Opera Hispanica, in cooperation with El Museo del Barrio, presented New York City with a generous Cinco de Mayo gift--an evening of Spanish music and dance created by Music Director Juan Pablo Horcasitas and Artistic Director Camille Ortiz-Lafont.  The seed for the evening was a poem by Pablo Neruda entitled “Si Alguna Vez tu Pecho Se Detiene”. From this seed, they devised the story of a love affair between a young woman and her sweetheart who meet and marry.  He is drafted and dies at war, but his spirit returns to console her and inspire her to go on.

Upon this framework songs from various sources (classical and popular) were interpolated to convey the wide range of emotions in this story.  Perhaps best known were Pablo Sorozabal’s “No Puede Ser” and Xavier Montsalvatge’s “Cinco Canciones Negras”.  Also heard were Enrique Granados’ “La Maja Dolorosa #1 and #2,” as well as his “La Maja y el Ruisenor”.

A special treat was a tango performed by Sara and Ivan Terrazas who managed to be sexy without being slimy.  Their fleet footwork reminded one of the wings of hummingbirds.  The bandoneon, as played by Juan Pablo Jofre, was made to speak and to sing with great eloquence.  It was a truly exquisite performance.  Francisco Roldan performed with great sensitivity on the classical guitar.  Ms. Ortiz-Lafont herself provided some delightful singing as did soprano Anna Noggle, tenor Aniello Alberti, and baritone Vaughn Lindquist.

New York has been too long deprived of the glories of Spanish music and San Antonio native Daniel Frost Hernandez aimed to rectify that situation by founding Opera Hispanica.  Let us anticipate many more such evenings of celebration!  Viva Opera Hispanica!