Professor emeritus Roger Bourland, former chair of the Department of Musicology and a renowned composer and musician who has written more than a hundred works for a wide variety of ensembles and soloists, will premiere his grand opera,  “La Paloma y el Ruiseñor,” at the Teatro Angela Peralta in Mazatlán, Mexico, on Nov. 14.
The opera centers around the life of 19th-Century operatic soprano Angela Peralto, who was known as the “Mexican nightingale.” Bourland composed the piece in collaboration with UCLA musicology professor Mitchell Morris, who wrote the libretto. Originally entitled “Duarte’s Love Songs,” the opera was originally commissioned and performed in Los Angeles by the Pacific Serenades chamber music ensemble. It was further developed and performed in May 2013, by voice and opera students in the UCLA Opera Workshop. In the audience for that performance was Raúl Rico González, director of the Instituto de Cultura, Turismo y Arte de Mazatlán, who invited Bourland to stage the opera in Mazatlán.
The Spanish translation of “La Paloma y el Ruiseñor” to be performed in Mexico was by Placido Domingo, Jr. It will be directed by Scott Dunn, associate director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.