Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance

Austin-based composer and bandleader Graham Reynolds—celebrated for wide-ranging credits that include film scores for Richard Linklater and collaborations with Jack Black and DJ Spooky — leads a rousing experimental chamber opera that pays tribute to a revolutionary and legendary figure. Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance explores the life and legacy of Pancho Villa, and sonically traverses both Mexican and American perspectives to reveal intersections and conflicts to create a borderless dialogue about the shared histories of Mexico and the United States.
Featuring hybrid compositional and production techniques and an extensive sound palette, Pancho Villa is a rousing transnational collaboration that brings together Mexico City theater collective Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol as librettists, director Shawn Sides of Rude Mechs, Austin Lyric Opera tenor Paul Sanchez, mezzo-soprano Liz Cass, Grammy Award winning guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada, and backed by a stellar chamber ensemble with remixes by famed Monterrey DJ Toy Selectah.
Originally commissioned by Ballroom Marfa as part of The Marfa Triptych, a genre-hopping trilogy of visionary musical performances by Graham Reynolds.

Composer: Graham Reynolds
Director: Shawn Sides
Librettists: Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol
Luisa Pardo & Gabino Rodríguez
Tenor: Paul Sanchez
Mezzo-Soprano: Liz Cass
Guitar: Adrian Quesada
Violin: Alexis Buffum
Drums: Jeremy Bruch
Bass & Tuba: Utah Hamrick
Cello: Henna Chou
Additional Lyrics: Carrie Fountain
Set & Lighting Design: Brian Scott
Costume Design: Christine Crook
Video Design: Robert Fisher
Translator: Tomás Q. Morín
Additional Translations: Antonio Ruiz-Camacho
Sound Engineer: Gory Smelley
Managing Producer: David Lobel
Production Manager: Dallas Tate El Tigre: Miguel Santiago Santos
Music Remixing & Consultation: Toy Selectah

Called “the quintessential modern composer” by the London Independent, Graham Reynolds composes and records music for film, theater and performance with collaborators ranging from Richard Linklater and Jack Black to DJ Spooky and Ballet Austin. He is Artistic Director of Golden Hornet Composer Laboratory, a member of the Rude Mechs theater collective, resident composer with Salvage Vanguard Theater, and received the 2016 Creative Capital Award for the Pancho Villa chamber opera.

www.grahamreynolds.com and www.panchovillaopera.com

Co-presented by the Skirball Cultural Center as part of our LAX/MEX 2017 exchange.