La Malinche Opera to Premiere at Albuquerque Museum

Albuquerque, NM, June 30, 2022 --(PR.com)-- Mexican-American composer Nathan Felix will present his new immersive opera titled La Malinche: Traitor | Savior at the Albuquerque Museum (2000 Mountain Rd NW) on Thursday, July 21 at 6:30 and again on Sunday, July 24 at 1pm. La Malinche: Traitor | Savior is inspired by the new exhibition, “Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche.” The free opera performance features Lucianna Astorga as La Malinche and Madison Marie McIntosh as Hernán Cortés and explores themes that La Malinche was both reviled as a traitor and hailed as the mother of Mexico. This immersive opera will occur in and around various spaces within the Albuquerque Museum and museum goers are encouraged to follow the performers as they move throughout the museum and amongst the audience.

Felix is known for his guerilla-style approach in presenting classical music in unconventional spaces and La Malinche: Traitor | Savior is no exception, with a performance utilizing space, movement, and acoustics to activate the galleries. The idea behind Felix’s immersive opera is similar to a flash mob as it revolves around blurring the line between performer and audience by having musical performers move amongst the audience as they perform a cohesive musical composition. The audience is encouraged to follow the narrative of the piece which entails following the soloists but they are ultimately given agency to explore based on feeling, sight and soundscape.

La Malinche: Traitor | Savior is a one act 25 minute opera about an enslaved Indigenous girl who became Hernán Cortés’ interpreter and cultural translator. Malinche stood center stage in one of the most significant events of modern history. She was linguistically gifted and played a key role in the transactions, negotiations, and conflicts between the Spanish and the Indigenous populations of Mexico that impacted the course of global politics for centuries to come. Significantly, as mother to Cortés’ first-born son she became the symbolic progenitor of a modern Mexican nation, built on both Indigenous and Spanish heritage. Other featured cast and instrumentalists include sopranos Emily Anderson and Hope Willenbrink-Marchesi who play Aztec slaves, conductor Kelsey Rangel, violinist Everette Ortiz, violist Luis De Vargas and cellists Randall Holt, Revolution Rivera-Felix and Zach McGee.