Multilevel
Artistic Participation
Flexible
Performance Formats
Integrated
Artistic Training
Cultural & Global
Literacy
Complete
Production Resources
Community-Centered
Creation
CommunityOperaScores™ is a groundbreaking operatic resource designed to make the creation, production, and performance of opera fully accessible to communities, institutions, and artists worldwide. Each work is developed through advanced multilevel, multidisciplinary, and practice-based research, ensuring that artistic excellence is integrated with cultural relevance, educational depth, and community engagement. Unlike traditional operatic models that limit participation to highly specialized professionals, CommunityOperaScores™ enables performers of all levels—professionals, students, and community members—to collaborate side by side in meaningful artistic experiences.
Each opera is conceived as a complete production ecosystem, including flexible scores, modular orchestration, and integrated artistic training across voice, orchestra, movement, and visual design. Designed for opera companies, orchestras, schools, universities, and cities, these works adapt to diverse resources while preserving artistic coherence and quality. Beyond performance, CommunityOperaScores™ fosters cultural literacy, interdisciplinary learning, and community-centered creation, transforming opera into a scalable platform for artistic, social, and educational impact.
Beyond performance, CommunityOperaScores™ transforms opera into immersive, participatory artistic ecosystems. By placing communities at the center of creation, these works invite individuals of all backgrounds to engage not only as audiences, but as active contributors—fostering meaningful connections between artists, institutions, and the communities they serve. Each production becomes more than a performance—it becomes a shared process of creation, learning, and cultural exchange.
Through this model, opera evolves into a platform for artistic expression, cultural dialogue, and long-term community engagement, where participants build lasting relationships with the art form and with one another.
Featured by
80+ publications across the United States, Latin America, and Europe.
Forbes • OperaWire • Opera World • Los Angeles Times • Noticias Uno TV • Indiana Daily Student • The Herald-Times • Impacta Magazine
Opera World
General Editor
July 2025
"An extraordinary opportunity for creative professionals to engage in collaborative opera development through expert guidance and mentorship. [...] [It] enable[s] diverse musical traditions, cultural expressions, and artistic communities to gain influence and actively participate in reshaping the global performing arts landscape."
Impacta Magazine
General Editor
June 2026
"An ambitious project designed to transform how communities participate in the performing arts. [...] A multidisciplinary model of accessible opera that substantially reduces traditional elitist barriers."
LA Times
General Editor
May 2022
"Something totally unique [...] Communities have a voice in experiencing high-level artistic experiences usually reserved for professionals."
IDS
General Editor
July 2025
"A model for sustainable performing arts. [...] opera is reinvented through diversity [...] new operas rooted in their cultures, voices, and stories"
Opera Wire
Afton Markay
July 2025
"A transformative experience that empowers artists to co-create new operas under professional mentorship, with international premieres and global dissemination. [...] The program provides the platforms needed for all music, cultures, and communities to be empowered and take an active role in transforming the performing arts on a global scale."
Modular Production Scalability
Immersive Community Creation
Multidisciplinary Artistic Practice
Fully Bilingual Opera Experiences
Multilevel
Artistic Participation
Full Levels Design
Multilevel Casting & Orchestra
Side-by-Side participation
Flexible
Performance Formats
From Piano and Vocals
To Full Orchestration
Modular Production for All Levels
Integrated
Artistic Training
Acting, Singing, Dancing
Orchestra Playing
Visual Arts & Stage Design
Interdisciplinary Practice
Cultural & Global
Literacy
Multilingual Learning Through Artistic Practice
Cultural Frameworks
Contextual Learning
Complete
Production Resources
Vocal Scores, Full Scores, Parts, Art Books, etc...
Pedagogical Methods for All Levels
Comprehensive Multimedia Materials
Creative materials suggestions
Community-Centered
Creation
Communities inspire the stories, cultures, and values of each opera—participating as supporters, creators, producers, performers, and active audiences.
“CommunityOperaScores™ represents one of the direct practical applications of nearly two decades of international artistic experience together with my doctoral and postdoctoral research on opera sustainability, multilevel participation, cultural engagement, and interdisciplinary artistic development—including the frameworks developed through my doctoral dissertation at Indiana University. These operas are designed not only as artistic works, but as living ecosystems where professionals, students, and communities create, learn, and perform together side by side. Through CommunityOperaScores™, opera becomes more accessible, culturally connected, educationally meaningful, and socially sustainable—allowing communities around the world to actively participate in the creation of the performing arts.”
Diego Barbosa-Vásquez
Original Idea, Chief Creator, Artistic Director & Conductor
Catalog
Buscando/Seeking El Dorado
A Community Opera in One Act by CommunityOperaScores™
©2026 - CommunityOperaScores™ & Barbosa-Vásquez, Emir, Sosa, Ardila-Pineda
7 Multilevel Soloists, Choir, and Flexible Orchestration
Full Orchestra // Chamber Orchestra // Piano, Strings and Woodwinds // Piano and Strings // Piano and Strings Quartet // or only Piano /// +Simplified Parts for Beginners
Average Duration: 50'
Commissioned for the Bloomington Opera Camp™ & Premiered in June 6th 2026, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Co-Premieres by:
- Santa Monica Symphony (Santa Monica, California, USA, 2027-2028 Season
- Orquesta Sinfónica (Nacional) Juvenil de El Salvador (San Salvador, El Salvador), 2026-2028 Season
- Orquesta Municipal de José C. Paz (José C. Paz, Argentina), July 14th 2026
- Orquesta Sinfónica de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, D.C., Colombia). 2026-2028 Season
Created by the Masters level cohort (2025-2026) as part of the Composition and Libretto Opera Camp™ program by PAL.
Available for Rental: Full Production Package
Full Flexible Score, Full Orchestra Parts, Vocal Score, Stage Design Book, Comprehensive Multimedia Preparation and Pedagogical Support Materials.
Buscando/Seeking El Dorado is a vibrant Community Opera in One Act that transforms the legendary search for El Dorado into a powerful story about cultural encounter, collective learning, and the discovery of shared humanity. Set within a richly imagined world inspired by pre-Hispanic and Latin American cultures, the opera follows characters from different perspectives and values as they learn that the true path toward El Dorado is not built through conquest or individual ambition, but through collaboration, creativity, and mutual understanding.
Musically, the opera is uniquely shaped by the integration of multiple traditional Latin American rhythms—including Guaino Andino, Bambuco, Guajira Cubana, Cumbia Caribe, Bembé Cubano, and Guaguancó—creating an immersive sound world where singing, dancing, storytelling, and orchestral performance become inseparable. These rhythms are not decorative additions, but central dramatic and cultural elements that shape the characters, relationships, and emotional evolution of the story. Through this fusion of opera and traditional musical languages, Buscando/Seeking El Doradooffers audiences and performers an unforgettable artistic experience that celebrates cultural diversity, community collaboration, and the transformative power of learning from one another.
Co-Creators of Buscando/Seeking El Dorado
Original Idea, Chief Project Creator & Original Plot
Diego Barbosa-Vásquez
(Colombia)
Doctor in Music (JSoM - IU - USA)
Master in Music - Maestro en Música (BMus)
Opera, Orchestra, and Ballet
Conductor & Scholar
Expert in Performing Arts Sustainability
Original Plot, & Choreographer
Deniz Emir
(Türkiye)
Doctor in Education Student (HLS - IU - USA)
Master in Education - Specialist in International Baccalaureate / Choreographer - Embodied Pedagogy Specialist
Librettist
Diego Sosa
(México)
PhD in Media Arts, and Drama PhD in Media Arts, and Drama from Royal Holloway, University of London, has staged his plays and operas across the US, UK, and Europe
Composer
Raul Esteban Ardila Pineda
(Colombia)
Master in Music (UA - Colombia) is an multiple awards-winning composer whose work bridges contemporary composition and Latin American traditional music.
Knight of El Dorado / Caballero de El Dorado
A Community Opera in One Act by CommunityOperaScores™
©2026 - CommunityOperaScores™ & Barbosa-Vásquez, Emir, Feng, Uran, Wallin-Huff, Xu
7 Multilevel Soloists, Choir, and Flexible Orchestration
Full Orchestra // Chamber Orchestra // Piano, Strings, Woodwinds and Set Drum // Piano, Strings and Set Drum // // Piano, Strings Quartet and Set Drum // or Piano and Set Drum /// +Simplified Parts for Beginners
Average Duration: 50'
Scenes Premiered in Concert Version on June 6th 2026, Bloomington, IN, USA by the BOC Fellows of the Bloomington Opera Camp™.
Created as part of the Composition and Libretto Opera Camp™ program by PAL.
Available for Rental: Full Production Package
Full Flexible Score, Full Orchestra Parts, Vocal Score, Stage Design Book, Comprehensive Multimedia Preparation and Pedagogical Support Materials.
