Bastien und Bastienne & La Curandera

BASTIEN UND BASTIENNE by Wolfgang Mozart

(Sung in German with English Dialogue)

Bastien - Daniel Salls
Bastienne - Maranda Childs, Evelyn Nelson



Conductor - Wes Schulz
Director - Rebecca Herman

La Curandera by Robert Rodriguez

(in English and Spanish)

General Godofredo de la Barca - Daymon Passmore
Dionisia - Meaghan Heath, Erika Wuerzner
Ramon - Brian Pettey, Luis Rodriguez
La Curandera - Amber Alarcon, Claudia Chapa
Alberto - Chong Won Ham, Kevin King
Alba - Lisa Kelly, Soo-Ah Park

Conductor - Stephan Sanders
Director - Marc Reynolds

Program Note:



La Curandera (2005) is a comedy in one act, commissioned by Opera Colorado. The premiere production in 2006 was presented on a double bill with Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne (1768). The libretto of La Curandera is based on an original story inspired by Mozart’s three-character opera. The new Mexican setting replaces the original sorcerer with a curandera, or practitioner of folk healing and magic, and adds three additional characters. Although the libretto is primarily in English, there are frequent Spanish words and phrases, including many popular proverbs and idiomatic expressions from both Mexico and Spain. The libretto also incorporates actual curandera incantations, rituals and procedures from Mexican folklore as well as from current practice in Mexico and in the United States. In treating the natural and the supernatural as two sides of the same coin, the central character of the opera, La Curandera, embodies what conductor/ composer Eduardo Mata described as an essential feature of his childhood in Mexico, “living close to witches and sorcerers. Their sons and daughters were my friends. I grew up in a world where magic and the interplay between the real and the objective and the unreal and the magic coexisted on a daily basis. This [syncretism] has been a way of life in many of the cultures of Hispano-America...”

The music of La Curandera, likewise, pays homage to Mozart, with a Mexican flavor. The six singers are joined by eight instrumentalists: clarinet (doubling alto saxophone), trumpet, bass trombone, percussion, accordion, piano, violin and cello. In the overture, the distinctive entrance music for Mozart’s sorcerer is heard, then transformed into sounds of mariachi. Authentic Mexican melodies are employed throughout the opera, including the national anthem, Mexicanos al grito de guerra, the traditional march, Zacatecas, the folk song, La chinita and several melodies, textures and harmonic patterns derived from the traditional son jarocho-style music of Veracruz: El guapo, Coni coni, El huerfanito, El borracho, El buscapies and La bruja. Arias, spoken dialogue and accompanied recitative alternate with intricate opera buffa ensemblesin a score filled with Rodríguez' characteristic "richly lyrical" (Musical America) writing, in a style "romantically dramatic" (Washington Post) and full of the composer's "all-encompassing sense of humor" (Los Angeles Times).



Synopsis:

The opera is set in present-day Tepoztlán, an actual village near Mexico City known for its curanderos/curanderas, practitioners of folk magic.

Scene One. It is afternoon in the outdoor lobby of the fictitious Hotel Tepoztecatl, named for the Aztec god of the alcoholic drink, pulque. The elderly and distinguished General Godofredo de la Barca (bass) enters, accompanied by his pretty young nurse, Dionisia (mezzo-soprano). Ramón (baritone), proprietor of the hotel, has just given an annual fiesta in honor of the famous General de la Barca. All three, especially the guest of honor, are happily tipsy, and they join in a three-person conga line. General de la Barca expresses his gratitude to Ramón for the tribute and to Dionisia for her devoted care. La Curandera (contralto) enters, inquiring about The General’s health and about his American grand-nephew, Alberto, whom The General has not seen since the funeral of his beloved wife, Estela, two years ago. When The General and Dionisia leave, Ramón asks La Curandera about the potion she has given him to bring more lucrative tourist business to his hotel. La Curandera scoffs at his doubts and assures him of the power of her magic.

Scene Two. Later that same day, The General’s grand-nephew, Alberto (tenor), and his fiancée, Alba (soprano), count their luggage in an American airport, on their way to pay “Uncle Godo” a surprise visit. Alberto warmly recounts his childhood with “tio Godo” and “tia Estela” in Mexico, and the couple agree to name their first child “Godofredo,” after Alberto’s celebrated, and now only living, relative. Alberto leaves for a moment to get a luggage tag. While he is gone, the cell phone in his bag rings. Alba answers and hears a woman’s voice asking in Spanish for Alberto. Alba, not understanding the language, hangs up. When Alberto returns, Alba confronts him as to the woman’s identity, but he brushes off her question and hurries her onto their flight.

Scene Three. That evening in Tepoztlán, on the patio of General de la Barca’s hacienda, The General repairs his deceased wife’s silver watch and muses on the passing of time. Dionisia enters, brightly, bringing him a delicious dinner. She jokes, teases and dances with him. Soon he cheers up and observes, as she leaves, that “Time is the cure!”

Scene Four. The next morning, Alberto and Alba arrive at the Hotel Tepoztecatl and check in with Ramón. Alba, obviously upset, again questions Alberto about the suspicious female caller with the “beautiful voice.” Ramón tries, in vain, to follow their heated argument, as Alba presses Alberto for the woman’s name and Alberto persists in his innocence. Alberto further enrages Alba by repeatedly correcting her faulty Spanish. When Alba storms off to the room, Ramón tries to console Alberto. Alberto dejectedly calls Dionisia to arrange the surprise visit, sans fiancée, with his uncle. He tells Dionisia of his misunderstanding with Alba, and Dionisia suggests that Alberto send Alba to La Curandera for a dose of her magic. Dionisia tells Alberto that she will bring his uncle to meet him at La Curandera’s house. Ramón reluctantly promises Alberto that he will take Alba for her visit, and he calls La Curandera to make an appointment.

