Review: OFRENDA at Austin Opera

Austin Opera launches its new season, and also its brand-spanking-new Butler Performance Center, with OFRENDA, a thrilling world-premiere commission with music by Jorge Sosa and libretto and direction by John de los Santos. Based on a classic folk tale, retold in a contemporary magical realist mode and suffused with Mexican cultural elements, OFRENDA is an absolute feast of a show. 

The story is a reworking of the Grimm fairy tale “Godfather Death,” with additional inspiration drawn from an early 20th-century novelization of the tale by B. Traven. Sosa and de los Santos take this frame story, transpose it to the modern day, and then layer in Mexican folk tales, indigenous legends, and even references to telenovelas. Sosa began to conceive of OFRENDA during the pandemic, and indeed the Grimm tale proves an effective vehicle for exploring the conflict between Western medicine and indigenous or alternative sources of healing. 

Jorge’s Sosa’s magnificent score pulses with folklorico-infused dance energy, and despite the sombre themes of OFRENDA, the music is continuously vibrant and propulsive. The libretto by John de los Santos is psychologically rich, with lyrics anchored in organic conversational rhythms, and Sosa unerringly manages to honor the naturalistic texture of the lyrics without sacrificing tunefulness. As the scenes unfold, much of the action is delivered through long, unspooling lines of through-composed melody, set against the vigorous ostinato of the orchestra. 

OFRENDA boasts a phenomenal cast with a global pedigree. The emotional core of the story lies in the relationship between Macaria (Kelly Guerra) and her teenage daughter Pina (Maia Aramburú). OFRENDA takes some time establishing this mother-daughter relationship by showing us a slice of their daily life. We see how much Macaria and Pina love one another, but they are not plaster saints – we also see their flashes of annoyance, their playful sparring, and the  generational differences that occasionally divide them. Because these characters are written and performed with so much nuance and believability, the show remains grounded in real emotion and wrenching stakes. 

The vibe tangibly shifts with the entrance of Victoria Vargas as the mysterious “Señora,” a culturally specific and eerily believable incarnation of Death. Vargas gives a powerful and charismatic performance, singing in Spanish and occasionally Nahuatl. The other figures in the story are Carla the hospital administrator (Kristin Bilodeau) and Gary the nurse (Kyle White), caught up in a workplace affair with unintended consequences. In the true lineage of magical realist storytelling, the everyday aspects of these characters’ lives are so well established (and convincingly acted) that when the supernatural aspects of the plot are introduced, we accept it as a matter of course.

Not only is OFRENDA the inaugural show for the new facility, but it is also the first production to have been incubated in Austin Opera’s Residency for Latinx Creatives. The show is a real triumph for the institution, and for Claudia Chapa, the Latine Curator at Austin Opera, who has overseen the selection and workshopping process that has brought OFRENDA to the stage. This is precisely the kind of bold, populist, and culturally adventurous new work that the art form needs in order to find new audiences and maintain its relevance in the 21st century.

OFRENDA

Music by Jorge Sosa; Libretto by John de los Santos

Sarah and Ernest Butler Performance Center

October 1-11, 2026

Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission

Tickets: $65; https://austinopera.org/