Silenced Voices: Addressing Human Rights Violations Through Musical Drama

Abstract In this article, I address the political, social, and humanitarian issues at the core of my works for the stage. Through examples from my operas El Palacio Imaginado (2003), La tierra de la miel (2012), and Harriet (2018), I discuss how gender issues, social justice, and the burden of racism have transformed my musical language. La tierra de la miel dramatizes the tragedy of human trafficking on the US/Mexico border through the fictionalized story of two of its victims, driven into prostitution and physically and sexually abused. The opera seeks to give a voice to the hundreds of Mexican women (often from Indigenous communities) murdered along the border between the US and Mexico. Harriet recounts episodes from the life of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, including her concerted actions to end the institution of slavery, and ends with a message expressing hope for a continuation of her fight against slavery and racism.