When work started several years ago on The Righteous , which is having its world premiere at the Santa Fe Opera on Saturday, July 13, its creators couldn’t have anticipated just how timely it would be. The opera’s central theme — the conflation of political power and religious belief — has leapt to the front of news reports, thanks to anti-abortion legislation recently adopted in several states, a mandate to “prominently display” the Ten Commandments in Louisiana public school classrooms, and to incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments in public school curriculum in Oklahoma. The opera, which takes place during the rise of the megachurch in the 1980s and early 1990s, focuses on other contemporary themes as well, including the search for spiritual connections, how best to solve urban poverty, and survival of abuse, through the personal narrative arcs of its large cast.
Composer Gregory Spears, librettist Tracy K. Smith, and stage director Kevin Newbury are telling a story of their adolescence — they’re all in their late 40s or early 50s — and their collaboration here builds on the success of their first joint creation, Castor and Patience , which premiered at the Cincinnati Opera in July 2022. It’s an incredibly distinguished trio, to say next to the least.
Spears has a highly individual compositional voice that melds contemporary tonal minimalism with aspects of Renaissance and Baroque music. He’s particularly drawn to the operatic medium — The R.
