Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 10 - El último sueño de Frida y Diego

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 Frida Kahlo is one one of the very few artists whose work is immediately recognizable. Diego Rivera is the father of Mexican Muralism, the first artistic movement the Americas gave to the world. They were extraordinary artists with extraordinary lives, bound together by a passionate, painful, and deeply human love story and, through their work, they created an entire universe containing their bodies, their homes, their politics, their collections, the way they dressed, the way they loved, and the way they imagined Mexico. They painted the visual identity of Mexico at its core, reconnecting us with our indigenous past, popular culture, and social ideals. They remain cultural icons, but they also belong to the realm of imagination. El último sueño de Frida y Diego invites us to imagine them once more, to step inside their universe, and to witness a final encounter. Nilo Cruz’s libretto unfolds as a poetic journey between worlds — life and death, memory and imagination, flesh and art — set on Diego Rivera’s last day on earth, during Día de Muertos, that sacred threshold where the living and the dead briefly coexist. The story moves fluidly through the underworld, the realm of memory, and the world of creation itself, allowing Frida and Diego to meet again in a dreamlike space where love, betrayal, pain, forgiveness, and unresolved questions remain alive. Rather than presenting a conventional biographical narrative, the opera unfolds as an oneiric landscape in which art becomes identity and creation becomes an act of resistance against disappearance. At its core, this opera is not only about a final encounter between two lovers, but about art as the space where meaning endures and human bonds — however fractured — continue to resonate. This story contains all the elements of opera at its most powerful: love and loss, desire and suffering, politics and physical pain, the body as territory, gender, diversity, disability, and death. It is also a story about devotion to art and the search for meaning through creation — a space where life and art are inseparable, as they were for Frida and Diego. Our challenge in this production has been to build a universe capable of holding all these layers, distilling the essential symbols, gestures, and imagery of their lives into a poetic and resonant language. We consciously chose not to rely on digital technologies, projections, or multimedia effects, and instead embraced an artisanal, handcrafted aesthetic inspired by their own way of creating — rooted in material presence, popular art, and intimacy. In avoiding literal reconstructions, folkloric clichés, and overexposed imagery, we sought a refined, symbolic world that allows the audience to encounter these two artists anew — and to dream with them one last time. The original creative team behind El último sueño de Frida y Diego represents eight or nine different cultures, nationalities, and artistic sensibilities. I am a Mexican stage director directing an opera by a Peruvian- American–Estonian composer, with a Cuban American librettist, portraying two artists who still belong to many communities at once. This is what the world looks like today. We do not simply live in a globalized world — we live in a multicultural one. From Alaska to Patagonia, the American continent is a vast mixture of races, migrations, indigenous cultures, and histories. In a sense, we are all mestizos – a mix. As with all great operas, this work can help us to understand both our differences and our shared humanity. Through music and art, we can connect deeply, recognize ourselves in others, and celebrate complexity with respect. I hope this opera brings communities closer, welcomes new audiences, and allows all listeners alike to feel proud of a rich, layered heritage that ultimately belongs to all of us. Director’s note by Lorena Maza