First Latin American Contemporary Opera Congress Held in Chile

By Afton Wooten

The first Latin American Contemporary Opera Congress took place Oct. 16-17, in Chile.

Organizers and composers Miguel Farías and Cristian Fernández Toro, aimed to reflect on the trajectories and approaches to opera-making in Latin America, considering creation processes, management, and research in the genre. Daily sessions featured discussion on music, aesthetics, and identity issues. The event also spent time exploring theoretical concepts and creators while addressing the structural and economic challenges that shape opera performance across the continent.

Among presenters were musicologist Yael Bitrán and composers Martín Bauer and Carlos Castro Mora. Bitrán analyzed the works of Diana Syrse and Hilda Paredes, two Mexican composers who have used opera to address racial and gender violence in Mexico’s recent history. Bauer discussed his staging experience in Teatro Colón’s production of Glass’ “Einstein on the Beach.” Latin Grammy winner for Best Classical Music Album, Mora shared his compositional strategies across various operatic works. His opera “The Tunnel” was performed during the congress by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Barrientos, bass-baritone Nikolás Tobar,  and pianist Juan Cristóbal Undurraga in a 40-minute condensed version. Toro, representing the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, also presented his work. As director of Gesture Vocal Soloists Ensemble and musical director of the Pocket Operas project at the NóM Festival, Toro discussed his chamber and pocket opera projects, which aim to engage diverse audiences through television and popular culture themes.

The congress’s open call for papers yielded impressive results. Selected through peer review, five notable presentations explored new composition techniques, performance experiences, identity analysis, and contemporary opera production dynamics in Latin America. Highlights included “Contingency and Urgency: The Cases of The Island of the Fish (2015) and Titus (2017)” by Guillermo Eisner and Carla Romero, and “La Rara, an Opera for the Rare Context of Art and Education” by René Silva and Daniela Fugellie. Both examined new opera production in critical contexts.

A collaborative event with the Catholic University of Chile libraries network complemented the congress activities at Campus’ Oriente Library. This facility houses 125,746 bibliographic items, including an impressive collection of audiovisuals, music scores, and more. Two significant books were donated during the event, “Negras, blancas y voces indígenas: Opera in Latin America 1870-1930” by Miguel Farías, and “Teatro Abya Yala: Operas and Musicals” by Roxana Ávila Harper and Carlos Castro-Mora. The event concluded with a guided tour of the library facilities.

The congress was held at the Institute of Music of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, with funding from the UC Vice-Rectorate for Research awarded to Miguel Farías, professor at the UC Institute of Music.

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