Thursday, September 12, 2024

Opera Southwest's "Carmen"

 


In early May I photographed a dress rehearsal of Opera Southwest's production of Bizet's Carmen, one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon.  At New York's Metropolitan Opera alone it has been performed over 1,000 times.


The opera revolves around four principal characters:  Carmen (Eliza Bonet), a fiery and sexually fearless heroine . . .










Don José (Isaac Hurtado), a naive soldier who becomes infatuated with Carmen, ultimately driven to murder by a fateful mix of conscience, jealousy, and despair . . .













Two other lead characters play opposite parts in José's descent.  Escamillo (Octavio Moreno) is the glamorous toreador that Carmen can't resist.







On the other side of José's life is his childhood sweetheart, Micaëla (Cecilia Violetta Lopez), who tries multiple times to rescue José from his perilous infatuation . . .













In the course of the opera, José grows increasingly unhinged and at the end confronts Carmen outside the bullring where Escamillo is performing . . .




His entreaties grow more desperate . . .




. . . but Carmen steadfastly rebuffs him and he gets more physical . . .










. . . until finally he stabs her.




She collapses and dies . . . and the curtain falls.







From a visual (rather than musical) perspective, this was a wonderful opera to photograph, thanks especially to the acting of the singers (principals and many others); the stage director (Carson Gilmore); the lighting director (Daniel Chapman); scenic designer (Dahl Delu); costumer (Kaylee Silcocks); and wigs and makeup (Jacqueline Chavez) .  


In addition to the images above, here -- for various reasons -- are some of my favorite images from the production.



















































































And during curtain call, I even got a nice shout-out gesture from Escamillo!




If you would like to see these images -- and many more -- in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.


Enjoy!


Thursday, June 20, 2024

Tom Paxton and Daniel Boling - Folksingers Extraordinaire

 



A few days after returning from my solar eclipse road trip, I had the opportunity to photograph a couple of brilliant earthly stars - folksingers Tom Paxton and Daniel Boling - in rehearsal and in concert at the South Broadway Cultural Center in Albuquerque's South Valley neighborhood.

You may not have heard of Daniel Boling -- a solo performer as well as a current member of The Limeliters trio -- but if you're "of a certain age" you've probably heard of Tom Paxton . . . or, at the very least, you've heard some of his songs -- The Marvelous Toy, Bottle of Wine, Ramblin' Boy, The Last Thing on My Mind, and many more -- sung by Tom himself in thousands of performances around the world . . . and covered by Pete Seeger; John Denver; Peter, Paul, and Mary; Dolly Parton; and many more.

Tom and Daniel were on tour in Albuquerque and Santa Fe before heading into the studio to record a new album.  Through a mutual friend, they asked me to shoot some candids during sound check as well as backstage and during the concert.  Here are some of the images.


REHEARSAL and SOUND CHECK


















BACKSTAGE











SHOWTIME












































If you would like to see these images (and more), please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.


Enjoy!