New Mexico residency 

Opera Lafayette was in residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico in May 2022 in Taos, NM. During this period the artistic team staged Grétry’s Silvain (1770), setting this opera about land rights issues and family reconciliation in the San Luis Valley in the 19th century. The residency included discussions and online seminars and culminated in a free public performance of the ‘opera in progress’ – i.e., a dress rehearsal with costumes and minimal lighting, without the full orchestra and scenic design that was added at the Kennedy Center in Washington and El Museo del Barrio in New York performances later in June. 

Artistic Direction:
Ryan Brown, Artistic Director and musical direction
Tania Hernández Velasco, stage direction
Patricia Michaels, costume design

Cast:
Victor Sicard
Camille Ortiz
Samantha Louis-Jean
Teresa Castillo
Jehú Otero
Zack Powell
Nathan Berg

Chorus:
Juan Hernandez
Gilbert Chavez
Jose M. Pietri-Coimbre

ONLINE, LIVE EVENTS

In-Person Events

Grétry’s Silvain
Thursday May 26, 2022, 7 P.M. MT
(6 p.m. pre-concert discussion)
TAOS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
133 PASEO DEL PUEBLO NORTE
TAOS, NEW MEXiCO

In the early 19th century, French entrepreneurs moved to the American southwest and acquired vast tracts of land from the Mexican government. They guaranteed the peasants who settled these lands the same privileges as those at the center of the drama in Grétry and Marmontel’s opera. Conflicts around these rights in the United States have continued to the present day, and this story’s resonance in the New World has inspired Opera Lafayette’s setting of this modern premiere of Silvain. Learn more about the production here.

Join us for a pre-concert discussion with Sylvia Rodriguez, Maria Mondragon Valdez, Mr. Brown, Ms. Hernández Velasco, and Ms. Michaels at 6 p.m. MT.

Attendance is free to the public, but reservations are recommended. Donations to The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico are encouraged.

Screening of Titixe
An award-winning film by Mexican filmmaker
Tania Hernández Velasco
Wednesday, May 25, 7 p.m. Mt
TAOS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
133 PASEO DEL PUEBLO NORTE
TAOS, NEW MEXiCO

A mourning tree, dancing sprouts, ghosts, stories and forgotten seeds. This is a Mexican family’s very last attempt to cultivate their land.The last peasant of a family has died and with him, all wisdom to till the soil has been lost. Without experience, his daughter and granddaughter will attempt a last traditional harvest to try to convince Grandma, the widow of the peasant, to keep their plot of land. Together they will uncover the leftovers (locally known as the titixe) of this man and his world: a mourning tree, dancing sprouts, the language of clouds, ghosts, stories and the endless menace of losing the crops to a tempest. This is an intimate mosaic of the last harvest of a Mexican family, in a country that has forsaken its rural origins.

Attendance is free to the public, but reservations are recommended. Donations to Rio Grande Farm Park are encouraged.