The 18th Annual OLA Conference, held during June 2025 at the Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, was the setting for the signing of a collaboration agreement between Ópera Latinoamérica (OLA) and the Reina Sofía School of Music of the Albéniz Foundation (Spain).
The agreement was signed in Valencia by Carmen Gloria Larenas, president of OLA and general director of the Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile), Andrés Rodríguez, member of the OLA board and opera director of the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, and Julia Sánchez Abeal, CEO of the Reina Sofía School of Music.
In line with OLA’s objective of creating international networks for work, training, and education for opera in Ibero-America, as well as establishing alliances with organizations around the world, this new collaboration agreement seeks to unite the efforts, actions, and knowledge of both institutions with the aim of establishing initiatives with an impact on the classical performing arts and theater management sector in Ibero-America. This agreement, in turn, focuses particularly on the development of the artistic talent of young people in the region in disciplines such as lyrical singing and musical performance.
“OLA is an organization always committed to establishing new alliances and collaborations that contribute not only to the development of networks for institutions and artists, but also to opening new spaces for improvement, especially for lyrical singers. We are proud of the signing of this agreement, which builds a new bridge to connect young talents with the world centers of training and opera,” says Carmen Gloria Larenas, president of Ópera Latinoamérica (OLA) and general director of the Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile).
“OLA’s annual conferences are opportunities to strengthen relationships, publicize actions that have been underway for some time, and take shape in this type of agreement. OLA and the Reina Sofía School of Music are organizations that have the capacity to generate synergies that benefit young people through professionalization actions such as digital forums, mentoring, and artistic residencies. This type of agreement reaffirms our conviction that the artistic potential of the Ibero-American region benefits enormously from these forms of collaboration,” says Paulina Ricciardi, executive director of OLA.
“Since its origins more than 30 years ago, the School has had a deep and permanent connection with young Latin American talents. Among our alumni are leading figures in Spanish-speaking opera such as Celso Albelo, Aquiles Machado, Ismael Jordi, and Ana Lucrecia García. Currently, 30% of our students come from Latin America and all enjoy free tuition, which is one of our hallmarks. With this alliance with OLA, we want to continue consolidating that natural relationship with the Ibero-American artistic fabric and contribute to the training of young talent from the new generations of artists, reinforcing in turn that bridge with the School as a training destination of excellence,” says Julia Sánchez Abeal, CEO of the Reina Sofía School of Music.
Joint action plan
The collaboration agreement between OLA and the Reina Sofía School of Music of the Albéniz Foundation contemplates drawing up a joint action plan that covers the main interests, contexts, and lines of development of artists in the Ibero-American region.
The actions of the agreement include a first stage of diagnosis to then define concrete lines of action. These include the possibility of generating and exploring collaborative work networks – through artistic residencies that strengthen the links between both institutions – in addition to providing collaboration opportunities and professional dialogue instances.
