Opera Hispánica Announces 2024/25 Season

Opera Hispánica has announced its 2024-25 season featuring exciting collaborations and repertoire raging from the Latin American Baroque to World Premieres.

Two of this season’s events are part of Veintiún-OH, OH’s 21st Century Hispanic Chamber Opera Series, a unique platform for innovative opera creation. OH also is pleased to announce receiving a NYC grant through Opera America, supported by the Howard Gilman Foundation, to support the activities of Veintiún-OH. The series, launched in 2022 with the U.S. Premiere of Ñomongeta in collaboration with the Americas Society and The Smithsonian’s National Musuem of the American Indian, aims to present chamber-size operas composed in the 21st century that are new to the world, while highlighting universal and relevant themes for these times.

OH begins its seasons on Thursday, October 10th at 6PM with the World Premiere reading of LAS MALDICIONES, a mono-opera for soprano and bandoneon with lyrics and music by Grammy Award winning Argentinian bandoneon player and composer Rodolfo Zanettiat the Consulate General and Promotion Center of Argentina in New York, 12 West 56th Street. As part of Veintiún-OH, the performance will feature the composer at the bandoneon, and Colombian soprano Sasha Gutiérrez, with guest appearance of Metropolitan Opera artist Argentinian baritone Fabian Veloz. The event will be followed by a conversation with the composer about the piece and the process of creating a new work of musical drama, led by author Daniel Walter Lencinas. Consulate of Argentina in New York, Thursday, October 10th, 6PM.

On Friday, February 28th at 6:30 and 9PM at National Sawdust, Opera Hispanica presents the New York staged premiere of KLARA, an opera in four Haikus, with lyrics and music written by internationally-renowned Spanish composer and conductor Pedro Halffter. In collaboration with National Sawdust, Divaria Productions and New York City Opera, and with partial support from the Spanish government through Acción Cultural Española, this production will be directed by acclaimed Broadway director and choreographer Richard Stafford. KLARA will immerse the audience in an immediate and current reflection on the development of artificial intelligence and what it means to be human. These two performances only at the prestigious National Sawdust in its 10th anniversary will feature soprano Ashley Galvani Bell, with Silvia Santinelli and Pedro Halffter himself at the pianos. A panel discussion led by celebrated professors and authors Steven Pinker, Panos Mavromatis, Cameron Kirk-Giannini, and Swami Sarvapriyananda to discuss the effects of artificial intelligence on our society is scheduled for Wednesday, February 26 (time and location TBA). National Sawdust, Friday, February 28th, 6:30PM and 9PM.

The season will cap off with Music at the Missions - 1st Festival of Latin American Baroque, running from Friday, June 6th though Sunday June 8th at the historic San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, featuring musical works written for the Cathedrals and Missions of Latin America. The festival will be presented in collaboration with the Archdiocese of San Antonio, the National Parks Service, and the UNESCO World Heritage Convention to promote the awareness of the historical, musical, and architectural wealth of New Spain. As part of the festival Opera Hispánica is proud to present at Mission San José the Misa de Infantes, composed in 1767 for the children choir of the Cathedral of Mexico, -contemporary of the construction of the Missions of San Antonio- performed by members of Esperanza Azteca, a youth choir and orchestra from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez(Mexico), conducted by OH Artistic Director, Jorge Parodi. Performances at Mission San José and Mission Concepción, San Antonio, TX; San Fernando Cathedral, San Antonio, TX; and Instituto Cultural de México en San Antonio Friday, June 6th though Sunday June 8th.

Please visit www.operahispanica.org for dates and more information.

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