Opera San Jose offers sneak peeks of 1st Spanish-language production

Performing excerpts from ‘Florencia en el Amazonas’ before April 20 opening.

Opera en Espanol

Opera San Jose is celebrating its production of “Florencia en el Amazonas,” the company’s first Spanish-language mainstage opera, with free performances offering sneak peeks of Daniel Catán’s magical realism opera, which will receive its Bay Area premiere April 20-May 5 at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose.

The California Theatre will be the venue for a performance during the South First Friday art walk on Friday, April 5 at 5:30 p.m., as well as for an April 25 panel discussion with performers, artists and others at 3 p.m. to talk about the background of Catán’s opera.

The East San Jose Carnegie Library at 1102 E Santa Clara St. will host a community performance on Sunday, April 7, at 3:30 p.m.

Opera San Jose is presenting these community events with the support of a National Endowment for the Arts grant. For more information, visit operasj.org or call 408-437-4450.

Neighborhood Notes

ALMADEN>>Bay Area Older Adults is hosting an April 5 expert-led walking tour of the New Almaden Mine, followed by a one-hour tour of the mining museum. A picnic lunch is included.

The small village of New Almaden was once a world-famous quicksilver (mercury) mining community. The New Almaden Mine, first developed by Mexicans, produced $70 million in mercury beginning in 1845. The mine’s mercury was used to process silver in Mexican mines and later gold in the California Gold Rush. Mexican, Chilean, Chinese and English immigrants as well as Americans worked together to extract the mercury from cinnabar.

The tour runs 10 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information and to register, visit https://www.bayareaolderadults.org/bao-culture.