Yerma (opera)

Yerma was commissioned in 1955 by an old friend of Villa-Lobos, Hugh Ross, the conductor of the New York Schola Cantorum, and by John Blankenship, at that time head of the drama department at Sarah Lawrence College.

The title role was sung by the Mexican soprano María Luisa Tamez, supported by Brazilian tenor Benito Maresca and Uruguayan baritone Fernando Barabino.

[10] A concert version was presented from July 12–21, 1989 by Opera on the Move in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank's Latin American Festival, "Viva!

", with Anna Steiger in the title role and Odaline de la Martinez conducting,[11] while the European staged premiere was given by the Bielefeld Opera in 1991.

[13] Despite the fact that it occurred twelve years after the composer's death, the Santa Fe premiere of Yerma attracted widespread attention from the press, not only from American publications like the New York Times and Newsweek, but also from several Swiss newspapers and the Brazilian daily, Jornal do Brasil, the latter no doubt because the opera was the work of the most distinguished Brazilian composer of his time.