News & Blog
From (Prose) Page to (Opera) Stage.
Date: 4/9/2010 By FWOpera Fat Lady
From (Prose) Page to (Opera) Stage.
These days, great pieces of literature have made their way onto the stage and to the Hollywood screen. However, the task of taking the literary experience and translating it into a 3-hour performance is no easy feat. Thus, it is with great effort that composer Jorge Martín took on the task of Before Night Falls. Questions arise as to which elements, characters, and scenes do you take out or combine or even add in? Jorge Martín brilliantly approaches and adapts the memoir of the famous Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas into a world premiere opera.
Jorge Martín chronicles his journey "From (Prose) Page to (Opera) Stage" in his blog. Here is an excerpt from his blog in which he discusses the character of Ovidio (to be played by Jesus Garcia) and the challenges in its creation:
"I wanted to capture, for dramatic purposes, in one character, certain themes so prevalent in the memoir: the mentors (Reinaldo's "great writer" models), the betrayals, and the suicides. No one person ever personified all these three themes, so it would be a delicate matter to give this fictional person a name, lest it offend the memory of a historical and famous writer who neither betrayed Reinaldo nor committed suicide. I had loved the names Lezama Lima and Virgilio [Piñera], but it would be too deeply wrong to use the names of Rey's dearest mentors and honorable artists who resisted the regime as best they could without either succumbing or compromising their ethics. Lolita [Delores Koch] came up with "Ovidio," the Spanish version of "Ovid," the Roman poet author of "Ars amatoria" and the "Metamorphoses," creating thereby wonderfully apposite allusions."
For more information about Before Night Falls, go here.
-Rebecca
Date: 4/9/2010 By FWOpera Fat Lady
From (Prose) Page to (Opera) Stage.
These days, great pieces of literature have made their way onto the stage and to the Hollywood screen. However, the task of taking the literary experience and translating it into a 3-hour performance is no easy feat. Thus, it is with great effort that composer Jorge Martín took on the task of Before Night Falls. Questions arise as to which elements, characters, and scenes do you take out or combine or even add in? Jorge Martín brilliantly approaches and adapts the memoir of the famous Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas into a world premiere opera.
Jorge Martín chronicles his journey "From (Prose) Page to (Opera) Stage" in his blog. Here is an excerpt from his blog in which he discusses the character of Ovidio (to be played by Jesus Garcia) and the challenges in its creation:
"I wanted to capture, for dramatic purposes, in one character, certain themes so prevalent in the memoir: the mentors (Reinaldo's "great writer" models), the betrayals, and the suicides. No one person ever personified all these three themes, so it would be a delicate matter to give this fictional person a name, lest it offend the memory of a historical and famous writer who neither betrayed Reinaldo nor committed suicide. I had loved the names Lezama Lima and Virgilio [Piñera], but it would be too deeply wrong to use the names of Rey's dearest mentors and honorable artists who resisted the regime as best they could without either succumbing or compromising their ethics. Lolita [Delores Koch] came up with "Ovidio," the Spanish version of "Ovid," the Roman poet author of "Ars amatoria" and the "Metamorphoses," creating thereby wonderfully apposite allusions."
For more information about Before Night Falls, go here.
-Rebecca
