a micro opera
for soprano and electronics (2020)
Duration ca. 1'
sop, elec
Poem by Waleska Cabrera, abridged as a libretto by Gilbert Galindo
Scene
Ellen, mid-30s, white cis-gendered woman, married with no children, socially aware, empathic. She scrolls through Facebook, finds an article about Claudia’s murder by U.S. Border Patrol: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/guatemala-woman-claudia-gomez-texas-border-agents. Reads, is astounded, ponders, then laments.
In case the cue does not work, “Claudia” begins at 25:20.
Program Note
“Claudia Patricia Gómez González died in the United States on 23 May 2018 searching for the American dream … your death has left an emptiness in our home”, reads the engraving on the tombstone.
For this one-minute micro opera, I adapted a poem by a dear friend Waleska Cabrera entitled, “May 2018 (in honor of Claudia who was killed by border patrol)”. The stories of brown people from ancient times to today need to be told, as they are often ignored. Here is Claudia’s story in brief, as reported in The Guardian on May 22, 2019. Claudia Gómez who was a 20-year-old indigenous woman from western Guatemala, was shot in the head by a border patrol agent in Rio Bravo, Texas. In 2016 she had graduated with an accounting certificate. Later, in August 2017, her father was deported in Atlanta. Because of that, her family could not afford to send her to a university and they struggled to support themselves. Gómez then decided to migrate to try to help her family financially. Claudia arrived in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, on the May 22, 2018 waiting to cross the border into the US. The next day, with five young men she crossed the Rio Grande and entered a small abandoned building to wait for the next guide. They saw an armed patrol agent and then the encounter tragically led to her murder. The family still sought answers in 2019 and then recently in May of this year, as reported by the Border Report, Claudia’s family filed a civil rights lawsuit against the agent and the U.S. government. This is a real on-going story of brown lives, one of many.
May right justice be done.
No one deserves to die.
Let us honor Claudia and all those who have unjustly died due to inhospitality.
- Gilbert Galindo
Performances
Digital World Premiere: September 12, 2020
Rhyme With Opera Presents: “1-Minute Operas”
Elisabeth Halliday-Quan, soprano
Premiere Link: https://www.rhymeswithopera.org/1minute-operas