(SAN JOSE, Calif.) A new animated opera is coming to San Jose and will tell the story of farmworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hector Armienta, artistic director of Opera Cultura in San Jose, said he interviewed several farmworkers last year as they battled the pandemic and wildfires, ABC 7 News reported.
"All they had were bandanas," Armienta said. "They weren't being provided N95 masks or anything. You would see images of them working, with the fires in the background and it was horrific. I just felt that their story needed to be told."
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, live performances were not allowed. That is when Armienta created an animated opera inside a virtual world.
He joined forces with MACLA, a Latino arts organization located in downtown San Jose.
"When Hector brought this project to me, immediately, it was like, oh my goodness, I've never heard this story told in this way —I've never heard it through the lens of opera," said Tricia Creason-Valencia, head of MACLA Studio, per ABC 7 News. "So it's a first-person narrative, but it's told in a way that no one's ever seen before."
The project consists of using opera singers and placing them in front of virtual backgrounds alongside their animated characters.
Opera Cultura's production of "Mi Camino - Farmworkers in the Pandemic" is slated to premiere online on June 25.