Fidel Castro Didn't Show up for Rehearsal: How I Produced the First New Cuban Opera in 50 Years ... and Survived

Charles Koppelman, Producer, Writer, Librettist

Cubanacan, the first new Cuban opera since that country’s revolution, is the story of Fidel Castro commissioning architect Ricardo Porro to design and build art schools on the site of the Havana Country Club in 1961. Koppelman will present video excerpts from the opera’s performance at the Havana Bienal last May, reveal the 13-year journey of this project, and explain what it's like to work in Cuba at the dawn of U.S.-Cuban rapprochement.