Originally developed at the University of California at San Diego, the chamber opera, Cuatro Corridos returned for one performance only in the Conrad Presbys Concert Hall on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 7 p.m. 

Cuatro Corridos is one of many international events taking place during January, 2016, designated worldwide as Human Trafficking Awareness Month.  Since its premiere in May 2013, the opera has traveled to Los Angeles, Dallas, Albuquerque, Amherst (MA), Tijuana, Guadalajara and Mexico City.  The San Diego performance marked the thirteenth performance of the opera since its premiere in 2013.

Cuatro Corridos was performed at the Guadalajara International Book Fair/Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara on November 30, 2015 at 9 p.m.  in the Teatro Diana, one of Guadalajara's premiere cultural performing arts venues.  Over one thousand people were in attendance. 

The Guadalajara International Book Fair is the most important book fair in the Spanish speaking world and is second only to the Frankfurt International Book Fair in its size and scope.  Cuatro Corridos was one of several special performing arts events presented by the conference. 

Internationally renowned writer Jorge Volpi presented his newest work, a full length novel based on his libretto of Cuatro Corridos.  In addition, the conference held an International Symposium on Border Security and Human Rights as one of its activities.

Cuatro Corridos was presented in Bowker Auditorium at UMASS Amherst for one performance on October 4, 2015 at 4 p.m.
The eleventh performance of the critically acclaimed chamber opera was preceded by a panel discussion, The Reality of Human Trafficking.  Lauren McCarthy, UMASS Amherst Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and author of the recent book Trafficking Justice, served as moderator.  Panelists included Julie A. Dahlstrom, Clinical Legal Fellow at Boston University and Quinn Kepes, Program Director at Verité, an organization dedicated to fair labor practices worldwide, and Dan Johnson from Freedom Cafe, a student run cafe that supports anti-trafficking efforts from proceeds of its sales.  The2 p.m. panel discussion was free and open to the public.

Hear a transcript of the panel discussion and learn more about the work of the panel participants.

The UMASS performance of Cuatro Corridos was supported by an ARTWORKS grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Music at UMASS Amherst.

Cuatro Corridos was presented in the Teatro de las Artes, Mexico City for three performances May 15, 16 & 17, 2015.  

One of Mexico City's premiere venues, the 600 seat theater is housed within the Centro Nacional de las Artes (CENART). The May 2015 series of performances will be the second international presentations of Cuatro Corridos and marks the second anniversary of the project's premiere.

Cuatro Corridos received extensive media coverage ; the first performance was streamed live. Subsequently, the opera was the subject of a feature article in the July Issue of Siglio Nuevo .  It was filmed for television and has been broadcast numerous times on CANAL 22 (Mexico). 

The non-profit organization, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles presented Cuatro Corridos on August 8, 2014 at 7:30 p.m atZipper Hall at the Colburn School of Music in downtown Los Angeles.   The critically acclaimed opera was followed by a post performance reception; the opera was cited as a Critic's Pick of the Weekend by the Los Angeles Times and a feature article by LA Times Cultural reporter Carolina Miranda.

Celebrating its 85th anniversary, The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit, public interest law firms in the USA. It serves more than one million poor and low-income people in the greater Los Angeles area and has worked tirelessly on behalf of victims of human trafficking.

LAFLA’s Executive Director Silvia R. Argueta said of the event, “We feel that Cuatro Corridos is a beautiful, engaging, and innovative way for our organization to draw attention to this critical issue.”  

To view the Photo gallery of the event and to learn more about LAFLA

Cuatro Corridos was the centerpiece of the 2014 John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium at the University of New Mexico.  The opera was performed at 7:30 p.m. on April 7 at the newly restored South Broadway Cultural Center, and included a forum on human trafficking preceding the performance moderated by Peter Gilbert. 

Panelists included Lynn Sanchez   Program Director for Life Link's Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative, Maria Sanchez-Gagne, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the New Mexico Attorney General and Border Violence Division Director and Susan Tiano, Director, Latin American and Iberian Institute, University of New Mexico and Leading Scholar on Human Trafficking. 

The symposium, organized by UNM Professor Karola Obermuller and composer Peter Gilbert was a multi-day event which included discussions on the music of our time and beyond that, the role of the arts in contemporary society. 

To learn more about the events and to listen to the public forum

Cuatro Corridos was performed at Nasher Sculpture Center's critically acclaimed series Soundings: New Music at the Nasher.  Soprano Susan Narucki, pianist Aleck Karis, guitarist Pablo Gomez and percussionist Ayano Kataoka performed.  A public forum on human trafficking featuring Bill Bernstein and Tasha McGhie of Mosaic Family Services followed the performance.

The performance earned critical acclaim in D Magazine and Theater Jones and was named one of the top ten performances in Dallas for 2013.

To learn more about the event and to watch videos of the forum with Mosaic Family Services.

Cuatro Corridos had itsinternational premiere in Tijuana, B.C.  in September 2013.  It was presented with support from the MAP Fund and IMAC (Institute Municipale Arte y Cultura) and the Casa De La Cultura.  The performance was preceded by a public forum on human trafficking, held at the Casa De La Cultura, preceding the performance of the opera. 

Critically acclaimed Tijuana filmmakers Miguel Buentrostro and Sergio Valdez created a short film which captured the event. 

To learn more about the panelists and their work and to see the film.

The world premiere of Cuatro Corridos was presented at theExperimental Theater of the Conrad Prebys Music Center at the University of California, San Diego. The fully-staged, one-hour production featured UCSD Department of Music faculty soprano Susan Narucki, pianist Aleck Karis, percussionist Steven Schick, and guitarist Pablo Gomez.

As part of the project, two free public events were held May 9th, 2013 at the Department of Music, UCSD.  An 11 a.m. panel discussion that featured Jorge Volpi and all four composers that focused on the development of Cuatro Corridos  and its place in their larger artistic concerns.

A second forum at 2 p.m. included Mr. Volpi and experts on problem of human trafficking in the San Diego/Tijuana border region including: Elizabeth Aguilera, reporter from San Diego Union Tribune, Coleen Lassegard, Caring Residents of Carlsbad/La Posada Homeless Shelter, Daliah Setareh, Senior Attorney at Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Dr. Jay Silverman, Professor of Medicine and Global Public Health at UCSD.

Hear audio transcripts of the panel and learn more about the events

The Cuatro Corridos week-long residency at Yellow Barn in Putney, Vermont brought together a remarkable group of individuals for the beginning of the project's journey.

Soprano Susan Narucki, pianist Aleck Karis, guitarist Pablo Gomez, percussionist Ayano Kataoka, librettist Jorge Volpi, and composers Hilda Paredes, Arlene Sierra, Lei Liang and Hebert Vázquez gathered to focus intensely on the musical preparation of Cuatro Corridos in advance of its world premiere in San Diego in May, 2013. 

The residency wassupported by the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS) as well as the University of California and Yellow Barn.

The Cuatro Corridos Yellow Barn Artist Residency culminated with a performance of excerpts from the chamber opera on March 30, 2013.  The performance was followed by a panel discussion about   the collaborative process and the role of art in society.  The performance took place at Next Stage, Putney, Vermont.