On Thursday, October 18th, the UNM Department of English will host the distinguished Héctor Armienta as the featured speaker for the 9th annual Rudolfo and Patricia Anaya Lecture on the Literature of the Southwest. The lecture will take place at 7:00pm in the Grand Hall of Zimmerman Library, with a reception to follow. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Héctor Armienta is the artistic director of Opera Cultura, the only Latino-focused opera company in the United States. His work explores the Mexican and Mexican American cultural experience, and it draws on and reinvents Western and indigenous traditions. His awards and commissions include those from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International, Opera Pacific, the Pacific Company, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Western Stage Theater, and Opera Southwest. His newest opera, Bless Me, Ultima, is based on Rudolfo Anaya’s world-renowned novel and had its world premiere at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. In addition to Bless Me, Ultima, Mr. Armienta’s other works include Coyotes y Conejos/Coyotes and Rabbits, a bilingual folk play for children; Cuentos de Peregrinación/Tales of Pilgrimage, a song cycle about the experiences of Mexican border-crossers; and Aguas Ancestrales/Ancient Waters, a musical theater trilogy inspired by the life of his grandmother.
To pledge your support for the annual lecture series, please go to the Lecture Series Fund page, or to support Hispanic students in English, visit the Rudolfo Anaya Fellowship Fund page.
Thank you to our UNM co-sponsors for the 2018 Anaya Lecture with Héctor Armienta: American Studies, Chicana/Chicano Studies, Center for Regional Studies, Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections, Creative Writing Program, English, Latin American and Iberian Institute, Music, Southwest Hispanic Research Institute, Spanish and Portuguese, University Libraries.
