Harriet (2018)
(Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman)

A portrait of the courageous Afro-American freedom fighter Harriet Tubman (c. 1822-1913).  and her struggle against slavery. This chamber opera is scored for two voices, percussion, violin, guitar and electronics. In the libretto (Mayra Santos-Febres & Lex Bohlmeijer) Harriet tells her life story to her young protégé Alice.

In Act I we hear about her childhood as a slave and about the violent injury to her head suffered when she was young. The music makes reference to the religious visions that resulted from it and which showed her the way out.

After fleeing her native plantation in Maryland, Act II focuses in her activities rescuing enslaved families and friends, using the network of antislavery activists known as the Underground Railroad, for which she became a leader known as the Moses of her people. Like most slaves, she was illiterate so she used music to direct the fugitives, the score makes reference to these songs in Act II, known to have been used as coded messages to communicate between her and the runaways.

Shortly after acquiring a property in New York State, Harriet went back to Maryland once more and returned with an eight-year-old light-skinned black girl named Margaret. Act III makes reference to the unanswered question that Margaret was possibly Tubman's daughter as the two shared an unusually strong bond. Alice, Margaret’s youngest daughter, spent much time with Harriet in her old age, listening to her stories and the dialogue between them conforms Act III.

In Act IV we hear about the battles she led during the civil war such as the one that took place at Combahee river and how she was made General by John Brown, an antislavery leader of his time. We also learn about Nelson Davies a young soldier who became her second husband.

The work makes constant reference to her thoughts with quotes of her own words as recorded by various sources and at the end of Act IV we hear her message to President Lincoln.

The epilogue is a message of hope and continuity for her fight against slavery and racism.

Composition commissioned by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Festival Internacional Cervantino, Muziekgebouw aan ‘IJ and Muziektheater Transparant. With the support of Ammodo, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico (FONCA) and The Composers’ Fund, a PRS for Music Foundation initiative in collaboration with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation