El Milagro del Recuerdo (The Miracle of Remembering)

LEONARD FOGLIA (Librettist / Director) is a theater and opera director as well as librettist. He directed the world premieres of Moby Dick, (Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera etc.- filmed for PBS), Everest (Dallas Opera, etc.); Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera, etc.); The End of the Affair (Houston Grand Opera, etc.); Three Decembers (HGO, etc.); It’s a Wonderful Life (HGO, etc.); Stonewall (New York City Opera). His production of Dead Man Walking was produced by New York City Opera and continues to be seen across the US and has played Teatro Real in Madrid and The Barbican in London.

For Broadway he directed: Master Class with Zoe Caldwell, Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald, Wait Until Dark with Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarantino, Thurgood with Laurence Fishburne (filmed for HBO), The People in the Picture, On Golden Pond with James Earl Jones, The Gin Game with Cecily Tyson and Mr. Jones. Off-Broadway: Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes From The Field (filmed for HBO) and Let Me Down Easy (filmed for PBS).

As an opera librettist, he wrote and directed Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon with composer José “Pepe” Martínez which premiered at Houston Grand Opera, A Coffin in Egypt with composer Ricky Ian Gordon which also premiered at HGO, El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, with composer Martínez which premiered at Lyric Opera of Chicago; El Milagro Del Recuerdo / The Miracle of Remembering with composer Javier Martinez which premiered at HGO. His “mariachi operas” have played across the country and on three continents.

Equally at home in Opera and Musical Theater, Grammy nominated conductor James Lowe continues to garner praise for “beautifully sculpted” (Opera News) performances. Recent engagements include a return to Houston Grand Opera to lead John Caird's production of La bohème, Lyric Opera of Chicago (West Side Story), Washington National Opera (Jeanine Tesori's The Lion, The Unicorn and Me), The Glimmerglass Festival (Show Boat), Utah Opera (The Little Prince), and Tulsa Opera (Madama Butterfly). He made his European debut conducting Candide in Francesca Zambello's production at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and Opéra National de Bordeaux, and he recently conducted Turandot at Tulsa Opera. He has also appeared at San Francisco Opera and New York City Opera, as well as on Broadway. Upcoming engagements include a return to The Glimmerglass Festival for Songbird (La Périchole) and a debut with Arizona Opera.

Lowe has had a long relationship with Houston Grand Opera, where he has led Carmen, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Sweeney Todd, Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair (world premiere production), as well as the HGO Studio production of Copland’s The Tender Land. At HGO he also conducted the world premiere production of The Little Prince, and he led Jonathan Dove’s Flight at the Pittsburgh Opera Center. He has appeared at Utah Opera leading Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas and Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, and he conducted Mark Adamo’s Little Women at Lyric Opera Cleveland in a production directed by the composer. He has also led the Houston Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Wolf Trap Opera, and the American Composers Orchestra, as well as The Nutcracker with the Houston Ballet.

On Broadway, James Lowe was the Music Director and Conductor of the recent revival of Les Misérables, as well as the Tony Award-winning revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, starring Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. He also served as the Music Supervisor for the First National Tour of this production. Lowe made his Broadway debut conducting performances of Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone.

Lowe was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the Anything Goes cast album released on Ghostlight Records, which he conducted and co-produced. With members of the cast he has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, the CBS Early Show and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He toured the United States as Music Director and Conductor of the acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre production of My Fair Lady, and conducted the First National Tour of Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza. He is currently the US Music Supervisor of the North American Tour of The Phantom of the Opera.

As Associate Conductor at Houston Grand Opera for several seasons he served as cover conductor, principal pianist and coach on many productions, including the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata. Lowe assisted on the world premieres of Carlisle Floyd’s Cold Sassy Tree and Tod Machover’s Resurrection, playing keyboards on the recordings of those operas. He can also be heard as keyboardist on HGO’s popular recording of Adamo’s Little Women. He has been on the music staff of New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Virginia Opera and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and served as Resident Conductor and Chorus Master at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival. He has been the Music Director of the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas, and he appeared onstage as the Tavern Pianist in Santa Fe Opera’s 2001 production of Wozzeck.

