Visionintoart - VIA

Excited that “Monan Vuchila”, a title taken from the new album release Primero Sueño has been chosen to featured this week on the ASCAP New Music Friday Playlist!

Click the link in the bio to listen!

✨Available for pre-order at the link in our bio!✨

Primero Sueño is a processional opera by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera, inspired by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s 1692 poem, which is lauded as one of the greatest works of the Hispanic Baroque. Premiered at The Met Cloisters in January 2025, this opera reimagines Sor Juana’s visionary text through luminous composition and performance, celebrating the legacy of one of the Americas’ first published feminists.

Commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Live Arts (MetLiveArts) and VisionIntoArt (VIA). 

Libretto by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera 
Composition by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera 
Co-created by Paola Prestini, Magos Herrera and Louisa Proske
Produced and Orchestrated by Paola Prestini
Alejandro Venguer, Recording Engineer
Oscar Zambrano, Mastering Engineer
Recorded at Power Station, NYC on Jan 2025

This recording was possible thanks to the support of NYFA / NYC Women’s fund 2025.

Magos Herrera, Sor Juana 
Sjaella, Sisters 
Viola Blache, soprano 
Franziska Eberhardt, soprano 
Marie Fenske, soprano 
Marie Charlotte Seidel, mezzo-soprano 
Felicitas Erben, alto 
Helene Erben, alto 
Luca Tarantino, theorbo and Spanish guitar 
Celso Duarte, harps, charango, and hand percussion 
 
Cover Photo by Shervin Lainez

📸: Orlando Vega and Jill Steinberg

Primero Sueño at the Met Cloisters
January 2025

Libretto by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera
Composition by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera
Co-created by Paola Prestini, Magos Herrera and Louisa Proske
Directed by Louisa Proske
Choreographed by Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson
Costume Design by Andrea Lauer

Featuring Magos Herrera, Sjaella, Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson, Celso Duarte, Luca Tarantino and David Herrera

Commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Live Arts (MetLiveArts) and VisionIntoArt (VIA).

📸:

✨Opening Night ✨

Houses of Zodiac at the Catacombs of Greenwood Cemetery

We Were Fridays begins in the griot tradition of West Africa, where storytellers serve as historians and cultural custodians, passing knowledge down from generation to generation. In this tradition, Burnice Perry takes on this role as she carried and extensively shared her family’s history to her younger relative, Jeffrey Zeigler. “She was the cousin of my biological grandmother. We became very close and in many ways she felt like the grandmother I never knew.”

Several hours of recording of Burnice is the foundation from which We Were Fridays was created. She offered not just memory but a living narrative as her voice echoes throughout the piece. To bring this living archive into a new artistic form, Zeigler partnered with multimedia artist sister sylvester. Described by The New York Times as “imaginative and original,” sister sylvester creates visual essays and live works that merge spoken and written text, reshaping them into performances and communal reading experiences. Through this collaboration, Burnice’s role as griot expands into a new dimension, one where memory, music, and multimedia converge

We Were Friday Developmental Residency
National Sawdust
September 8, 10, 11, 2025

In We Were Fridays, movement is more than expression, it’s part of the music and is woven into the narrative. Through choreography and improvisation, choreographer Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray and dancers bring to life themes of love, memory, and resilience that shape the music and the journey of this work.

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Click the link in our bio to view the full segment of this powerful and inspiring interview!

Last month, Port(al) opened a new chapter at PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance. Fresh off the powerful run at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn Youth Chorus beautifully brought this immersive choral theater experience to Chatham, NY. Port(al) delves into the layered history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, from its bustling port days to its transformation over time. Through song, movement, and storytelling, Port(al) guides audiences through echoes of the past, realities of the present, and visions of the future. Thank you to all who joined us in keeping the portal open!

Commissioned by Brooklyn Youth Chorus in association with VisionIntoArt. Co-Produced by Brooklyn Youth Chorus, VisionIntoArt, and Pomegranate Arts

📸: Steven Taylor

The dream continues...

Last week, Magos Herrera, Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson, Daniel Oxenhandler and Alberto Ruiz returned to Mexico on the anniversary of the company’s first trip to develop, research, and explore the creative world of Primero Sueño within the context of Mexico - reconnecting with the culture, history and artistry that shaped the poem. Last summer’s exploration of Sor Juana de la Cruz’s poem came alive and premiered within the walls of the Met Cloisters this past January. We’re excited to step into the next chapter, the next dream, of the magic that is Primero Sueño.

Stay tuned! ✨