Her soul yearned for freedom.

As a student, Frida spurned the taunts of the other girls, turning instead to the politics of the revolutionaries. When a near-fatal bus accident kept her bedridden, she found her own path to freedom in her paintings. Through love, pain, tragedy, and ultimately death, Frida’s identity and art remain a fierce cry of independence.
Based on the life of iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Robert Xavier Rodríguez’s 1991 opera is as “emphatic and bold” (Opera News) as the artist herself. Our production from Michigan Opera Theatre was praised by the Detroit Free Press for its “dramatic intensity and immediacy.” Singing the title role is Catalina Cuervo, whose performance won rave reviews: “Cuervo doesn’t just play the role, she embodies it. Never was there any doubt that she was Kahlo personified” (The Detroit News).