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Located in the USA
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- Gabriela Lena Frank
El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) (2021)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
Commissioned and Produced by San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and DePauw University, School of Music, with generous support from the University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts
- San Diego Opera version: 2(I:pic,afl.II:pic).2.2(II:bcl).2(II:cbn)/2.2.0.0/2perc/pf(cel[=syn]).hp/str
- San Francisco Opera version: 2(I:pic,afl.II:pic).2.2(II:bcl).2(II:cbn)/4.2.1.0/timp.2perc/pf(cel[=syn]).hp/str
- SSAATTBB chorus
- Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Countertenor, Baritone
- 2 hr
- Nilo Cruz
- Spanish
Programme Note
Cast
CATRINA: Soprano
FRIDA: Mezzo-soprano
DIEGO: Baritone
LEONARDO: Countertenor
ALDEANO #1: Baritone
ALDEANO #2/Young Man: Tenor (sung by same person)
ALDEANO #3: Bass
FRIDA IMAGE #1: Soprano
FRIDA IMAGE #2: Mezzo-Soprano
FRIDA IMAGE #3: Alto
GUADELUPE PONTI: Soprano or Mezzo-Soprano
Chorus: SSAATTBB
Synopsis
Set in 1957, the opera opens in a cemetery, as Mexico celebrates the annual festival of El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The great muralist Diego Rivera walks among the worshipers as they prepare for the return of the spirits to the world, singing with joy and anticipation. Surrounded by sugar-coated skulls, candles, and fragrant marigold flowers, he longs to see his deceased lover Frida Kahlo once again before he passes on.
In the afterlife, Catrina, the keeper of the souls, approaches Frida and explains that Diego desperately needs his beloved angel as the seed of death quickly sprouts within him. Moved by the desires of the departed souls she encounters around her, Frida reluctantly agrees to join him in the world above, with the knowledge that the dead can never touch the living. For only twenty-four hours, Frida and Diego will relive their tumultuous love through their paintings, embracing the passion they shared and the pain they inflicted upon one other.
Scores
Features
- New Opera Highlights from Wise Music Classical
- Wise Music Classical invites you to explore new highlights from our opera catalogue. In these recent and upcoming premieres, new productions, and premiere recordings, our composers and their creative collaborators explore subjects ranging from the historical (Hadrian, X: The Life and Times of Malcom X, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) to the futuristic (Oryx and Crake), the fantastic (El Ultimo Sueño de Frida y Diego, Florencia en el Amazonas, Die Kinder des Sultans) to the thoroughly contemporary (Innocence, The Shell Trial). Threaded throughout these works are perennial themes of loss, longing, magic, art-making, and community.
- 2024 Opera Highlights
- Ahead of Opera America’s 2024 Opera Conference and the World Opera Forum, Wise Music Classical invites you to explore new highlights from our opera catalogue. Across major premieres, new productions, and first recordings, our composers and their collaborators explore both timely issues and the timeless themes of love, desire, and belonging.
Reviews
More Info
- ¡Viva la Ópera en Español!
- 30th November 2023
- Operas in Spanish are taking the United States by storm.
- 'El último sueño de Frida y Diego' at Los Angeles Opera
- 8th November 2023
- Los Angeles Opera presents Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo's Cruz's El último sueño de Frida y Diego from November 18 to December 9, 2023.
- El último sueño Returns in San Francisco
- 6th June 2023
- El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) is Gabriela Lena Frank’s long-awaited first opera, set to a Spanish-language libretto by her longtime collaborator and Pulitzer-winning playwright Nilo Cruz.