Lowe has appeared in concert with Sir Elton John, conducting his own orchestrations and choral arrangements of Elton’s classic songs, as well as with singer-songwriter Randy Newman and the legendary Booker T. Jones. He accompanied lyricist and writer Betty Comden in a performance featuring his own arrangements of Comden and Green songs, and his arrangements of Gershwin songs have been performed by renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in recitals at Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall.

Lowe has played in several rock, jazz, blues and country bands. He was the keyboardist, rhythm guitarist, lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Backwash for five years, recording and touring the Eastern United States. He co-produced the band’s compact disc, Goin’ to the Mall, released in 1995 on Transit Records.

As a pianist, Lowe performed as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and has given recitals, including several world premieres, at such venues as the Aspen Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institute, the University of Texas San Antonio New Music Festival, and the University of Colorado Artsweek Festival in Boulder. He taught Keyboard Literature and piano at Syracuse University, and he served on the piano and musical theater faculty at the Hochstein Music School in Rochester. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, with additional studies at the Aspen Music School and the Aspen Opera Theater Center.

Soloist in the Grammy Winning album Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works. Praised by The New York Times as "A creamy voiced mezzo-soprano," Mexican born, Cecilia is a versatile singer that has performed around the world singing different music styles, from early music to contemporary music and jazz.

Cecilia has been greatly recognized for creating the role of Renata in the first Mariachi Opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna with the famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera in 2010. Cecilia has taken this opera to stages such as the Houston Grand Opera, Châtelet Theatre in Paris, France; Chicago Lyric Opera, San Diego Opera, Arizona Opera, The Fort Worth Opera, Teatro Nacional Sucre, in Quito, Ecuador, New York City Opera , and El Paso Opera. Since then, Cecilia has created other roles for world premieres of chamber operas and new works, such as Jessie Lydell in A Coffin in Egypt, (HGO and the Wallis Annenberg Center in L.A.); Gracie in A Way Home (HGO and Opera Southwest ); Harriet/First Responder in After the Storm (HGO); Alicia in Some Light Emerges (HGO); Alma in Houston Grand Opera’s first web opera series Star-cross’d, and more recently Renata in El Milagro del Recuerdo with HGO.

Operatic roles include Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Loma Williams in Cold Sassy Tree, Isabella in Rapaccini’s Daughter, Sarelda in The Inspector, Tituba in The Crucible, and Maria in Maria de Buenos Aires, among others.

Cecilia is active in early music, being a seasoned artist with Ars Lyrica Houston, Mercury Houston, The Bach Society Houston, and performed at the Fesitval ensemble in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Festival de Música Barroca de San Miguel de Allende, México. More recently, she joined Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, performing early and contemporary music.

Recordings include Soloist in the Grammy Winner album Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works with Signum Records; Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, with Albany Records, NY; a special appearance in Encantamiento, an album with music by Daniel Catán, and coming up, her first solo album Reencuentros, an album of Latin American songs.

Houston native, Vanessa Alonzo created the role for three mariachi operas. She has performed with the greatest mariachi musicians in the world including Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Mariachi Los Camperos, and Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlan. She studied mariachi and voice under the direction of the late Alfonso Guerra at the community-based program Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (MECA). In 2019, Alonzo created the role of Lupita for the world premiere of Houston Grand Opera’s El Milagro del Recuerdo/The Miracle of Remembering, which is a prequel to Cruzar la Cara de la Luna/To Cross the Face of the Moon, the first mariachi opera in the world. Cruzar premiered in 2010 with Houston Grand Opera with the world renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan.

She reprised the role of Lupita in Cruzar La Cara De La Luna across the United States, in cities such as El Paso Opera (2019); Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, and Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, Ecuador (2018); Fort Worth Opera (2017); Arizona Opera (2014); as well as the 2013 tri-city tour with San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Additionally at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France in 2011.

