Conversation featuring stage director Chía Patiño, choreographer Donald Byrd, and conductor Stephen Stubbs to hear more about their creative vision behind our upcoming production of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice. The inspiration for the earliest operas, as well as numerous retellings in each new generation, the ancient myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is a reflection on music’s power to express love and sorrow. It is a story that reflects our own time as we come to terms with our collective grief and, like Orpheus, grapple with the pain of letting go.

Moderator: Jonathan Dean, Dramaturg
Panelists:
Chía Patiño, Director
Donald Byrd, Choreographer
Stephen Stubbs, Conductor

This concept by Carmen-Helena Téllez intends to reveal in a ritualized fashion the theological and cultural contents embedded in Mozart’s Requiem, addressed specifically to the Latin American experience. It was realized by stage director Chia Patiño, Executive and Artistic Director of the Teatro Nacional Sucre, with visuals by David Guzmán and Daniel Calderón. The production included readings between the movements of verses from the Purgatorio and Paradiso of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Live interdisciplinary performance, Teatro Nacional Sucre, Quito, March 23, 2018, Carmen-Helena Téllez, music director.

The segment is part of a performance of Mozart/Süssmayr’s complete Requiem in an interdisciplinary concept by Carmen-Helena Téllez with realization by stage director Chía Patiño, and video images by David Guzmán and Daniel Montalvo. The concept reveals Mozart ‘s Requiem as a repository of cultural and theological messages, including Catholic teachings about the soul’s travel after death, the teachings of Dante in his Divine Comedy, and images of Latin American experience, projected in the paintings from the churches of Quito, and the ensemble’s own representations of socio-political events.

Propuesta escénica latinoamericana del Musical Los Miserables a cargo de Chía Patiño.
Latin American scenic proposal of the Musical Les Miserables by Chía Patiño.

Houston Grand Opera presents the digital premiere of Suite Española: Explorando Iberia, created by HGO Artistic Advisor Ana María Martínez, one of the greatest sopranos in the world. The concert will celebrate the music of Spain, including the art form known as zarzuela, or Spanish musical theater, by featuring a collage of selections from the repertoire’s most beautiful pieces.

Martínez will be joined by pianist Kevin J. Miller, guitarist Jeremy Garcia, and percussionist Richard Brown; flamenco dancers Manuel Gutierrez Cabello and Ana María Barceló; and two HGO Studio artists, tenor Ricardo Garcia and baritone Blake Denson. Cuban artist Irma La Paloma serves as choreographer, and Ecuadorian composer Chia Patiño, stage director for the University of Texas Butler Opera Center, directs.