Tu Nombre Verdadero is a live performance, with music and lyrics by Rita Indiana and libretto and direction by Noelia Quintero-Herencia. A post pandemic abstract tale that visits experiences of illness and death in the context of artistic practices and their markets, the piece was commissioned by the Americas Society Music Program after the couple moved to New York City in 2021. 

Quintero-Herencia, who also designed the scenography, conceived the piece as “a system of goodbyes, the lights and shadows multimedia machine we would need to look at things that are difficult to portray such as loss”. 

The songbook, arranged for piano and drums with Luis Amed Irizarry, Efraín Martínez, departs from Rita Indiana’s storytelling and popular music staples reaching into “uncharted places of my musical memory, the sounds of early childhood or how I remember them, a time before I knew what death meant”. Musical genres are approached in their bare bones, stripped of irony or fusion, as if death had also kissed them. Tu Nombre Verdadero was created out of the need to share an intimate space with those of us who were left behind, a need to memorialize the departed outside of social media, in the present, where the living abide. 

This premiere builds on a residency by Rita Indiana and Noelia Quintero Herencia in our studio 406, and is a perfect way to honor the legacy of our namesake and the artistry we are committed to supporting in our next chapter. The night will also feature a reception for Clemente Members, art auction, and an artist talk-back after the show. Purchase your tickets today to become a Member and join us for a momentous celebration!

Tu Nombre Verdadero was commissioned by Americas Society, and made possible, in part, by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals through the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

To see the full calendar of Spring programming, click here.

Click here to purchase your tickets and become a member!