SAN DIEGO – San Diego Opera is presenting the second ever mariachi opera, El Pasado Nunca Se Termina (The Past is Never Finished), featuring the world famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and composed by the same team from 2013’s wildly popular mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon), Jose “Pepe” Martinez (music) and Leonard Foglia (libretto). This opera will have two performances only Saturday, April 25, at 2 PM and 7 PM, at the San Diego Civic Theatre. Starting at noon, local mariachi talent from high schools and colleges will be performing outside the theater for a free community concert.
About El Pasado Nunca Se Termina: In May 1910, Halley’s Comet appeared in the sky over Mexico and many believed it foretold the upheaval that was to come. It was the eve of the Mexican Revolution and a smoldering restlessness, fueled by poverty, permeated the country. Peasants became revolutionaries who sought to reclaim land that had been theirs for centuries. As cultures clash, conflicts boil to the surface with some citizens striving to change the face of Mexico, while others became the new face of the American Dream, both impacting generations to come.
San Diego Opera welcomes soprano Abigail Santos Villalobos as Amorita, tenor Daniel Montenegro as Luis, mezzo-soprano Cassandra Zoé Velasco as Isabel/Dolores, baritone Paul LaRosa as Enrique, baritone Ricardo Rivera as Acalán, baritone Luis Ledesma as Augustino and boy tenor Sebastian de la Cruz as Daniel in Company debuts. Mezzo-soprano Vanessa Cerda-Alonzo, last seen as Lupita in 2013’s Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, returns to sing Juana. Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, last seen as the orchestra in 2013’s Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, returns for these productions. The opera is directed by Leonard Foglia who directed the Company’s production of Moby-Dick in 2012 and Cruzar la Cara de la Luna in 2013. The costume designer is Scott Marr and the set and projection designer is Elaine McCarthy This production is from the Lyric Opera of Chicago. These are the Company’s first performances of El Pasado Nunca Se Termina. Performed in Spanish and English with English translations and text above the stage.
