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‘Dolores’ opera makes NM debut at NHCC
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When the opera “Dolores,” about labor organizer Dolores Huerta, premiered in Oakland, California, this August, the San Francisco Chronicle called it “triumphant,” “musically transporting” and “undeniably timely.”
Opera Southwest (OSW) is now bringing the opera to New Mexico, Huerta’s home state, with four performances at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, beginning Sunday, Oct. 26.
“In the past few years, I have come back to telling stories about the American Southwest that I don’t see on the major concert stages from LA to New York,” Nicolás Lell Benavides, the opera’s composer, said. “There are other composers who explore Latinidad in their music, and they should always be lauded and praised, but I am so proud to be part of that movement of finding stories in the American Southwest that are worth telling.”
Huerta co-founded the first major farmworkers’ union in the United States, the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers union.
Benavides, now an award-winning composer and 2024-2025 Guggenheim Fellow, grew up in New Mexico, singing and playing the saxophone at a church in Alameda. He also played corridos and rancheras with his grandfather, Eddie Garcia, a prominent New Mexican musician in his own right, who was inducted into the New Mexico Music Hall of Fame in 2022.
Benavides also happens to be Dolores Huerta’s cousin.
“Technically, we are second cousins twice removed, but realistically, big Hispanic families never use those (terms). It’s all just primos, right?” Benavides said. “But yeah, we’re cousins, and I grew up around her.”
He and librettist Marella Martin Koch interviewed Huerta for the project, which focuses on the dramatic events of 1968 — a pivotal year for the United Farm Workers movement — from the Delano grape strike to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
“She (Huerta) offered some feedback, but not a lot. She was very much like, ‘You do what you need to do to tell the story,’” Benavides said. “She had one request, which was that every opportunity should be an organizing opportunity. She wanted people to know that when the opera ended, that they can organize themselves, and that people have power when they come together.”
In order to show the power of the people, Benavides knew the opera would require a chorus.
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“The original commission was not for a chorus, and the people paying for it were whining and complaining about that. So, the very first meeting we went to, we were ready to pitch, like, ‘We need a chorus,’” Benavides said. “And he cut us off. He was like, ‘Don’t even say anything. I already know. I’m gonna get you a chorus … You’ve got to do it. We’ll pay for it …’ That was a big moment for us.”
Although Huerta is the title character, Benavides said they worked to ensure that her heroism did not overshadow the collective heroism of the people she helped organize.
“We wanted to show that the protagonists — in this case Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong — did not win for the United Farm Workers just because these three were straight-up heroes who went into battle, like some Greek hero who slays all their enemies,” Benavides said. “No, their power comes from the people. So, the opera is all about them coalition-building, reaching out, grabbing the hand of Bobby Kennedy, then grabbing the hand of a farmworker and putting those two symbolically together … Their power is amassing people and having them realize their own power. That’s their superpower in our opera.”
Benavides used contrasting styles of music for the different characters.
“Tricky Dick (a composite character, partly based on President Richard Nixon) has a Viennese waltz, because he’s a traditionalist, and he has 12-tone serialism to show the two-facedness of his political ambition,” Benavides said. “Then, Dolores draws from different art forms, (including) mariachi music and jazz.”
After Albuquerque, “Dolores” will travel to opera houses in other cities, including San Diego and Santa Monica, California. But Benavides said the NHCC will offer the best opportunity to see the performances up close.
“The National Hispanic Cultural Center’s theater is the most intimate space you could see it in, so if you want to experience the opera in the most intimate way possible, this is the theater,” he said. “You’re going to be close enough to see their facial expressions. You’re gonna be close enough to the action and not in the nosebleeds of a large hall. It’s gonna be a great space to see the show.”
The opera is sung in English, with a running time of two hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission.
