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Upcoming Performance of Guadalupe
Last year I was fortunate to perform the premiere and recording of a new concert opera, Guadalupe, by ASU colleague James Demars. I will be performing it again this weekend, as described below in the event website.
Filled with drama, tenderness, passionate songs, and powerful choral passages, Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Roses retells the beloved story of the Mexican native Juan Diego’s miraculous encounter with Our Lady of Guadalupe. Exploring the challenges of faith and the gift of spiritual renewal, this music drama portrays a humble man changing his world and leading his people to the future.
The inner and outer worlds of Juan Diego are brought to life by the rich musical colors of Native American flute by R. Carlos Nakai, Aztec percussion and flutes by Xavier Quijas Yxayotl, and African drums by Mark Sunkett. Beautiful, lyrical, and entertaining music is from James DeMars, a leading American composer. Starring Isola Jones as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Robert Breault as Juan Diego, Carole FitzPatrick as La Malinche, Robert Barefield as Bishop Zumarraga, and Fr. Jorge Rodriguez Eagar as Don Valeriano, with a performing cast of chorus and symphony performers from the Phoenix area and around Arizona.
The below video was produced to highlight the production, I can be seen several times over to the right of the screen:
As to specifics of this production, the basic info is these performances are at the Phoenix Art Museum the evenings of Friday, Dec 11th and Sunday, Dec 13th.
The combination of Native American and western music found in this unique work is very compelling. If you can’t attend but have an interest this work may be purchased on CD from Canyon Records; I performed principal horn on the recording.
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