“A stunning emotional work” with “much wonderful singing.” - CultureMap

To Cross the Face of the Moon/Cruzar la Cara de la Luna

Friday, December 3, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 4, 2010, 7:00 and 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 5, 2010, 5:30 p.m.
at Talento Bilingüe de Houston, 333 S Jensen Drive, Houston, TX  77003. Click here for directions.

Tickets are only $27.50! To purchase tickets, call (713) 222-1213 or order online at www.tbhcenter.org

HGO presents the fully-staged opera at Talento Bilingüe de Houston featuring Mariachi Aztlán (UTPA).
 
Music by José "Pepe" Martínez. Lyrics by José "Pepe" Martínez and Leonard Foglia. Book by Leonard Foglia.
Sung in Spanish and English with projected translations

Where is home? Is it where we are born? Or where we live most of our lives? Is it with the family we leave behind or with the new ones we create? To Cross the Face of the Moon/Cruzar la Cara de la Luna follows one family from its patriarch’s distant American dream to their generations-long quest for fulfillment in the country that still does not quite feel like home. The work’s story, by acclaimed director and writer Leonard Foglia, is based on first-hand accounts of Mexican immigrants to Houston. The score of To Cross the Face of the Moon is by José “Pepe” Martínez, music director of the world-famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán.

photos by Felix Sanchez

Synopsis

Where is home? Is it where we are born? Or where we live most of our lives? Is it with the family we leave behind or with the new ones we create?

To Cross the Face of the Moon / Cruzar la Cara de la Luna follows three generations of a single family, divided by countries and cultures.

As a Mexican/American man deals with the approaching death of his father, he is forced to face these questions about his own place in the world - straddling two cultures - as well as that of his immigrant father and his American daughter. As long buried secrets are revealed, he finds himself dramatically re-evaluating his own understanding of what makes a family.

Like the Monarch butterflies that migrate every year to the birthplace of his father, the members of the Velasquez family must travel both physically and spiritually between Michoacán and Texas and look deep into their hearts before they learn where they truly belong.
—Leonard Foglia

Sinopsis

¿En dónde se encuentra el hogar de uno? ¿Es donde nacimos? ¿O donde hemos vivido la mayor parte de nuestras vidas? ¿Es con la familia que dejamos atrás, o con las nuevas familias que formamos?

Cruzar la Cara de la Luna / To Cross the Face of the Moon es la crónica de tres generaciones de una familia dividida por dos países diferentes y sus culturas.

Mientras un mexicano-americano se enfrenta al inminente deceso de su padre, se ve forzado a enfrentar estas preguntas acerca de su propia existencia y el lugar que ocupa en el mundo – viviendo entre dos culturas – tanto la de su padre inmigrante, como la de su hija estadounidense.  Al revelarse secretos que habían sido guardados durante mucho tiempo, se encuentra a sí mismo re-evaluando lo que significa para él el concepto de familia.

Así como las mariposas Monarca migran anualmente a la tierra de sus padres, también los miembros de la familia Velásquez deben viajar física y espiritualmente entre Michoacán y Texas; de igual manera llevan a cabo una profunda introspección en su corazón para saber el lugar al que realmente pertenecen. – Leonard Foglia

CAST

Octavio Moreno***
Laurentino

Cecilia Duarte
Renata

Vanessa Cerda-Alonzo*
Lupita

David Guzman*
Rafael

Brittany Wheeler**
Diana

Brian Shircliffe
Mark

Juan Mejia*
Victor

Saúl Avalos*
Chucho

 

Mariachi Aztlán (UTPA)

CREATIVE TEAM

Leonard Foglia
Librettist, Director and Set Designer

José "Pepe" Martínez*
Composer

Cesar Galindo
Costume Designer

Michael James Clark
Lighting Designer

David Hanlon***
Music Director

* HGO debut
** HGO Studio Artist
*** Former HGO Studio Artist

"A multicultural winner...Houston Grand Opera’s To Cross the Face of the Moon (Cruzar la Cara de la Luna) succeeded on all fronts in its four sold-out weekend performances at Talento Bilingüe de Houston." - Everett Evans for 29-95.com
Click here to read the article

A trumpet's note of hope in a mariachi opera
"The young mariachi — a trumpeter whose powerful vibrato bounds effortlessly from his wiry frame — isn't the star of this opera. He blends into the arc of strings and brass and midnight blue, bejeweled charro suits accompanying the singers in the spotlight. But he finds his story center stage" - Houston Chronicle
Click here to read the article

"The Song of Houston project continues with HGO’s launch of East + West, a four-year program which celebrates Houston as a meeting place for Eastern and Western cultures." - ArtsHound.com
Click here to read the article

HGO General Director Anthony Freud discusses To Cross the Face of the Moon/Cruzar la Cara de la Luna on Fox 26 Morning News.
Click here to watch the video

"In a year that it bested top universities and professionals to win one of the nation's premier Mariachi competitions and next played for President Barack Obama at the White House, the Mariachi Aztlan at The University of Texas-Pan American is now readying to perform in what one Houston arts critic called "a new, spectacular, evolutionary art form." - UTPA
Click here to read the article

"Very seldom is something so much more, or so much better, than things that usually have to be described. But in the case of To Cross the Face of the Moon (Cruzar la Cara de la Luna), we are suddenly in that realm, and in a shockingly emotional way." - Examiner.com
Click here to read the article

"Oh, what a night at the Wortham! The energy was palpable and anticipation high as Houston Grand Opera offered its 41^st world premiere, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon)." - Culture Map
Click here to read the article

Cecilia Duarte and Vanessa Cerda-Alonzo perform excerpts and librettist and director Leonard Foglia talks about HGO's mariachi opera, on KUHF's The Front Row.
Click here to listen

Opera, Mariachi Come Together for One Night at HGO
"Listening to the celebrated Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán perform, Houston Grand Opera general director Anthony Freud wasn't just enjoying the music. He was devising a means of incorporating the mariachi genre into an opera." - Houston Chronicle
Click here to read the article

"When the curtain goes up on Houston Grand Opera’s 41^st world premiere this month, audiences are in for a surprise. To Cross the Face of the Moon / Cruzar la Cara de la Luna is more than just another opera—it’s opera blended with mariachi." - Holly Beretto for Change Media Online
Click here to read the article