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BOSTON, MA (For Release 10.27.25) — Hailed for creating diverse, timely and relevant opera-theater, White Snake Projects (WSP) hosts the third installment of Let’s Celebrate!, an annual performance presenting brand-new 20-minute operas that celebrate the diversity of Boston’s community. The rhythms, melodies and stories of cultures from across the globe comes alive January 10-11, 2026, at the South End’s BCA Plaza Theatre. Performed by four of Boston’s leading opera singers, this special event showcases an array of multicultural festivities and traditions through music — from Mexico’s Black Christ at Chalma, and Uzbekistan’s Navruz, a national holiday celebrating the new year and new life, to Spain’s La Tomatina, a tomato throwing festival.
“We invite audiences to learn about different cultures and their respective rites and celebrations through the universal medium of music,” says Cerise Lim Jacobs, Founder/Artistic Director of White Snake Projects. “Music has always been a bridge between cultures. Through these performances, we celebrate the shared humanity behind every sound and story that connect us all.”
Dancing in Chalma celebrates one of the most important festivals of Mexico: The Black Christ. With music by world-renowned Mexican composer Felipe Perez Santiago, Dancing in Chalma transports listeners to the Mexican town of Chalma where people make their pilgrimages to the reputed miracle-worker shrine, the Black Christ of Chalma.
Thirty Angels is a musical celebration of Navruz, the Uzbek and Persian New Year. Composed and written by Uzbekistan-native composer, Liliya Ugay (carrying Korean and Tatar ethnic heritage), Thirty Angels tells the fictional story of a young child in an Uzbek village who learns the meaning of the centuries-old tradition of preparing Sumalak, a celebratory food of germinated wheat, flour, cottonseed oil and water symbolizing community, friendship, and good luck. For generations of Uzbeks, Navruz has been a source of renewal, hope, and joy.
Requiem Tomatina celebrates the largest food fight in the world, the heart-stopping La Tomatina Festival held every year in a town near Valencia, Spain. Acclaimed director/choreographer/librettist John de los Santos and composer Tony Solitro join forces to share the wild, unusual, and very saucy spectacle of their homeland that brings together thousands in the streets squashing and throwing tomatoes at each other producing a sea of red.
About White Snake Projects
White Snake Projects (WSP) is an activist performance company making mission-driven work that unites artmaking with civic practice. Celebrated for creating diverse, timely and relevant opera-theater, it envisions a world where the power of music expands our collective understanding of community and transforms lives through creative storytelling. The company programs thematically. Its most recent themes have been “voting rights” (2024) anchored by Is This America?, the story of Fannie Lou Hamer; and “climate” (2025) anchored by White Raven, Black Dove. A critical element in the exploration of these themes is the establishment of authentic connections with thought leaders in social justice to ensure that the company’s creative work lives in an ecosystem of activism. WSP sees opera not just as performance, but as performance with purpose, a vibrant and vital art form that is also a champion of change. WhiteSnakeProjects.org
Program Ticketing Info:
Let’s Celebrate!
Saturday January 10, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, January 11, 2026, at 2:00 p.m.
(post-performance panel discussions)
BCA Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02116
Tix: Tickets: Pay What You Wish starting at $0. Reservations strongly encouraged. To reserve or for more information, visit WhiteSnakeProjects.org.
Program Cast:
Dancing in Chalma
Music: Felipe Perez Santiago
Libretto: Cerise Lim Jacobs
Xochil: Maggie Finnegan (soprano)
Chely: Carina DiGianfilippo (soprano)
Xula: Chihiro Asano (mezzo-soprano)
Thirty Angels
Music Libretto: Liliya Ugay
Nodirbek/Farrukh: Maggie Finnegan (coloratura)
Nilufar/Madina: Carina DiGianfilippo (soprano)
Dilbar/Fatima: Chihiro Asano (mezzo-soprano)
Requiem Tomatina
Music: Tony Solitro
Libretto: John de los Santos
Student: Maggie Finnegan (soprano)
Vendor: Carina DiGianfilippo (soprano)
Priest: Chihiro Asano (mezzo-soprano)
Corporal: Scott Ballantine (baritone)
Creative Team:
Director: Cara Consilvio
Music Director: Tianhui Ng
Assistant Conductor: Julian Gau
Orchestra:
Justin Ouellet – violin
Linda Hwang – cello
TBA – piano
Sung in English
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