In 2015, Alonzo created the role of Juana in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s El Pasado Nunca Se Termina/The Past Is Never Finished, which she also performed at Houston Grand Opera and San Diego Opera. She reprised the role at Fort Worth Opera in their 2019 season. Alonzo was invited to perform with Grammy Award winning Mariachi Los Camperos for the Houston Grand Opera Ball in 2019.

In 2020, she captivated the audience at the Fort Worth Rodeo representing Fort Worth Opera. Alonzo was an opening act for Graciela Beltran in Arlington, Texas. She was awarded Grand Champion Vocalist Award in the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza national vocal competition. Her travel and performing credits include tours to Ireland, Mexico, Norway, and Vietnam. In 2002, she performed for the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Television credits include El Show de Cristina on Univision as a participant in Festival de Rancheras and an appearance as a finalist on Estrella TV’s Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento in season 4.

Baritone Hector Vásquez is a native of California and has appeared throughout the United States as a soloist in concert repertoire and opera. Recent engagements have included Aba in the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo, Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème, the Forester in Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and George Benton in Dead Man Walking with Houston Grand Opera; Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas with Colorado Opera and Utah Opera; and his San Francisco Symphony debut in Manuel de Falla’s El Retablo del Maese Pedro under Charles Dutoit. Current engagements include El Milagro del Recuerdo with Arizona Opera.

Vásquez has performed for ten seasons with the Metropolitan Opera since his debut in 1995 as Beaumarchais in The Ghosts of Versailles. He has appeared in subsequent MET seasons in Carmen, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, Capriccio, La traviata, and The Merry Widow. Other performances have included Martinu’s A Soldiers’ Mass with Houston Ballet; Blitch in Susannah with Cedar Rapdis Opera Theatre; the world-premiere of Don Davis’s Rio del sangue with the Los Angeles Master Chorale; Scarpia in Tosca with El Paso Opera; scenes from La bohème and Carmen with the Southwest Florida Symphony; the title role in Rigoletto with Festival Opera; Vidal in Luisa Fernanda with Orlando Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni with Bard SummerScape; Escamillo in Carmen with Opera Omaha; Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Cleveland Opera; Blitch in Susannah with Festival Opera; his debut with Cleveland Opera as Marcello in La bohéme; a critically-acclaimed European debut as Germont in La traviata with Festival en Plein Air; performing in Brussels, Liege, and Ghent, Belgium; and Escamillo in Carmen with Opera Santa Barbara.

Vásquez has performed leading roles with many opera companies in the United States: Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Omaha, Cleveland Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. He has performed under the batons of many of the world's finest conductors: Pierre Boulez, Richard Bonyage, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Simon Rattle, Nello Santi, and Patrick Summers.

In demand as a teacher, clinician, and adjudicator; he has given Master Classes at California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, California State University Bakersfield, El Paso Opera, the Astoria Music Festival, and Cedar Rapids Opera Theater. He has also served as adjunct Professor of Voice at the University of Southern California, and California State University, Los Angeles. Vásquez was Program Director for the Houston Grand Opera Studio from 2006 to 2008.

Hailed for his ability to communicate “…romance and heartbreak with his soaring tenor tones,” by Broadway World and “..heroic bravado…”, “…acting chops…”, and “…irresistible mix of Italianate and Latin passion…” by Musical America Worldwide, Opera News, and Classical Voice North America respectively, tenor Rafael Moras is a rising star of the opera and orchestral pops worlds whose voice, stage presence, and ability to speak off-the-cuff with an audience continues to connect in opera houses and intimate concert settings around the world.

A graduate of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program and The Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Program for Singers, Moras recently made his Seattle Opera debut as Tariq in the critically-acclaimed world premiere A Thousand Splendid Suns, and made his Minnesota Opera debut as Don José in Carmen, the directorial debut of acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, in Spring of 2022. He recently made his Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra debut as a soloist in their annual Cincinnati Pops Holiday Pops concert, will make his San Antonio Mastersingers debut as a featured soloist in their Theatrical Serenade, and will return to Arizona Opera as the titular Zorro this Spring in their inaugural New Works Festival.

