Cubanacan

Cubanacan is an opera in three acts with music by Roberto Valera and a libretto by Charles Koppelman based on the book Revolution of Forms (1999) by John Loomis. The opera dramatizes the struggles of Cuban architect Ricardo Porro to complete construction of the Escuelas Nacionales de Arte (National Art Schools) in Havana. Following the success of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro appointed Porro to lead the design and construction of the schools. Porro, with the assistance of Italian Architects Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi, designed a series of schools inspired by organic forms, in conscious rejection of the dominant International Style. Ultimately, however, the schools were unfinished and Porro was forced to leave Cuba.

The opera includes parts for the orishas Elegguá and Oshun. Orishas are deities in the Santería religion of Cuba: Elegguá is the deity of roads and also a trickster, Oshun is the orisha of sexuality, love and beauty. The orishas provide commentary on the action but also intercede at times.

Cubanacan premiered at the 12th Havana Biennial on May 21, 2015. It opened the Biennial and was performed at the Art School that was the subject of the opera in a production directed by Charles Chemin. It was the first opera premier in Cuba since the Cuban Revolution