El Paso Opera held its final performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Abraham Chavez Theater. The show catered to over a thousand well-dressed and expectant viewers, many of them paying nearly $100 for premium views of the opera-and no one was disappointed.
"The music is very difficult and unusual, but they've done a great job with it," said one regular operagoer, Dr. Chiucchini. "I'm very impressed."
Il Trovatore, which means literally, "the Troubadour," is a tragedy centering around mistaken identity, gypsy curses, duels, torture and lots of trembling tenors and lilting sopranos.
As the play opens, soldiers gather around a fire and tell the story of a gypsy woman who was burned at the stake when she was found standing malevolently over a nobleman's child. Seeking revenge, the gypsy's daughter stole the child away with the aim of burning him-however, (unbeknownst to the soldiers at this time) she throws her own child into the fire by accident. Having suffered this loss, the woman raises the nobleman's son as her own. This child, whom she names Manrico, becomes a famous troubadour and the bitter rival of his brother, the Count di Luna, in winning the heart of the beautiful Leonara. Before everything is over, Leonora commits suicide in order to save Manrico's life and his jealous brother beheads Manrico before it is discovered that he and the Count di Luna are really brothers.
The set design was intricate; it was inherited from the Syracuse Opera. The costumes were obtained from the Opera Company of Philadelphia. The lighting was very professional as well.
"I've been a fan of opera since high school," says Victor Guerrera, a graduate student at UTEP. "El Paso Opera does a great job every year. This one is very different and entertaining."
Surprising to many patrons is the fact that all the artists in the opera are local talent.
"Everyone always says that there's no talent in El Paso. Well, the EP Opera is always good and there's a lot of talent there," said Victor Guerrera.
Greeting operagoers at the door were four beautiful 15 year-old girls, dressed in quinceañera gowns and holding bells, which would later softly peal as the curtains were drawn up on the opening scene. The girls were there to remind visitors that it was the 15th anniversary of the El Paso Opera.
Also in the lobby, guests could purchase beautiful Spanish fans, posters and T-shirts commemorating the event, classic-looking opera glasses, and even "Il Trovatore" daggers.
Inside the theater, the seats were packed with fans who strained to hear every syllable. Above the stage, there were two screens placed side by side translating the lyrics (which were all Italian): the right into Spanish and the left into English. The system was designed with the art of the opera in mind, however, ensuring not to bog the audience down with redundant explanations (that translations often offer)-instead, the screens would explain a scene up to the point of necessity and then allow the emotion of the voices to echo the meaning by remaining black.
The next production that El Paso Opera will undertake is called the Magical Flute, a German opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It will open March 12, 2009.
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