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Kid-friendly opera ‘The Farolitos of Christmas’ premieres at NHCC
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Opera Southwest is premiering a new opera, “The Farolitos of Christmas,” based on the celebrated New Mexican author Rudolfo Anaya’s children’s book of the same name. Opening at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Sunday, Dec. 7, it will run through Sunday, Dec. 14, with the final date coinciding with the center’s second annual Luminito Celebration.
Tony Zancanella, OSW’s executive director, intends to produce the opera every year in hopes that it will become a New Mexico holiday tradition.
The music and libretto were written by Héctor Armienta, who previously adapted Anaya’s “Bless Me, Ultima” for Opera Southwest in 2018.
“After the success of ‘Bless Me, Ultima,’ Héctor Armienta and I were talking about future projects,” Zancanella said. “I mentioned this book to him, and I said, I always felt like theater companies get to do (Charles Dickens’) ‘A Christmas Carol’ every year, and ballet companies get to do (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s) ‘The Nutcracker’ every year — something that brings in the families and becomes a real tradition— and what have we got for opera? What if we adapted this book?”
Zancanella said reading Anaya’s “The Farolitos of Christmas” was an important part of his own family’s Christmas traditions when he was growing up.
“If you grew up here in New Mexico, at least in the last 40 years, you probably know the book,” he said. “It’s a beautiful book that tells an apocryphal fable about the origin of farolitos — or, if you’re from Albuquerque or parts south, luminarias.”
The lighting of paper lanterns during the Christmas season is a longstanding tradition in the Southwest, with a friendly north/south rivalry within New Mexico about whether the proper term for them should be farolitos or luminarias. NHCC splits the difference, playfully calling them “luminitos.” But, according to Armienta, what matters isn’t the terminology but what they symbolize.
“I think most importantly for Mr. Anaya, when I was going through his writings, it is about the joy and light of Christmas,” Armienta said. “The story is about the farolitos, but it’s also about the light and joy that you can see, and that you can also feel. The farolitos inspire and bring us all together through family and traditions.”
Armienta said he wanted to write the opera in such a way that children and families who may have never attended an opera can enjoy the experience.
“It’s extremely accessible,” Armienta said. “It’s extremely melodic, and that’s the goal. You want to see the families come and enjoy and feel connected to both the story and the music.”
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Armienta considers himself a neo-Romantic in the tradition of composers like Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi, and he is equally inspired by Latin American folk music, whose melodies he blends into Western classical structures. For “The Farolitos of Christmas,” he wanted to incorporate authentic New Mexican soundscapes, including the music of the annual pastores (shepherds) processions.
“There’s this pastores song (in the opera), which I researched and they actually sing in Santa Fe. So, there’s a whole procession that you’ll see and hear,” Armienta said.
Although Armienta is from Los Angeles, he considers Albuquerque his “second artistic home.” When he was working on his adaptation of Anaya’s “Bless Me, Ultima,” Anaya’s family took him to Pastura, the author’s hometown.
“I wanted to immerse myself in New Mexican culture,” Armienta said. “I realized that the Latino culture here in New Mexico is unique and multifaceted. It’s not (simply) Latino or Hispanic or Indigenous. It’s a combination of all of that. And I tried to reflect that in ‘Bless Me, Ultima,’ and also in this work.”
The language of the opera is a combination of English and Spanish, with English translations projected above the stage.
“‘Farolitos’ is bilingual, and that was really important to me, as a Mexican American, to make it accessible to not just the Latino community but to the community at large — and to make it accessible, not only musically, but also in terms of language,” Armienta said.
Zancanella emphasized that Armienta’s opera, while approachable enough for children, is still serious music that people of all ages can enjoy.
“So, it’s not a kid’s opera in that sense,” he said. “It’s a holiday family opera. It’s about one hour in length, so … exactly the right length if you want to introduce somebody to the opera for the first time. And it’s going to give you a taste of the real thing — a serious opera with fully orchestrated music — but a lovely pathway into it for New Mexicans, something that’s culturally rooted.”
Musically, the opera has “all the bells and whistles,” Zancanella said, including six principal singers, a 24-member chorus and a full orchestra in the pit. Zancanella and director John de los Santos assembled a production team headed by scenic designer Liliana Duque Piñeiro.
“What Liliana has designed for us is fairly monumental and colossal,” Zancanella said.
There will be live music in the lobby before and after the opera, with hot chocolate and food items available for purchase from Pop Fizz.
Those attending the Dec. 14 performance may also stay to enjoy NHCC’s Luminito Celebration, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Beneath the glow of a 20-foot-tall luminito structure, visitors will experience music, biscochitos, a holiday mercado with local vendors, Matachine dance performances and more.
“We hope it becomes something that people will want to come back to year after year,” Zancanella said.
