San Diego Opera | MEMETERIA by Thomas May

November 4, 2022 • 1:32 pm Comments Off on El último sueño de Frida y Diego at San Diego Opera

El último sueño de Frida y Diego at San Diego Opera

Guadalupe Paz as Frida Kahlo and Alfredo Daza as Diego Rivera; photo credit: Karli Cadel

My review of the world premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s new opera about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, which sets a libretto by Nilo Cruz, is available here at Musical America (no paywall through the weekend):

SAN DIEGO — At the center of El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), Frida Kahlo decides to cross over from the underworld and return to the realm of the living. It’s a conceit that cries out for operatic treatment, and composer Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz oblige with an inspired fusion of music and poetry.

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Filed under: American opera, review, San Diego Opera

October 23, 2022 • 8:14 am Comments Off on From the Underworld to Our World: An Opera About Frida and Diego

From the Underworld to Our World: An Opera About Frida and Diego

The “Último Sueño” team, photographed in front of a Diego Rivera-influenced mural in Chicano Park, in San Diego: from left, the writer Nilo Cruz, the director Lorena Maza, the composer Gabriela Lena Frank and the mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz.Credit…John Francis Peters for The New York Times

In today’s New York Times, my story on the new opera by Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz:

“I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return.” Frida Kahlo confided these remarks to her diary in 1954, just a few days before making her final exit.

In a new opera, “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego” (“The Last Dream of Frida and Diego”), the composer Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz imagine Kahlo overcoming her reluctance to return from beyond. ..

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Filed under: new opera, New York Times, San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera