This Opera May Change the Way You Think About Immigration Forever

“The Consul” is Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1950 opera describing the heartbreaking frustration felt by many immigrants applying for asylum in the U.S.

Opera Modo

Opera MODO

Bureaucratic red tape may not seem like a compelling plot for an opera, but seeking freedom in another country is truly a complicated process.

It’s also a real-life drama for hundreds of thousands of people in the world.

“The Consul” is Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1950 opera describing the heartbreaking frustration felt by many immigrants applying for asylum in the U.S. 

Detroit’s Opera MODO company has updated Menotti’s “The Consul” for today’s world with real immigration stories compiled with the help of Detroit’s Freedom House

Opera Modo’s Executive Director Danielle Wright says this opera exists in the space where art and social justice are connected. 

“It’s being [performed] all over the country, all over the world because of the current political climate,” Wright says.  

Listen to CultureShift’s Amanda LeClaire talk with Wright about how “The Consul” may change the way you think about immigration forever. 

Find tickets here.

Author

  • Amanda LeClaire is an award-winning journalist and producer of the CuriosiD podcast for 101.9 WDET-FM Detroit’s NPR station. She served as the host of WDET's now discontinued program CultureShift, was a founding producer of WDET’s flagship news talk show Detroit Today, and a former host/reporter for Arizona Public Media.