Fort Worth Opera to put on world premiere of Before Night Falls

by Steve Smith of West and Clear

Fort Worth Opera announced today that it will produce a world premiere opera as part of its 2010 Festival. The opera, Before Night Falls, is by Jorge Martín, a Cuban-American composer relatively new to the operatic stage and it will be his first major world premiere.

The opera is based on the autobiography of the same title by Reinaldo Arenas, a Cuban poet, novelist and playwright who was an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro’s regime. In addition to composing the music, Martín also wrote the libretto with the help of Dolores M. Koch, a personal friend of Arenas and the Spanish-to-English translator for several of his books.

Darren Woods, general director of Fort Worth Opera, first learned of Before Night Falls in 2005 after American Opera Projects in New York presented piano readings from the then-unfinished opera as part of the Cuban Arts Festival. At Woods’ request, the completed opera was produced with piano and student artists at a workshop at the Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, New York in August 2008.

“As soon as we saw Before Night Falls at the workshop, my team and I knew this was an opportunity we didn’t want to pass up,” said Woods. “I told Jorge [Martín] that night that we wanted to do the world premiere in Fort Worth.”

Before Night Falls will premiere at Bass Performance Hall in the spring of 2010. Exact performance dates and ticket information, including prices, have not yet been announced.