APOLAKI: OPERA OF

THE SCORCHED EARTH

By Micaela Tobin with Jay Carlon
Debuted July 21–22, 2023 | Zorthian Ranch

Presented by LACE

A displaced God walks a foreign and unfamiliar land, looking for liberation beyond the Empire of the Sun. But what is beyond the horizon, and who has walked this path before? 

APOLAKI: OPERA OF THE SCORCHED EARTH is a new experimental opera by Filipino-American composer Micaela Tobin in collaboration with installation designer Carlo Maghirang and dancer/choreographer Jay Carlon. Continuing her celebration of the pre-colonial mythologies of the Philippines, Tobin’s new work tells the story of Apolaki, the precolonial God of Sun and War, who finds themself lost in a foreign and unfamiliar land (present day Tongva Land/Los Angeles) after being displaced from the Philippines by Spanish colonizers. This opera is a radical meditation on the complex relationships between settler colonialism, migration, and diaspora, and invites the audience to join Apolaki in this immersive pilgrimage, which premiered at the historic and storied Zorthian Ranch overlooking the Los Angeles Basin. 

This piece is the sequel to Tobin’s previous opera-film, “BAKUNAWA: Opera of the Seven Moons” which premiered at REDCAT in May 2021. Incorporating her signature combination of noise, drone, and opera, for this premiere Tobin recruited experimental percussionist M.A. Harms and electric bass/guitarist Stephen McNeely to create a dramatic and disruptive soundscape which drew Apolaki and the audience into a portal for Filipinx Liberation in the form of a  large walking-labyrinth, designed by Carlo Maghirang.