International chess virtuoso François-André Danican Philidor’s fortunes as a musician at the court of Versailles were transformed when he turned his attention to the new genre of opéracomique. Sancho Pança, gouverneur dans l’isle de Barataria derives from Cervantes’s famous novel Don Quijote, covering Sancho Panza’s adventures as governor of a fictitious island on which a succession of characters plot to cure him of his delusions of grandeur.

Opera Lafayette’s production of this comedy revue is a ‘sparkle of shining surfaces’ (Washington Post).

Ryan Brown is the founder, conductor, and artistic director of Opera Lafayette and has become a leading figure in the revival of baroque opera in America. His vivid explorations of French repertoire in particular have earned him an international reputation, receiving the highest praise from critics in the United States and abroad.