Houston Grand Opera Announces New Album: Daniel Catán and Marcela Fuentes-Berain’s Florencia en el Amazonas
HOUSTON—April 10, 2026—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to announce the release of a new album: a recording of composer Daniel Catán and librettist Marcela Fuentes-Berain’s acclaimed, company-commissioned opera Florencia en el Amazonas, conducted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers and starring celebrated soprano Ana María Martínez in the title role. The full digital album will be released on May 1, 2026, with its first single, “Dónde estás, Cristóbal,” available to stream starting today.
The album marks the second release from the Houston Grand Opera label, created in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra’s LSO Live, following the label’s 2026 GRAMMY Award-winning debut album, Intelligence.
Premiered by HGO in 1996 and inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Florencia en el Amazonas was the first major Spanish-language opera commissioned by an American opera company. Its composer, Daniel Catán, a native of Mexico City, died in 2011. Since its Houston world premiere, the opera has been staged internationally, including two revivals at HGO.
The recording, which captures HGO’s acclaimed 2019 production of Catán’s opera, showcases the expressive power of the HGO Orchestra under Maestro Summers alongside the renowned HGO Chorus and an exceptional cast. Its spring release coincides with a defining moment in the company’s history, honoring Summers as he concludes his tenure as Artistic and Music Director and transitions to Music Director Emeritus in the 2026-27 season, holding the Robert and Jane Cizik Music Director Emeritus Chair.
“Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas holds a truly special place in the history of our company,” says HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor. “We are proud that this homegrown Spanish-language commission, adored by HGO’s diverse audiences from the start, has gone on to become one of Houston’s premier cultural exports, performed at houses across the world. This new album—conducted by Maestro Summers and featuring a brilliant cast led by the sublime Ana María Martínez as Florencia, alongside our renowned HGO Orchestra and Chorus—embodies the consummate beauty of Catán’s score as it takes a profound musical journey into the mysteries of the human heart. We cannot wait to share it with our international audience.”
“When we last mounted Florencia, I knew that, in the long trajectory of this opera, it was important to have a record of that moment, and to commemorate our performances with Ana María Martínez, whose relationship with Daniel Catán was uniquely deep,” says Summers. “Daniel’s too-brief life was infused with love, ignited by nature, and filled with a childlike wonder of things larger than himself, all of which are deeply felt within this opera. Ana María as Florencia stands as one of the great unions of brilliant artist to a beloved role in memory. Of the many operas I have been privileged to bring to life at HGO, Florencia holds a singular place in my memory, and I am honored to share it with our audiences.”
“From the first time I heard Florencia en el Amazonas, I felt transported into Daniel Catán’s magical musical world, a world that still feels illuminated by his presence,” says Martínez. “Returning to this work now, after performing as both Rosalba and then as Florencia, has been a deeply meaningful, full-circle artistic and personal experience, and I’m so honored to be a part of this glorious recording.”
Florencia en el Amazonas is set aboard a steamboat journeying down the Amazon River toward the opera house in Manaus. The title character is one of the boat’s passengers, a celebrated opera singer returning home to give one last performance—and to search for her long-lost love, Cristóbal, who she left behind to pursue her career.
The album showcases unforgettable performances from a distinguished cast headlined by Martínez as Florencia Grimaldi, with soprano Alicia Gianni as Rosalba, tenor Joshua Guerrero as Arcadio, baritone Norman Garrett as Riolobo, mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera as Paula, baritone Thomas Glass as Alvaro, and bass-baritone David Pittsinger as Capitan.
Reviews of HGO’s 2019 production heralded it as a “musical delight” (Texas Classical Review) full of “wondrous beauty threaded throughout the orchestration” (Houston Press) and “stunning solos” (Houstonia magazine). “Catán’s dreamlike score creates an intricate network of musical cross-currents that evoke the shimmering river and plentiful jungle wildlife (especially birds),” wrote the Houston Chronicle, “but also reflect the characters’ tempestuous emotions.”
The new Florencia en el Amazonas album will be available in a digital format, with streaming offered via HGO’s partner platform, Apple Music Classical—Apple Music’s dedicated app for classical music fans—as well as major platforms including Amazon Music and Spotify.
The Florencia en el Amazonas recording is part of HGO’s expanding commitment to building and sharing its catalogue of recordings—both new and remastered—of major performances and company-commissioned works. Upcoming releases from the Houston Grand Opera label include the first-ever recording of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves and Javier Martínez and Leonard Foglia’s HGO-commissioned mariachi opera El Milagro del Recuerdo.
The commission of Florencia en el Amazonas was made possible by Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, Sara and Bill Morgan, Shell Foundation, and Nelda and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. The opera was recorded thanks to the generosity of Marion Cameron-Gray, Robert and Kellie Collier, Monica Fulton, Gabriel Loperena, Beth Madison, James and Andrea Maher, Sara and Bill Morgan, Allyn and Jill Risley, Marc and Eva Stern, Milton Townsend, and the late Jackson Hicks.