The opera Time and Again Barelas was born when the New Mexico Symphony, the National Hispanic Cultural Center and representatives from the historic neighborhood of Barelas, came together to commission a large work to commemorate Albuquerque's tricentennial.  Music Director Guillermo Figueroa and Executive Director Kevin Hagen chose del Aguila, who was awarded a Music Alive Extended Residency from Meet the Composer and The American Symphony Orchestra League.  

“Rather than writing an incidental work for the event,” wrote del Aguila, “I was more interested in writing a dramatic work that would be of timeless and universal interest. Later that summer, I finished a synopsis of the story: a love story that lasts 500 years with the neighborhood of Barelas as background.”

Situated on the Camino Real that ran from Mexico to Santa Fe, Barelas had been settled by the Spanish in the 17th century. Although most characters are fictional, the opera starts with the historical event of Don Barelas’s murder. The soldier who commits the crime, Don Ignacio, and Barelas’s daughter Marcelina, are the central characters of the story.  Following a shaman’s curse, they are fated to fall in love through the ages.  While Don Ignacio lives in shame and remorse, Marcellina only gradually becomes aware of his true identity. Her forgiveness of Ignacio ends the work in hope and affirmation.

The composer states:  "The music of Time and Again Barelas is always very Latin and direct. At times dramatic or atmospheric. I did not try to write music that is true to a particular historical time or place. Instead, my music is "Latin" in a broad sense and it conveys the story and the place of Barelas in a cohesive unity of style and form. I use music themes to represent events and places to create a sort of familiar musical landscape in which the action takes place.”

In her Albuquerque Journal review, Joanne Sheehy Hoover wrote: 

At the end of last week, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and Chorus joined the Albuquerque Tricentennial celebration with Miguel del Aguila's opera "Time and Again Barelas." Like Verdi's "Aida," written in 1871 for the Cairo Opera House built as part of the Suez Canal opening festivities, and Cecil B. DeMille's epic 1956 film, "The Ten Commandments," the project generated grand expectations. As Friday night's performance in Popejoy Hall evidenced, to a remarkable degree it fulfilled them.

For a symphony orchestra to launch such a project meant venturing where few, if any, of their like have dared to tread. Propelled by composer del Aguila's energy and NMSO director Guillermo Figueroa's enthusiasm, the NMSO met challenge after challenge along the way. These ranged from del Aguila's finishing the second act libretto alone to the assembling of a production team from scratch.

The concept of the opera, tracing the evolution of Albuquerque from its founding in Barelas to the present through encounters over the centuries between the star-crossed lovers Ignacio and Marcelina Barela, effectively kept the audience engaged.

As the scenes moved closer to the present, they increasingly reflected del Aguila's passions and compassion. A subtle human touch, for example, in the Vietnam war segment found an anxious mother weaving between protesters in search of her son as he returned from the conflict….

Act two also made its points, including a 1950s scene about the discrimination against 'coloreds and Mexicans' then prevalent in Albuquerque. But the opera stayed firmly anchored in its characters on through to the close as the two lovers, both of them now knowing, remembering and forgiving the past, unite.

"Time and Again Barelas" is del Aguila's third opera. It displayed his command of an arresting musical vocabulary that is marked by a complex yet infectious rhythmic vitality. It also showed how well he can exploit the possibilities of the slow tango to create some soulful music.

In mezzo-soprano Gabriela Garcia, del Aguila had an ideal Marcelina Barela. A tall, black-haired woman, Garcia possesses a strong musical intelligence and a vibrant, dark chocolate vocal quality that made her every solo thrilling.

The Puerto Rican tenor Rafael Dávila brought Ignacio to life with a solid, thoughtful interpretation both vocally and musically. Dr. Sina Aurelia "Sayid" Soul, as the escaped slave Marigold, was a vital stage presence and a vocal knockout with her jazzy solo that opened Act Two.                                                                                                 

NMSO conductor Guillermo Figueroa's musical direction was pointed and sympathetic. The chorus, superbly prepared by Roger Melone, had the opera's tricky rhythms and varied moods well in hand. David Vega Chavez's stage direction and choreography, with the exception of the confusing first scene, were imaginative and creatively adapted to the space.

And bundles of kudos go to the entire production team, particularly set designer Valeria Rios, lighting designer John Malolepsy and costume designer Lawrence F. Schultz, who made the stage a consistent visual pleasure. Placing the chorus behind a silhouette of the mountains which kept
shifting in colors was only one of many gifted inspirations.

Photos: MarbleStreetStudio.com/New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. Top photo: the legacy of White Sands, NM nuclear testing, dramatized int he opera. Bottom: Gabriela García as Marcelina.

A Link to A Synopsis of Time and Again Barelas with Audio Samples