The Phantom Palace
text: Adriana Diaz-Enciso, music: Hilda Paredes
after a short story by Isabel Allende

Set & Costumes........Mauricio Elorriaga
Light design........Paul Whitaker
Conductor........Peter Hirsch

première: 12 June 2003, New Haven, USA
company: The Festival of Arts and Ideas
& Musik der Jahrhunderte

Reviews

A&I's fantastical kick-off
Watching the world première of Hilda Paredes' chamber opera Phantom Palace, I had the sort of out-of-body esperience where you say to yourself  "This can't be happening in New Haven". I simply couldn't come to terms with the realization that I was seeing topflight European modern opera, performed by a major international company premiering a ceaslessly provocative, unexpectedly comic and altogether amazing work, just a few blocks from my home. This is the kind of thing you feel you can only travel huge distances to see. But there it is: New Haven should be talking about Phantom Palace -- in a number of languages -- for years to come. --- The sets filled the stage but were light and airy as gossamer, appropriate for a work that firsts contrasts such tenderness with harsh violence, then envelops itself in that same shimmering silkiness for a fantastic finale.

New Haven Advocate

Hearts of darkness: Boldly, Paredes' 'Phantom Palace' illuminates the spirit world
Almost a master piece, the world première of "Phantom Palace" opened the International Festival of Arts and Ideas Thursday night with a wild excursion into the world of Latin American magic realism. --- "Phantom Palace" is daring, original, disturbing, but beautiful. --- Directed by Carlos Wagner, this is a story of Indians in an anonymous Latin American country and the loss of their civilization, but not their spirit. --- On Mauricio Elorriaga's set, hundreds of shimmering cords serve as a backdrop; they also embody the jungle, the realm of the spirit world and the "Phantom Palace" leitmotiv. In bold contrast is the military realism of Fischer's Castro/Saddam like Benefactor. --- Paredes' music, modern like Gyorgy Ligeti but denser, is palpably original and has a wonderfully sideways and inverted texture.

New Haven Register