SYNOPSIS

Adapted from the Edith Wharton novel of the same name, the story of the opera has been reset at Les Alizés (Trade Winds), a wealthy French sugar cane plantation on the Caribbean island of Martinique in 1911.  The opera tells the tale of unrequited love, doomed by the strict conventions of society that breed intolerance based on race and class.  Anna Leath, an American widow, is trapped on the plantation with her aristocratic French mother-in-law and falls in love with an American diplomat whom she knew in New York.  Unbeknownst to her, he has had an affair with her young daughter’s mixed-race nursemaid.  Anna’s stepson is also in love with the island girl, who cares more for the diplomat.  The mother-in-law forbids the union with her grandson, and although Anna supports the marriage, the toxic fumes of prejudice bend even her will.  When Anna discovers the nursemaid is carrying the diplomat’s child, she knows her love is forever tainted.  After the accidental death of her stepson, Anna chooses propriety over passion by sending her lover away, consoled only by the thought of keeping his yet unborn child in her care.

Throughout the opera, the collective conscience of the island is represented by the “Invisibles,” a Greek chorus of islanders who observe the action through a lens magnified by the inequalities of race and class between the island workers and the aristocratic plantation owners.  In addition to providing social commentary of those in the “Great House,” they echo the thoughts, fears, and desires of the characters.  They also represent the forces of nature that govern the island — water, wind, heat, and light, the oppressors and disruptors of life and love.

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Synopsis provided by Joan Ross Sorkin