IU's new opera

I am here in Bloomington to see a new opera by a gifted Mexican composer, Gabriela Ortiz, which was given its World Premiere yesterday evening the delightful little Buskirk-Chumley Theater.  And I will see the second performance this evening - always a good thing to see a new piece twice.  The music school at IU has a flourishing Latin American Music Center under the direction of Carmen Helena Tellez who conducted this production with great authority.  And she had a fine collection of young instrumentalists and singers, all full of passion and energy, not to mention considerable skill.  And a production with much very exciting multi media content all pulled together to make a fine show by the Stage Director Chia Patino from Ecuador.  She is a graduate of the CCM in Cincinnati and the Domingo-Cafritz program at the Washington National Opera.

And this afternoon I am participating in a discussion "New Opera: what is it? what could it be?"  Big and daunting subject.  I am going to have to stick my neck out here.  Lets see how this develops!

There was a distinguished group of visitors from out of town.  It was a particular pleasure to see Zizi Mueller - a terrific recent addition to the leadership at Boosey and Hawkes.  And Rosemary Holland, Director of Artistic Affairs at Carolina Performing Arts in Chapel Hill, also made the trip.  They have a remarkable program there at the University of North Carolina and it was a pleasure and a revelation to hear about it from Rosemary. And my old friend Christopher Hunt is also participating in the activities this weekend and will be on the panel with me this afternoon. More later.......