American Premiere of Pedro Halffter’s Opera KLARA

OCTOBER 12, 8 PM, PAINE HALL HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 3 Oxford Street

New York based opera company Divaria Productions will partner with The Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma ( HPRT ) and the Chester M. Pierce, MD, Division of Global Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School to present the American premiere of internationally renowned composer Pedro Halffter’s new opera Klara, which premiered this August in Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain.  All proceeds will support HPRT’s work with Ukrainian refugee women and children

In the opera’s original version, the protagonist Klara is a robot, an advanced form of artificial intelligence, with the ability to learn about and examine the world around her. A simulacrum only, until she arrives at the transcendental question: “What is a human being?”

Thanks to the open and universal character of the text and music written by Maestro Halffter, the phenomena raised in the work are able to take on another embodiment in the US premiere. This time Klara is a human being – a young woman – living a peaceful life, in a peaceful city, until suddenly the foundations of her psyche are shaken by the horrors of war. Klara trembles at the choice to leave and enter an unknown future as a refugee.

This opera will be accompanied by other operatic works, whose stories and text are inspired by refugees throughout history. The performance will include soprano Ashley Galvani Bell as Klara, Anna Tonna as mezzo soloist, pianists Pedro Halffter and Sergio Martínez Zangróniz and stage direction by Antón Armendariz Diaz.

UNICEF reports that 2 out of every 3 children have been displaced by the war in Ukraine; HPRT has a project with psychologists and teachers in Western Ukraine providing comfort bags for child refugees, pocket cards to parents on coping with war trauma, and mental health training to onsite local Ukrainian teachers and health care workers. All funds collected will be sent to support the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and Massachusetts General Hospital work with refugees. Advance registration is required. Admission: Suggested Donation $100 per person. All Harvard and other University students are admitted free but should register to guarantee seating.

For tickets, please CLICK HERE!

All proceeds from this event will go directly to support Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and Massachusetts General Hospital Ukrainian Refugee Fund