MARIA
Commissioned by the Butler Opera Center and premiered on November 29th & 30th, 2023 at the McCullough Theatre under the direction of Maestro Douglas Kinney Frost, Stage Director Garnett Bruce, and Producer Tamar Sanikidze.
MARIA is a 55 minute, one-act opera written for 6 principals, SATB Chorus, Chamber Orchestra [1(pic.&alto).1(bcl).1(corA).0. – 0.0.0.0 – perc. gtr. cel. pno. – strings], and Fixed Media Narration.
This work follows the life of my grandmother, Maria, with her voice narrating the scenes unfolding throughout 12 scenes. MARIA begins a conversation towards healing generational trauma and celebrates mothers everywhere through the lens of the latiné community. This work was composed in 3 months during the summer of 2023 and premiered that same year.
Maria was in attendance.
Premiere Cast
MARIA: Maria del Pilar Pavlova
REBECA: Ana Aguilar
JONATÁN: Benjamin Mera
INEZ: Louie Ramos
GEORGE: Nathaniel Payan
THEN/NOW: Connor Behrmann
CHORUS: Catarina Contreras, Aidan Barriga, Alexandra Dorantes, Esther Hernandez, Michael Ibarra, David Roitberg, Nikos Warren, & Emma Zahniser
Premiere Orchestra
Conductor: Douglas Kinney Frost
Concertmaster: Emmanuelle (Ellie) Sievers
Violin II: Bella Benrubi
Viola: Emmanuel Aguilera
Cello: Yilin (Selina) Xu
Contrabass: Rosemarijn van de Lint
Flutes: Maggie Chvatal
Oboes: Sara Brown
Clarinets: Gabriel Vaca
Percussion: Rubén Acuña González
Guitar: Gema Ornelas
Piano: Ana Moiseeva Celesta:
Alyssa Liao
Electronics: Sophie Mathieu