The French composer Francois Philador lived from 1726 to 1795, and his musical legacy is based on the his 20 comic operas, eight of which he wrote between 1759 to 1765. One of those was his one act Sancho Panza, our opera this week, from 1762. His librettist Antoine Poinsinet took an incident from Don Quixote in which Sancho becomes governor of the fictitious island of Barataria where he develops delusions of grandeur. A succession of characters plot to cure him of these delusions, and eventually he resigns, wanting only to return home to his wife and also his friend Don Quixote. The opera ends with all singing about how everyone should know their place in life.
The performance features baritone Darren Perry as Sancho, and Elizabeth Calleo as his wife Therese. Others in the cast include Karim Sulayman and MeGhan McCall. Ryan Brown conducts the Opera Lafayette Orchestra.
