Maria de Buenos Aires
The Dirty War (Spanish: Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina (Spanish: dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as a part of Operation Condor, during which military and security forces and right-wing death squads in the form of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA, or Triple A) hunted down any political dissidents and anyone believed to be associated with socialism, left-wing Peronism, or the Montoneros movement.
It is estimated that between 9,000 and 30,000 people were killed or disappeared, many of whom were impossible to formally document due to the nature of state terrorism. The primary target, like in many other South American countries participating in Operation Condor, were communist guerrillas and sympathizers, but the target of Operation Condor also included students, militants, trade unionists, writers, journalists, artists and any citizens suspected of being left-wing activists, including Peronist guerrillas.
Long Beach Opera performed the work on 29 January and 4 February 2012 at the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro, California, in a production created by the company's artistic director Andreas Mitisek that set the opera in Buenos Aires after the Dirty War of the 1970s and 1980s; María and the Payador were people who "disappeared"; he survives and as an old man recalls their days together. The production was reviewed in the Los Angeles Times.
My goal of my portrayal of this piece is to portray the stark contract between both the living world of Buenos Aries and grim and lifeless afterlife that takes place among the same streets. I used the phrase "through rose-colored lenses" as a key point in my design choices when designing the first Act in the living world. To completely contrast with the first act, the second act is entirely lifeless, the materials of the garments lag behind them as they move, and the colors are completely drained from the city.
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https://buenosaires8.musica.ar/integrantes-buenosaires8-1976-1980/ When Argentina Used World Cup Soccer to Whitewash Its Dirty War - HISTORY Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83) | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)
