How to get one of 3,000 free tickets to Spanish opera at Waterloo Park

In April, Austin Opera trumpeted a new initiative to expand its Spanish-language programming. In the largest gift to date for the company, Austin mega-backers Ernest and Sarah Butler donated $3.3 million to establish an endowment for that program.

One year later, we will see the first tangible fruits of that generosity: an elaborate concert al fresco, "Bella Noche de Música," on April 4 at Waterloo Park's Moody Amphitheater. The event will headline Austin Opera's inventive side-season known as Opera ATX.

Thanks to a $75,000 grant from the Moody Foundation, 3,000 tickets will be made available to the community for free. Those general admission tickets — along with reserved premium tickets — will become available on Dec. 5.

Continuing coverage:Austin's getting more Spanish-language opera, thanks to a multimillion-dollar gift

What's the background?

That series — founded in 2019 and staged in venues other than the company's established home at the Long Center for the Performing Arts — also will include Vuyani Dance Theatre’s "Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro" on April 19 at Bass Concert Hall and the return of "Beethoven in VR" in January-May at pop-up venues around Austin.

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Claudia Chapa, Austin Opera’s new curator of Hispanic and Latinx programming, put together "Bella Noche" by teaming with Ópera de Bellas Artes (the Mexican national opera that's based in Mexico City) and the Consulate General of Mexico in Austin.

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What should you expect at the show?

The April 4 concert of Spanish-language songs and opera selections will be sung in part by Génesis Betania Moreno González, Ricardo Ceballos de la Mora and Jorge Alain Echeagaray Gutiérrez from the studio of Ópera de Bellas Artes. The show also will feature San Antonio-based group Trío Chapultepec, which includes Vincent Pequeño, Israel Alcala and William Carlton Galvez, along with Austin classical guitarist Arnold Yzaguirre.

OK, and what are those other shows all about?

On April 19, Opera ATX partners with the Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas to bring Vuyani Dance Theatre from South Africa. They will present choreographer Gregory Maqoma’s highly visual opera/dance piece, "Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro." Tickets for "Cion" are currently on sale at texasperformingarts.org.

During the winter and spring of 2023, Opera ATX brings "Beethoven in VR" back to Austin after its sold-out premiere at the Fusebox Festival in April 2022. During that festival, more 200 people experienced being within scenes from Beethoven’s only opera, "Fidelio," for 17 minutes via virtual reality headsets. "Beethoven in VR"locations and ticket information will be available in December.

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Annie Burridge, general director and CEO of Austin Opera, has become a master of partnering with other arts groups. She thinks opera is the ultimate collaborative art form.

“This season’s Opera ATX offerings are the result of years of relationship building at the local, national and international level," Burridge says. "We created Opera ATX as a platform to defy traditional boundaries of production and audience-building, and we are thrilled about the ways in which these three additions to our season will accomplish that.”

Prefer your opera traditional and at its usual Long Center home? Still plenty to enjoy this season: Rossini’s "The Barber of Seville"in November, Sondheim’s "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"in January and Bizet’s "The Pearl Fishers" in April. Subscriptions and single tickets for these operas are currently on sale at austinopera.org.