Moras’s 2022/23 included debuts with Annapolis Opera as Rodolfo in La Bohème, continued performances around the globe with Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, returns to the Houston Grand Opera stage for a reprise of Father Matías in El Milagro del Recuerdo and as Zweite Jude in Salome, a recital with Bethany Self in support of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition’s Houston District, and a return to the Houston Symphony as the featured vocal soloist in Fiesta Sinfónica.

Moras has performed as a featured soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, San Antonio Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Fort Worth Opera, Austin Opera, Aspen Music Festival, the San Antonio Mastersingers (forthcoming), and as a featured opera singer soloist in the Chris Botti in Concert worldwide tour. Other highlights include debuts with Houston Grand Opera and Arizona Opera as Father Matías in the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo, Utah Opera and Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera as Alfredo in La Traviata, and Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera as the Duke in Rigoletto. In 2016, Rafael was heard as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Aspen Music Festival. Of his performance, Opera News said “[Rafael Moras] escaped all of the tempting tenorial clichés to create a fully fleshed-out characterization. His singing remained warm and ingratiating, from low note to high, from first scene to last.” He is a 2017 and 2018 recipient of The Santa Fe Opera's Richard Tucker Fund Award, a 2014 Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition Grand Finalist, 2014 Operalia Quarter Finalist, and a 2013 and 2014 Eleanor McCollum Vocal Competition Finalist.

Prior to cancellations in the wake of COVID-19, Moras’s 2020/21 Season was to include a company debut with Arizona Opera as Father Matías in El Milagro del Recuerdo (rescheduled for 2021), a house debut with Opera Philadelphia as Malcom in Macbeth, continued touring around the world as a soloist in Grammy Award-winner Chris Botti's Chris Botti in Concert, and a return to the Houston Symphony as the Tenor I Soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy under the leadership of Fabien Gabel for "Beethoven + López".

Moras 2019/20 Season featured company debuts with Houston Grand Opera as Father Matías in the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo, with Utah Opera as Alfredo in La Traviata, and with Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. In February 2020, Moras was featured in recital with pianist Rachel Chao in his native San Antonio, Texas, as part of the Tuesday Musical Club's 2019/20 Artist Series.

2018/19 included a company debut with Dallas Opera as Remendado in Carmen, Nemorino from The Elixir of Love in Santa Fe Opera's Apprentice Scene Showcase, YoungArts' "Pop of Culture with Plácido Domingo", Lyric Opera of Chicago - Lyric Unlimited's "Caribe Clásico," and a return to Santa Fe Opera for "The Santa Fe Opera Winter Concert Tour".

In 2016, Moras was heard as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Aspen Music Festival. Of his performance, Opera News said “[Rafael Moras] escaped all of the tempting tenorial clichés to create a fully fleshed-out characterization. His singing remained warm and ingratiating, from low note to high, from first scene to last.”

Other past highlights include Flavio in LA Opera’s Norma, Pong in Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra's Turandot under Gustavo Dudamel, Pedrillo in Houston Symphony’s Die Entführung aus rem Serail, and the tenor soloist in LA Phil’s Beethoven Choral Fantasia under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and in LA Opera's Petite messe solennelle under Plácido Domingo.

Moras obtained his Bachelor of Music Degree at The University of Texas at San Antonio and a Masters in Vocal Performance at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Rafael was a featured singer in the 2010 HBO documentary "Masterclass with Plácido Domingo," was part of the inaugural class of the Young Artist Vocal Academy with Houston Grand Opera and is a 2006 YoungArts Silver Medal Award Winner in Classical Voice and 2006 United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts.