Scene Five (Finale) is set in La Curandera’s house, where the interior and exterior are both clearly visible. Inside, La Curandera gleefully awaits her new American client. Ramón brings Alba to the door and convinces her to ring the bells. Before Alba can ring them, the bells ring by themselves, and La Curandera invites her inside. Alba tells La Curandera she doesn’t think she can help her. La Curandera roughly answers that, if Alba doesn’t believe that magic can help her, then she should leave. Taken aback, Alba decides to stay, and she accepts La Curandera’s offer of tea. Instead of serving Alba tea to drink, however, La Curandera throws tea leaves over Alba’s head “to purify the air.” Little by little, La Curandera presses Alba to reveal her suspicions about the mysterious voice of the “other woman” on the telephone. When La Curandera cleverly pretends to agree with Alba about Alberto’s philandering ways, Alba abruptly changes her attitude and begins, instead, to defend Alberto and to affirm her trust and love for him. Alberto approaches the house in the midst of the proceedings, and throughout the scene, Alberto and Ramón listen outside La Curandera’s door. They comment and speculate nervously on the action inside as La Curandera performs a series of intense and exotic incantations, waving herbs, lighting candles, giving Alba a flower to hold and taking her pulse (to “listen” to her “blood”), eventually causing Alba to swoon.

When General de la Barca and Dionisia arrive, uncle and nephew are joyously reunited. Alberto and Dionisia finally meet in person, and Alberto discovers that Dionisia was the mysterious female caller. All anxiously await the outcome of Alba’s continuing encounter with La Curandera. The scene culminates as Alba crushes the flower, which, La Curandera declares, has absorbed all of Alba’s jealous suspicions.

At the moment Alba emerges, however, she sees Alberto kissing Dionisia, and she immediately assumes the worst. The old argument erupts anew. Eventually, however, Alba learns that Dionisia is The General’s nurse and that she had called Alberto to invite him to visit his uncle, with Alberto not knowing who she was and with Dionisia not knowing that he was already on his way. With everything understood, Alberto is finally able to present his fiancée to his beloved uncle. Ramón, encouraged by The General and Dionisia, renews his hope for La Curandera’s promise of a more prosperous life, and Alba and Alberto again declare their love for each other. La Curandera comes out to join the happy scene. She meets Alberto and receives his thanks, and, in a joyous finale, everyone praises La Curandera for her magic and her wisdom. There is general rejoicing as the curtain falls.

Scenic Design Richard Isackes Light Design Toni Tucci Costume Design Michaele Hite

Composer Biography Robert Xavier Rodríguez is one of the most significant and often-performed American composers of his generation. His music has been described as “Romantically dramatic” (Washington Post), “richly lyrical” (Musical America) and “glowing with a physical animation and delicate balance of moods that combine seductively with his all-encompassing sense of humor” (Los Angeles Times). “Its originality lies in the telling personality it reveals. His music always speaks, and speaks in the composer’s personal language.” (American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters). Rodríguez has written in all genres — opera, orchestral, concerto, ballet, vocal, choral, chamber, solo and music for the theater — but he has been drawn most strongly in recent years to works for the stage, including music for children. Rodríguez received his early musical education in San Antonio (b. 1946) and in Austin (UT), Los Angeles (USC), Lenox (Tanglewood), Fontainebleau (Conservatoire Américain) and Paris. His teachers have included Nadia Boulanger, Jacob Druckman, Bruno Maderna and Elliott Carter. Rodríguez first gained international recognition in 1971, when he was awarded the Prix de Composition Musicale Prince Pierre de Monaco by Prince Rainier and Princess Grace at the Palais Princier in Monte Carlo. Other honors include the Prix Lili Boulanger, a Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from ASCAP and the Rockefeller Foundation, five NEA grants, and the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Rodríguez has served as Composer-in-Residence with the San Antonio Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, Bennington College, The Bowdoin Music Festival, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the American Dance Festival. He currently holds the endowed chair of University Professor of Music and is Director of the Musica Nova ensemble at The University of Texas at Dallas. He is also active as a guest lecturer and conductor. Rodríguez’ music has been performed by conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Antal Dorati, Eduardo Mata, Andrew Litton, James DePriest, Sir Raymond Leppard, Keith Lockhart and Leonard Slatkin. His work has received over 2000 professional orchestral and operatic performances in recent seasons by such organizations as the Vienna Schauspielhaus, The National Opera of Mexico, New York City Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Boston Repertory Theater, American Music Theater Festival (now Prince Music Theater), Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Pennsylvania Opera Theater, Michigan Opera Theatre, Orlando Opera, The Aspen Music Festival, The Juilliard Focus Series, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Mexico City Philharmonic, Toronto Radio Orchestra, The Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Knoxville, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Boston and Chicago Symphonies, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra. Rodríguez' chamber works have been performed in London, Paris, Dijon, Monte Carlo, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, The Hague and other musical centers. His music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer (www.schirmer.com/composers/Rodríguez) and is recorded on the Newport, Crystal, Orion, Gasparo, Urtext, CRI (Grammy nomination), First Edition and Albany labels.