July 23, 2026: Host Christa Wessel welcomes Opera in the Park to the Irving Levin Performance Hall.
Opera in the Park presents an exclusive performance of their Oregon premiere of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of The Moon), the world’s first mariachi opera.
Tune in Thursday at 3:00 PM PT at 89.9 FM in Portland, OR or from anywhere in the world on our website.
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Cruzar la Cara de la Luna tells a poignant and timely story of migration, cultural identity, and generational divides within the Mexican-American community. The story begins in present-day Texas where an elderly Laurentino Valesquez lies in his bed, on the brink of death. In conversation with his adult son, we learn that Laurentino left a wife and child in Mexico when he immigrated to the USA in search of opportunity. The borders of time and space blur as we meet three generations of the Valesquez family, and come to understand their journeys, physical and spiritual. With a bilingual libretto in Spanish and English, and an incandescent score that artfully fuses traditional opera with mariachi, the seventy-minute work invites audiences to examine their own ideas about home, belonging, and family, and to find the universal in the specific.
Portland SummerFest’s Opera in the Park presents annual free operatic performances at the beautiful outdoor Washington Park Amphitheater in southwest Portland. The performance at Washington Park has been presented since 2003 as part of Portland Parks and Recreation’s annual Washington Park Summer Festival.
Learn more at operaintheparkportland.org.
All Classical Radio is the Official Media Sponsor of Opera in the Park.
