Fossils on loan from the Peabody Museum adorned the stage of the Lighten Theater last night at the U.S. premiere of Mariano Fernandez and Diego Golombek’s opera “Darwin en Patagonia.”

The unique Spanish-language opera, a collaborative project between the Opera Theater of Yale College, the School of Music, the Yale Macmillan Center Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies and Jonathan Edwards College, will take the stage again tonight, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. 

“I think that in this moment in the United States it’s very important to have more operatic repertoire written in Spanish,” said Alejandro Roca, the show’s orchestra conductor and professor at School of Music. “I truly believe that [Spanish is] the vehicle that best serves the creative team to express themselves.”

Fernandez, the opera’s composer, and Golombek, the librettist, wrote the show together in their home country of Argentina before pitching the opera to Yale. Fernandez spent this semester at Yale as a Jonathan Edwards arts fellow and worked with Roca, as well as undergraduates and students at the School of Music, to bring his vision to life. 

The opera follows the story of a young Charles Darwin’s voyage to Patagonia on the Beagle, an English ship whose principal purpose was to map the coasts of South America. According to Abby Trejo ’27, the opera’s undergraduate director, the show is largely a work-in-progress and is currently a collection of scenes that make up about half of the opera. The narration guides readers through the story and maintains its progression and cohesion. 

“It’s a very dynamic process where you can see Mariano and Alejandro actively changing [the show],” said Trejo. “I think that’s the great thing about the show — the show is still being made, it’s still in development, it’s not a complete thing. Because it’s in that flexible, malleable stage, it’s really cool to see them making new decisions on the spot.”

Trejo also highlighted Fernandez’s openness to feedback from the undergraduates and School of Music students involved in the show and said that he allowed them a great degree of freedom to implement their visions for the opera. At the same time, Fernandez was present at all rehearsals, allowing for the unique opportunity to collaborate with the opera’s composer throughout the process.

Unlike many accounts of Darwin’s travels, Fernandez and Golombek’s story places particular emphasis on the stories of the Indigenous groups that Darwin met in Patagonia. The opera’s principal character is Jemmy Button, a Yaghan native held captive by Darwin and his crew, who is forced to assimilate to English customs while on the Beagle. 

“There’s a scene in the show where we are going to be seeing a ritual that was culturally significant for the Yaghan, and we wanted to be very respectful of the costumes for that scene. Mariano was a great resource,” said Trejo. 

A particularly powerful moment in the opera celebrates Jemmy Button’s return home. Earlier parts of the show seem to suggest that adapting to English customs provides the only means of survival for Button. Eventually, however, he can no longer deny where he belongs, and he ultimately reunites with his people. 

Another element that distinguishes “Darwin en Patagonia” is the collaborative nature of the project, which is serving as the first joint show between undergraduate students and the School of Music. The three principal roles are played by students at the School of Music, with the directing team and chorus composed of undergraduates. 

“It’s not often that you get to work with these professionals as an undergraduate, and especially working with the composer, that’s not very common,” said Alliese Bonner ’27, who is a member of the opera’s chorus. “It’s been really wonderful getting to learn from them the music, yes, but also learning how to be professionals.”

Another collaborative force in this project, the Peabody Museum, allowed the show to utilize its fossil collections, with about 95 percent of the fossils displayed in the show sourced directly from the museum. Including real fossils added a “wow factor,” said Trejo, to the opera. 

In March, the Peabody Museum reopened its doors to the public after a four-year long renovation.