Armand Delgado is eleven years old and recently performed as Kurt in Arizona Opera’s 2022/23 Season production of The Sound of Music and Rafael in Arizona Opera’s 2021/22 Season production of El Milagro del Recuerdo. In Winter of 2023, he understudy the role of Michael in Phoenix Theatre Company’s production of Elf. Film credits include Jake in Fathers and Boy in These Birds Don’t Fly South in the Winter. Delgado was the Second Place recipient of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Arizona District, Summer Heat competition for ages 10-11, and First Place recipient in the boys ages 10-13 division. Delgado’s voice instructor is Kaitlyn Sabrowsky of Sabrowsky Song Studio.

YouTube: @armanddelgado6821

Instagram: @therealarmanddelgado

Emir Islas is from Phoenix, Arizona. Emir is 12 years old and he is in the 6th grade. Emir loves music and takes piano lessons at The Amadeus Academy in Glendale, Arizona. He has been an active member of the phoenix Boys Choir for 3 years. He is also one of the radio hosts for the program Taller del FUS which is a children's radio program featured on 107.5 FM and 1190 AM in Phoenix, Arizona.

Vincent Pequeño is the initial founder of Trio Chapultepec, and with the help of his colleagues has performed across the globe and in many prestigious theaters. A San Antonio native, he has been a full time musician since his youth with a concentration in classical guitar and Mariachi.

Trio Chapultepec, formed in July 2019, is a multi-instrumental group based in San Antonio, Texas composed of Vincent Pequeño, Israel Alcala and William Carlton Galvez. The members have extensively studied Mariachi together for several years and have been given national awards in both vocal and collegiate level ensemble competitions. Trio Chapultepec was able to make their grand debut in December 2019 in the Houston Grand Opera with the production, El Milagro del Recuerdo which they will continue to perform with the Arizona Opera during the 2021 Season.

Trio Chapultepec, formed in July 2019, is a multi-instrumental group based in San Antonio, Texas composed of Vincent Pequeño, Israel Alcala and William Carlton Galvez. The members have extensively studied Mariachi together for several years and have been given national awards in both vocal and collegiate level ensemble competitions. Trio Chapultepec was able to make their grand debut in December 2019 in the Houston Grand Opera with the production, El Milagro del Recuerdo which they will continue to perform with the Arizona Opera during the 2021 season.

Gregory's most recent opera work includes the world premieres of El Milagro del Recuerdo and The Prince of Players both for HGO; An American Solider and La Rondine (Opera Theatre of St. Louis). Gregory is a recipient of the Irene Sharaff Young Master Award. Gregory has been nominated for 2 Tony Awards for David Leveaux’s production of Cyrano de Bergerac and Rock of Ages. His other Broadway production credits include: Arcadia; The Wedding Singer (Drama Desk Nomination), Urinetown, (Lucille Lortel Nomination), and Band in Berlin. He won the Lucille Lortel Award for his production of The Voysey Inheritance (Atlantic Theater Company) and was nominated for another Lucille Lortel Award for The Third Story (Primary Stages). Upcoming Feature Release: The Mental State. Upcoming Short Release: Real Drag. Television: Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner (PBS and Amazon Prime); Will Work for Food, Chocolate Dress Maker (Food Network); NBC New Year's Eve 2019 (NBC); FIFA World Conference Opening Ceremony 2009 dance troop (Multiple Networks). Upcoming: Gregory is the co-artistic director of a reimagined Nutcracker that melds digital art with live performance for November 2022 in NYC, Fairycakes written and directed by Douglas Carter Beane, and Romeo et Juliette for Houston Grand Opera April 2022 directed by Tomer Zvulun.

Joshua Reid is a sound & systems designer based in New York City, with extensive work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tours, International Productions, & Sound Installations. Design selections include A Christmas Carol (Broadway, Geffen Playhouse, LA Drama Critics Circle Award, LA Ovation Award), Ragtime (Calgary Philharmonic), Million Dollar Quartet (Theatre Calgary), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Tour), Girlfriend (TheatreWorks Hartford, Connecticut Critics Circle Award), A Time Like This (Carnegie Hall). Additional Broadway credit selections include: Flying Over Sunset, The Ferryman, The Iceman Cometh, Falsettos, American Psycho, The Visit, & Act One.