María de Buenos Aires
31 August 2006, 8:00 pm
Buskirk-Chumley Theather
Bloomington, IN
ExArt, an enthusiastic ensemble of musicians, artists, and dancers, working under the supervision of the IU Latin American Music Center and in collaboration with the Arthur Murray Dance Studio, will present María de Buenos Aires, a “tango” opera by world-famous Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla, with a libretto by Horacio Ferrer, on August 31 at the Buskirk Chumlet Theater. "This tango operita is a masterpiece that takes hold of all who fall under its spell," says Hebe de Champeaux, music director, violinist, and co-founder of ExArt.
A spectacle filled with tantalizing music, dances, and lyrical poetics epitomizing the meaning of magic realism, María de Buenos Aires presents daring contemporary harmonies and rhythms, coupled with extreme dramatic intensity, María is the personification of the city harbor of Buenos Aires, a place steeped in the feminine, dark seduction of night. Born a prostitute, she is a sultry embodiment of Tango. She is also assigned the contrasting responsibility of being the universal "Mary," a superwoman who must always recreate herself to face an adverse social system, its expectations, and its morals. María makes a final challenging statement to the world by giving birth to another María, an incarnation of herself, rather than the expected "new baby Jesus."
The story is narrated by the "Duende," a wholly spiritual character and a dramatic role Ferrer created for himself to represent the consuming artistic force that can possess a human soul. The Duende creates a magical spell which becomes the story. He is a power and a struggle that evokes and arouses the entity of María, yet ultimately condemns her.
"María de Buenos Aires is a powerful and seductive masterpiece of two geniuses from Argentina—Astor Piazzolla, creator of the intense music of Nuevo Tango, and Horacio Ferrer, librettist of the beautifully surreal and hallucinatory poetry of the opera," says Uruguayan pianist and Musical Advisor Alfredo Minetti.
"I feel privileged to work with a talented multinational cast and production team, whose members come to IU Bloomington from Europe, Central and South America, and the United States, and whose cultural amalgam makes the chemistry ripe for a truly unique cultural experience,” says local tenor U lises Solano, who acts as the Duende.
Maria de Buenos Aires has been called a masterful articulation of tension and violence combined with moments of extreme tenderness. The authors challenge and demolish the dualities of good and evil, sin and purity, and they present a multifaceted picture of what it means to live in a harsh and ambiguous modern world.
ExArt is sponsored by: Olimpia Barbera, Latin American Music Center, IU Jacobs School of Music, IU Opera Theater, Department of Multicultural Initiatives, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, FedExKinkos, and WFIU. For ticket information and more about the production visit www.ex-art.org.
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