Buenos Aires at the Complejo Cultural Cine of Teatro 25 de Mayo, on Av. Triunvirato 4444.Sponsored by the Colon Theater, which is dedicated to promoting opera in the city and the country, The Fairy Queen is based on the famous poem by Edmund Spenser and, because of its magical, almost surreal qualities, it has been compared to A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare and Metamorphoses by Ovid.According to the government website, after the performances this Friday and Sunday there are two more performances, Tuesday and Thursday, which begin at 8:30pm.Tickets are only 15 pesos, with discounts for retirees and youth.

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Soap operas are often laughed at as vacuous forms of entertainment, but the Argentine soap opera “Robadas” (“Stolen Lives”) is serious business.According to Reuters, this show is based on the real life experience of Susana Trimarco, an Argentine woman from the province of Tucuman.Trimarco lost her 23-year-old daughter Marita in 2002, probably to human trafficking.Marita simply disappeared and ever since then Trimarco has been searching for her—the search and the fight against human trafficking became the premise of the show.When it started in March it was just another nighttime soap, but now it is causing a lot of talk around Argentina’s water coolers about a previously ignored subject.In this way, Trimarco is helping to ensure that her daughter’s story is heard.

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The operaAttila, by Guiseppe Verdi, opens this Friday at the Teatro Avenida on Avenida de Mayo.The opera was first performed in Buenos Aires on September 23rd, 1853, only six years after it had opened in Venice.It took another hundred years before the opera returned to the city, in 1966.Centering on the life of Attila, king of the Huns, the opera is a good introduction to Verdi as it contains most of his signature styles.According to the website of Buenos Aires Lírica, the company performing the opera, the production runs until the 26th of July and tickets start at 40 pesos and run to 180, depending on how well you want to be able to see the face of Attila the fearsome Hun.

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