Knight of El Dorado is a dynamic Community Opera in One Act that reimagines the mythology of El Dorado through a story of leadership, identity, ambition, and collective responsibility. Conceived as the sister opera to Buscando/Seeking El Dorado, both works originate from the same original plot developed by Deniz Emir and Diego Barbosa-Vásquez. However, through a completely different libretto and musical approach, Knight of El Dorado evolves into its own unique operatic world—exploring themes such as artificial intelligence in the arts, power relationships within societies, legitimacy, creativity, and the human values that sustain communities.
Set within a fantastical world inspired by symbolic interpretations of the El Dorado legend, the opera follows characters from different perspectives as they gradually discover that the strength of a society is not measured by wealth or conquest, but by collaboration, imagination, compassion, and shared creation.
Musically, the opera combines contemporary operatic language with theatrical, rhythmically vibrant, and emotionally immersive writing. Uniquely, the score was collaboratively composed by three women composers, transforming the creative process itself into a reflection of opera’s deepest essence: multiple artists, disciplines, and perspectives working together toward one unified artistic vision. Through its blend of adventure, symbolism, humor, and community-centered artistry, Knight of El Dorado offers performers and audiences a powerful celebration of human creativity and collective creation.
Co-Creators of Knight of El Dorado // Caballero de El Dorado
Original Idea, Chief Project Creator & Original Plot
Diego Barbosa-Vásquez
(Colombia)
Doctor in Music (JSoM - IU - USA)
Master in Music - Maestro en Música (BMus)
Opera, Orchestra, and Ballet
Conductor & Scholar
Expert in Performing Arts Sustainability
Original Plot,
& Choreographer
Deniz Emir
(Türkiye)
Doctor in Education Student (HLS - IU - USA)
Master in Education - Specialist in International Baccalaureate / Choreographer - Embodied Pedagogy Specialist
Librettist
Robert Ellsworth Feng
(USA - Hawai)
Chinese-American Librettist & Bass-Baritone
Contemporary Opera Storytelling
Innovative Theatrical Forms
OPERA America Featured Artist & Collaborator
Composer
Linda Uran
(Croatia)
Award-Winning Croatian Composer & Multimedia Artist
Graduate of the Zagreb Academy of Music
Composer of Opera, Rock Opera & Theater Works
Founder of Uran Music Independent Label
Music Editor at Croatian Radio & Television
Composer
Sarah Wallin Huff
(USA - California)
American Composer, Violinist & Electric Violinist
Music Lecturer at California Polytechnic University Pomona
MA in Music Composition (Claremont Graduate University)
Contemporary Concert & Soundtrack Composer
Creator of “Stream-of-Consciousness” Composition
Composer
Yangfan Xu
(China)
Chinese Composer Based in the United States
Composer for Orchestral, Chamber & Contemporary Music
Juilliard & San Francisco Conservatory Graduate
DMA Candidate at New England Conservatory
Performed Internationally by Leading Contemporary Ensembles
Explore how CommunityOperaScores™ can help transform your organization, community, and artistic practice through sustainable, community-centered opera experiences. This is more than access to scores—it is your entry point into a new ecosystem of collaborative, culturally connected, and performance-ready opera creation.
Ready to Produce but still some doubts?
You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
Support for Every Stage of Your Production
At the Performing Arts Laboratory, we are here to help you achieve the greatest possible artistic, educational, and community impact through your production. Depending on your needs, PAL can support your project through strategic consulting, artistic guidance, educational planning, community engagement strategies, or full Opera Camp™ co-production partnerships.
PAL Services
Your safety net for 100% success.
You are already ready to produce. You have the team, the venue, and the vision. But looking to make sure you extract every single benefit this operas can offer. PAL Services provides targeted support to guarantee you don't leave value on the table—artistically, financially, socially, and ecologically. We help you optimize your production so your artists thrive, your organization grows, and your community feels lasting impact. Best for experienced organizations who want expert reinforcement to maximize outcomes across all four dimensions.
🎭 Opera Camp™
Your fully produced turnkey solution.
Opera Camp™ is our flagship co-production model. When you license a CommunityOperaScores™ work though an Opera Camp™ co-production, we don't just hand you the music and say "good luck." Through Opera Camp™, PAL becomes your active partner—providing artistic leadership, production frameworks, and community engagement systems. We produce with you, ensuring your premiere is artistically excellent, educationally impactful, and financially sustainable. Best for organizations wanting a hands-on partner for their first production.
