Baritone Brian James Myer (from left) performs the role of Youssef Biboldo, a Jewish lawyer and community leader in Llantos 1492. Soprano Oriana Falla makes her Opera Southwest debut as Angela, wife of the tyrannical Don Alfonso. ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe native Ingela Onstad plays Raquel, daughter of Biboldo; her love affair with the Romani Mariano is at the center of the opera. Ricardo Ceballos portrays Don Alfonso; he’s the personification of the Spanish Inquisition and his anger at some Romani children launches the opera’s tragic action.
Performing in Llantos 1492 ²¹°ù±ðÌýflamenco dancer Isabella Alderete (from left), soprano Oriana Falla, and baritone Brian James Myer.
Baritone Brian James Myer (from left) performs the role of Youssef Biboldo, a Jewish lawyer and community leader in Llantos 1492. Soprano Oriana Falla makes her Opera Southwest debut as Angela, wife of the tyrannical Don Alfonso. ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe native Ingela Onstad plays Raquel, daughter of Biboldo; her love affair with the Romani Mariano is at the center of the opera. Ricardo Ceballos portrays Don Alfonso; he’s the personification of the Spanish Inquisition and his anger at some Romani children launches the opera’s tragic action.
When most of us see the number 1492, it conjures an image of Christopher Columbus sailing west on behalf of Spain. Something else of great historic importance happened that year on the Spanish mainland — the end of the so-called Reconquista, acenturies-long series of battles between Christian and Muslim rulers that concluded with the fall of Granada and the expulsion of all Muslims who refused to convert to Christianity.
At the time, Spain’s population included significant numbers of Jews and Romanis, who had co-existed, sometimes peacefully and sometimes not, with the country’s Christian and Muslim populations until the Spanish Inquisition.
It was launched by Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1478. Unlike earlier inquisitions, the Catholic clergy who conducted it reported to the royal rulers, not to the pope. Its avowed purpose was to root out heretics among those who had converted, but its true intent was to consolidate power in the hands of Isabella and Ferdinand.
The horrors the inquisition inflicted on the Jews, Romanis, and Muslims who remained in Spain provide the background of Adam del Monte’s flamenco-infused opera Llantos 1492 (Cries 1492). It will receive its world premiere staging by Albuquerque’s Opera Southwest, opening on Sunday, February 16. The composer, who is also one of the flamenco world’s most acclaimed guitarists, describes it as being “about the persistence and ultimate triumph of identity, both religious and ethnic, in a time of intolerance.â€
The upcoming production is the largest in Opera Southwest’s history, thanks to the involvement of Albuquerque’s National Institute of Flamenco and its artistic director, Joaquin Encinias, who provides choreography.
“Llantos 1492 is by far the most expensive piece we’ve ever produced,†Opera Southwest Artistic Director Anthony Barrese tells Pasatiempo. “And I’m counting Lohengrin, William Tell, and Aida in saying that.†The company took on the financial challenge without any special funding for the production, so Barrese and his colleagues were understandably relieved when ticket sales started to soar a few weeks ago, so much so that they added an additional performance to the calendar.
The connection with del Monte came via an Opera Southwest singer who had participated in a developmental workshop for Llantos 1492. “Shana Blake Hill tipped us off,†said Barrese. “We took a look at it and thought ‘Well, this is giant and unproducible, so let’s do it.’ Then COVID hit, and it just kept getting kicked down the road until now.â€
To solve one of the biggest challenges — the critically important flamenco dance scene at the end of act one — Opera Southwest didn’t have to go down the road at all, just down the hall. The flamenco institute, whose annual festival is the largest such event outside Spain, is one of its partner organizations at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
“What is so exciting about this project,†Encinias says, “is that del Monte has found a way to not only incorporate authentic flamenco but marry it to a whole separate genre of opera. It is done in a very authentic and organic way.†He cites artistic growth, advancements at the storytelling and production levels, and the opportunity to engage new audiences as some of the benefits to his company.
In creating his flamenco-infused opera, del Monte didn’t simply incorporate aspects of each style; they begin to inform each other as the opera progresses. “The Jews have lived in Spain for 15 centuries,†he says, and the Muslims arrived shortly afterward. “With all the intermingling of society, I figured if the doctors and the mystics and the lawyers and the poets all got together, why wouldn’t the musicians get together and jam?â€
The strands that were eventually woven into Llantos 1492 were at first disparate discoveries. At age 19, del Monte walked down the narrow streets of Seville’s Barrio ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Cruz one night. “As the walls were closing in on me, I literally heard the cries, the llantos, of my ancestors. I was so haunted by the experience that I composed a siguiriya, the most dramatic and most tragic in all flamenco.†(The flamenco genre has between 50 and 60 identifiable styles.)
Another came from researching the relationship between cante jondo (deep song), an emotionally intense flamenco vocal style, and Sephardic singing. Sephardic Jews have roots in Spain and Portugal and comprise about 3% of America’s Jewish population; Ashkenazi Jews, originating from central and Eastern Europe, comprise about 67%.
During the research, del Monte’s ex-wife read a historic chronicle that contained an anecdote about a Jewish lawyer named Youssef Biboldo who successfully defended a Romani group accused of blood libel during the inquisition. The lawyer became the central character in Llantos 1492, and the major plot events are all based on historical accounts from the era.
Composer Adam del Monte
Bettie Grace Miner
The close connection between the two marginalized populations also has a personal resonance for the composer, whose grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. Estimates of the number of Romanis executed during the Holocaust are between 50% and 75% of their total European population.
“The people I was really closest to in Spain were the Romanis,†says del Monte. “They accepted me, they taught me flamenco with an open heart, and they never charged me a dime.â€
The composer, who also plays the guitar for all performances, is very enthusiastic about the rehearsals. “They’re going really well,†he says. “Terrific, in fact. I’m absolutely blessed with the production team, and the singers are doing a wonderful job.â€
Del Monte acknowledges that recent political events parallel some aspects of Llantos 1492, but is reluctant to draw too strong a comparison. “I have never been, nor will I ever be, a political artist, because it’s so limiting. My intention was to highlight historical facts, first and foremost, and to bring to the foreground the plight of the Sephardic Jews.†◀
Mark Tiarks attended Carleton College, studied opera and theater in London as a Watson Foundation fellow, then served in leadership positions with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Chicago’s Court Theater, Chicago Opera Theater, and the ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe Opera.
