MIAMI—A Nicaraguan American soprano and a guitarist who spent a decade working with Paco de Lucía and the orchestra of Spain's Teatro Real brought Spanish song, flamenco guitar and zarzuela to Miami this weekend, earning cheers at the company's first appearance in the city.
Conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, the concert at the Adrienne Arsht Center's Knight Concert Hall featured soprano Gabriella Reyes and guitarist Juan Manuel Cañizares. Titled Fire · Guitar · Legend, the performance was the Miami stop on Teatro Real's fifth U.S. tour, organized to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence.
The visit also reflected the Madrid institution's ambitions in a city with deep cultural and business ties to Spain. During a conference in Miami-Dade College's School of Global Business, Teatro Real general director Ignacio García-Belenguer revealed that the company wanted to establish a more permanent presence here.
"Miami has enormous appeal for Spain," he said in Spanish. The visit also offered visibility to musicians audiences often hear from an opera pit. "We wanted to bring it out of the pit and give it visibility," he explained.
Saturday's program opened with selections from Manuel de Falla's El amor brujo, including the "Ritual Fire Dance," before Reyes joined the orchestra for the composer's Siete canciones populares españolas, in Luciano Berio's orchestral arrangement. The seven songs brought regional Spanish melodies to the concert stage, from "Seguidilla murciana" to the lullaby "Nana" and the impassioned "Polo."
Reyes arrived with an expanding international résumé and a recent connection to South Florida opera audiences. She made her role debut as Violetta in La traviata with Palm Beach Opera during the 2024–25 season. Her credits also include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera as Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar and as both Mimì and Musetta in La bohème.
Her Miami appearance drew applause and cheers, followed by an encore of "Carceleras," from Ruperto Chapí's zarzuela Las hijas de Zebedeo. Her performance was splendid, powerful and even sexy. Maybe it was helped by the fact that she felt at home.
Reyes described her experience on social media after the performance: "What a great weekend in Miami with the most incredible musicians!! I had my debut singing De Falla's "Siete Canciones Populares" with the @teatro_real orchestra in Miami led by wonderful @gustavo.gimeno and it truly was so special. It was such a beautiful program which included the immensely talented @canizares_official and the most stunning Scheherazade by Rimsy-Korsakov I've ever heard. Though it was a quick trip, it was a pleasure Miami, and I hope to return soon!
I also had the pleasure of having extended family I'd never met come out in full support! Gracias Tía Mabel for coming out with the family! 🥹"
Cañizares then performed Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, bringing a career that spans flamenco and classical music to one of the guitar repertoire's most recognizable works. A recipient of Spain's 2023 National Music Prize for performance, he collaborated with Paco de Lucía for 10 years and became the first flamenco guitarist invited to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic.
His performance and subsequent encore brought the audience to its feet. For that additional piece, Cañizares chose "Cádiz" from his own Suite Al-Ándalus, returning to his work as a composer after Rodrigo's concerto.
After intermission, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Op. 35, shifted the focus to the full orchestra. Concertmaster Guergana Gergova performed the recurring violin solos associated with the storytelling heroine, drawing particular praise in Fleshler's review. Gimeno, who became Teatro Real's music director in the 2025–26 season and also leads the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted.
The orchestra's final encore returned the evening to Spain with the prelude to Federico Chueca's zarzuela El bateo. Following the Miami concert, the tour's remaining engagement was a string quartet performance at the Library of Congress in Washington on October 19.
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