“More’n a hundred years ago, before Prohibition, before Chicago was thought of, when New York was a village – New Orleans had her bullet-holes! Those were the days!”

High summer, 2019. A tour group in New Orleans has waded through swamps and hurricane damage to see where ‘gentleman pirate’ Pierre Lafitte was imprisoned during the War of 1812. Captivated, newlywed Mary imagines the story of Lafitte’s escape with his lover Valerie.

Incorporating folk and Creole influences, Cabildo is the only opera from pioneering composer Amy Beach. This new production explores the dark underside of the American dream and asks: how does nostalgia blind us to our past crimes?

Sung in English without surtitles.