El Niño at the Met: Opera, Baby Jesus, and Today’s Refugees

The critically acclaimed opera is premiering at the Metropolitan Opera, and director Lileana Blain-Cruz will join us for an evening of conversation on art, faith, and justice. There will be a special appearance by Daniela Mack, the mezzo-soprano who will perform a selection from El Niño.

A Christmas story at Easter time? That’s essentially what the Metropolitan Opera is doing in presenting the company premiere of John Adams’s El Niño. But the opera-oratorio’s focus on the experience of the refugee and the migrant—how they struggled to find acceptance in Biblical times—could not be more contemporary and urgent.

The composition incorporates sacred and secular texts in English, Spanish, and Latin—from biblical times to the present day—in an extraordinarily dramatic retelling of the Nativity.

The vivid new production also marks the Met debut of celebrated theater maker Lileana Blain-Cruz, resident director at Lincoln Center Theater, who joins us to talk about the opera and the importance of staging art that matters for our world today. She will be joined by Fadi Skeiker of Fordham Theatre and Fordham theology professor Leo Guardado.

David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture, will moderate the discussion with the panelists and the audience.

BONUS: Five pairs of tickets for a performance of the opera will be drawn at random for attendees who sign up at the door, and all Fordham students and faculty will be eligible for discounted tickets.

This event is co-sponsored with the Metropolitan Opera and the Church of St. Paul the Apostle.