The Orchestrated 'La Batalla de los Clásicos' Comes to Schools at Teatro Francisco Arriví

San Juan, Puerto Rico – On February 12, 2026, the Olga Iglesias Project (OIP) brought the orchestrated version of La Batalla de los Clásicos to students at the Teatro Francisco Arriví, presenting Puerto Rico's young audiences with a fully staged performance of the commissioned opera.

Students from six schools attended: the Escuela Antonio Sarriera, Escuela Central de Artes Visuales, Escuela Julio Sellés Solá, Escuela Arístides Cales Quirós, Escuela Roberto Clemente Walker, and Escuela Río Hondo. The performance was funded by the Ángel Ramos Foundation (FAR) through the 2025 grant awarded to expand OIP's educational opera program and bring the orchestrated work to schools across the island.

The opera, composed by Johanny Navarro with a libretto by Paloma Sierra, was staged under the direction of Aida Belén Rivera. The four roles were sung by Christian García, Martín Alicea, Carlos Ortiz, and soprano Natalia Santaliz, accompanied by a chamber ensemble of Beatriz Castillo (violin), Diego Marrero (cello), Valeria Sosa (flute), and Ernesto Busigó (piano).

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"This is the culmination of our first opera commission. We wanted to add a new work to the Puerto Rican canon and bring it to a new generation, and today we did both. Watching students experience this opera is everything we hoped for."

Anthony Cheney Guzmán, Founder and Executive Director of OIP