Pontalba

Pontalba
Opera by Thea Musgrave
Portrait of Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba on whose life the opera is based
LibrettistThea Musgrave
LanguageEnglish
Premiere
2 October 2003 (2003-10-02)

Pontalba is an opera in two acts composed by Thea Musgrave. Musgrave also wrote the libretto which is loosely based on the life of Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, a prominent figure in 19th-century New Orleans. The opera was commissioned by New Orleans Opera to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. It premiered on 2 October 2003 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans conducted by Robert Lyall with Yali-Marie Williams in the title role.