South of Mexico City there is a volcanic cave:
La Boca del Diablo,
where I walk into the Center of the Earth.
It is dark, but it soon turns light with the fiery singing
of Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky.
of Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky.
And it's not a pit. Earth beats like raw flesh.
It is and it is not an opera about Frida Kahlo.
Too many myths need to be overcome.
"Don Diego" presents a contemporary couple related to narcos and morality.
The modern Frida has acquired the hard face of an insensitive woman who does not correspond. The contemporary Diego, drug-dependent, starts by the good side to move into his madness and darkness.
Cristina, Frida's sister, is rigid and conservative, critical and bossy.
And Leon, Russian narco and Frida's lover, faces life from adversity but with a background of love and light.
So nothing seems what it should be from the beginning in the established order. The Bad and the Good exhibit remixes in this opera based on the work of the Mexican playwright Sabina Berman "The narco negotiates with God" and with the music of Spanish composer Angel del Castillo.
This opera is composed in Spanish and Russian. There are also spoken dialogues which can be played in Spanish, English or any other language. The orchestra consists of woods (Fl, Ob, Cl, Fg, Cf), horn and timpani with piccolo, strings (6,4,4,3,3), piano and 4 voices (soprano, mezzo, tenor and baritone-bass), with no choir.
Singers: Karim Ravelo, Nidia Vidal and Daniela Enriquez. Recorded in Coyoacan, Mexico City, 2015.
