Enjoy this full final performance from The 2022 96-Hour Opera Project: Stories that Resonate!

Title: Buford Highway Dreams
Composer: Jorge Sosa
Librettist: Alejandra Villareal Martinez
Story Partner: We Love Buford Highway

Mezzo-Soprano: Xiaohan Chen
Tenor: Austin Cripe
Pianist: Choo Choo Hu
Director: Ricardo Aponte

Artist statement:
Buford Highway Dreams was born in partnership with the community organization “We Love Buford Highway,” a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the multicultural identity of this Atlanta neighborhood, and The Atlanta Opera. They recommended to us the true story of Guillermo, a Mexican migrant, who gradually lost his sight in adulthood. In his darkest hour, Guillermo began to visit a Taekwondo dojang in the community, where he studied and eventually became a Taekwondo master. Eventually, Guillermo started his own dojang and became an important leader of his community, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our scene,
Guillermo is just starting his journey in the martial arts and discovering a new sense of balance, purpose, and community in the teachings of his Korean instructor Seon-yeong. Both characters share their immigration stories, grieving their lost homelands, while finding hope and friendship in their adoptive community. We wanted to tell this story because
too often we only hear of the treacherous journeys of immigration, of the discrimination and violence that migrants must overcome. While it is important that we tell those stories, it is equally necessary to share stories of success, achievement, and communities that cross multicultural borders to unite in a sense of hope.