Opera Santa Barbara opens its ambitious 21|22 Season with the company premiere of the celebrated Mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (“To Cross the Face of the Moon”).

With music by José “Pepe” Martínez, founder of the Mariachi Vargas de Tecatlán, and lyrics by Martínez and acclaimed American stage director Leonard Foglia, the 75-minute opera tells the multi-generational story of one family’s journey across decades and borders to find one another and to make a home together. 

Directed by Octavio Cardenas (Madama Butterfly, 2019) and conducted by David Hanlon, who conducted the 2010 Houston premiere, Opera Santa Barbara’s new production of Cruzar la cara de la luna features Grammy-Award winning, Los Angeles-based Mariachi Los Camperos, who performed the opera at its New York City premiere in 2017 and the Houston revival in 2018.  Some of Opera Santa Barbara’s favorite artist perform the principal roles:  Tenor Daniel Montenegro, Mario in Opera SB’s 2020 Il Postino, and baritone Efraín Solís, Malatesta in last April’s Don Pasquale, take up the roles of the half-brothers Rafael and Mark; former Opera SB Chrisman Studio Artists Kelly Guerra and Sergio Gonzalez, play the young couple of Chucho and Lupita. Bernardo Bermudez  takes on the central role of the immigrant pater familias Laurentino, alternating between ages 25, 50, and 75, and Jessica Gonzalez-Rodriguez is his beloved wife Renata; Chrisman Studio Artist Raphaella Medina makes her Opera SB debut as the American-born granddaughter Diana. The set, which alternates between contemporary Houston, 1950’s Mexico, and the Chihuahuan Desert is designed by Adam Crinson, with lighting design by Brandon Baruch, both in their Opera Santa Barbara debuts. The performance will have songs and spoken dialogue in Spanish and English, with English supertitles projected above the stage.

https://www.operasb.org/events/event/cruzar/