Opera in Venezuela

[1] Virginia by José Ángel Montero (sometimes incorrectly called the first Venezuelan opera) debuted in 1877, under the auspices of Antonio Guzmán Blanco.

Another major early Venezuelan opera composer was Reynaldo Hahn, who was greatly influenced by his teacher Jules Massenet.

He greatly expanded the genre of French operetta, of which Ciboulette was his most famous work; he also composed operas as Le Merchand de Venise.

The Teatro Nacional was the theater for the country's finest zarzuela, while the Municipal typically staged Italian, German and French works, which were more serious.

The sopranos Fedora Alemán, Cecilia Nuñez, Flor García, Aurra Cipriani, Reyna Calanche, Leila Mastrocola, Hilda Breer [es], Beatriz Michelena, Carmen Hurtado, Inés Salazar [es], Margot Pares-Reyna, Rosita del Castillo, Rosa Savoini, Alba Simara, Sara Catarine [es], Thays Vergara and Lola Linares, mezzosopranos Morella Muñoz, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Teresa Carreño, Mariela Valladares, and Aida Navarro, contralto Isabel Palacios [es], the tenors Fernando Michelena, Alfredo Sadel, Carlos Almenar Otero [es], Aquiles Machado [es], Nico Castel, Rubén Domínguez, Ruben Malnez, Idwer Alvarez, Manuel Pérez, David Hidalgo, Eduardo Melgar, Edgar Bastidas, Sergio Duran, Julio Felce, Gregory Pino, Víctor López, Ugo Corsetti, Francisco Morales and Blas Martínez, baritones Ramón Iriarte, Francisco Salazar, William Alvarado, Sergio Daniele, Gaspar Colón Moleiro and Cayito Aponte, Jorge Páez and bass Daniel Bendahan, Claudio Muskus, Pedro Liendo, Julio César Mármol [es], Samuel Jones, Yunis Sujur and Carlos Maury.