Immersive Opera At The Bass Museum Inspired By ‘Perspectives’

Nathan Felix, shown during a rehearsal in Orlando in 2022, will present “Mirrors,” a one-night-only immersive opera presentation as part of The Bass Museum of Arts’ Third Thursdays. (Photo by Laurenna Roma, courtesy of Nathan Felix)

When Mexican-American composer and director Nathan Felix first heard about The Bass Museum of Art, it wasn’t from a curator or a press release. A colleague who visited the venue had raved about the acoustics, the architecture, and the way sound moved through the galleries. That was all Felix needed to hear. Known for creating immersive operas in unconventional spaces —compared by the press to flash mobs for their fluid movement and element of surprise — Felix reached out with an idea. A year later, his concept has become reality.

At 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 15,  Felix will present Mirrors, a one-night-only performance at The Bass as part of the museum’s “Third Thursday” program. The immersive opera draws inspiration from the museum’s exhibition “Performing Perspectives: A Collection in Dialogue,” and will unfold in motion, as performers guide the audience through a story about identity, immigration, and transformation.

The immersive opera “Mirrors” draws inspiration from the museum’s exhibition “Performing Perspectives: A Collection in Dialogue,” shown in photo, and will unfold in motion, as performers guide the audience through a story about identity, immigration, and transformation. (Photo by Zaire Aranguren / courtesy of The Bass Museum)

“ ‘Performing Perspectives: A Collection in Dialogue’ looks at how self and identity can be performative and theatrical, especially across different social and cultural settings. The whole show has inspired a series of site-specific performances happening at the museum throughout the year — including Nathan Felix’s ‘Mirrors,’” says  Grace Castro, director of public and private events at The Bass.

The narrative, written and composed by Felix, follows two immigrant nurses—one from Mexico and the other from Europe—as they arrive in the United States and confront cultural challenges, manage shifting expectations, and face the fear that their children and grandchildren might endure the same discrimination they had. The setting, he says, is intentionally ambiguous,  meant to evoke a border region like South Florida or South Texas, places where immigrant stories are ever-present.

“It’s about how we see ourselves versus how we’re seen by others,” says Felix, the founding director of Opera Austin Festival, a one day festival in Austin, Texas, celebrating new opera works, and a recipient of Opera America’s IDEA Grant. His work often explores Latinx stories and border narratives.

Nathan Felix’s immersive “Cadence of Life” at Drake University’s Anderson Gallery, in Des Moines, Iowa. He says his works in museum spaces are boundary-blurring performances. (Photo by Emilia Jurzich /Courtesy of Nathan Felix)

“It’s not set in a specific city, so it can resonate more broadly. I want people to reflect on how identity is shaped when you leave one place and begin in another,” he adds.

Felix calls “Mirrors” an “immersive” opera, not because it takes place in a museum, but also because it eliminates the divide between performer and audience. As the story unfolds, singers and string players move through the galleries, leading the audience from one space to the next. There’s no fixed stage. Instead, the museum becomes a living, breathing set. The music is memorized and fluid, which allows for spontaneous transitions as the cast responds to the architecture and to the audience’s movements.

“The performers are often side by side the viewers,” he says. “You’re not watching from a distance. You’re inside the piece.”

The 50-minute performance features soprano Yingxi Li, baritone Lovell Rose, mezzo-soprano Madison Marie McIntosh, and tenor Pedro Carreras. The musical ensemble includes violinist Naeun Ju, violist Angie Bolivar, cellist Natalie Van Winkle, and conductor Aron Frank. All are based in Miami or the surrounding area, and several have worked with Felix on previous productions. “One of the singers, Pedro Carreras, is from Miami but he works in Atlanta,” he notes. “This is kind of a homecoming for him.”

Composer, director and producer Nathan Felix is partnering with The Bass Museum of Art for “Mirrors,” a one-night-only performance as part of the institution’s “Third Thursday” program on Thursday, May 15. (Photo courtesy of Laurenna Roma/courtesy of Nathan Felix)

Felix has been creating operas in art spaces across the country for several years. He composes, directs, and produces each one himself, tailoring the work to the venue. While his musical approach follows a structure he’s developed over time, he says that the staging is always redesigned from scratch.

“I spend time just walking through the space, listening to how the sound bounces off the walls: that’s where it starts — the music. Then I build everything else around that.”

Felix said that the idea for “Mirrors” emerged from reading about two exhibitions at The Bass — “Reflections of Self” and Performing Perspectives: A Collection in Dialogue.” The themes of reflection and identity in the shows led Felix to consider the inner and outer perceptions of self that shape the immigrant experience. He began crafting the libretto and score with those ideas in mind, layering them with movement and staging to match the museum’s galleries.

Though the piece takes inspiration from The Bass’s exhibitions, Felix explains it does not reference any specific artworks directly. Instead, the presence of the art becomes part of the atmosphere — a visual echo that amplifies the story being told.

“Everyone will have a different experience depending on where they are standing, what they’re looking at, and what they’re hearing,” he asserts. “That’s the beauty of it. It never repeats itself.”

One of the greatest challenges of staging an opera in a non-traditional space, explains Felix, is the technical coordination — making sure the conductor can communicate with musicians as they move from gallery to gallery. But the larger variable is the audience itself. How they choose to engage, where they choose to stand or walk, becomes part of the performance.

Nathan Felix directing at Fralin Museum of Art at University of Virginia. (Photo by Lucianna Astorga/courtesy of Nathan Felix)

“We build in flexibility,” he says. “There’s a kind of improvisation that happens in real time. You have to allow for that, and you have to trust the performers will know how to respond.”

The immersive nature of “Mirrors” also serves another purpose: it invites the audience to discover the museum in a new way. By following the movement of music and narrative through the space, attendees engage not just with the story, but with the physical environment in which it unfolds.

“ ‘Mirrors’ tears down the barrier between performer and audience, using story, movement and sound to draw people in. It fits perfectly with an exhibition that dives into how self and identity can be performative, pushing even further to blur the lines between artwork and viewer, who we are and how we experience things, and the place where identity meets context,” explains Castro, who works closely with the curatorial team and local performers to develop the full schedule of public programs.

Felix will not appear on stage during the performance. “I’m behind the scenes,” he says. “I shape the vision, but it’s the performers who bring it to life.”

Soprano Lucianna Astorga, center, sings “The Artificial Heart,” Nathan Felix’s immersive opera at the Speed Art Museum, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Felix)

“Mirrors” marks Felix’s first collaboration with The Bass Museum and his Miami debut with this form of site-specific opera. As with many of his past productions, the goal is not just to entertain but to create an encounter — one that lingers, shifts, and invites reflection.

“It’s an experience,” he says. “It’s about music and identity, yes — but it’s also about how we move through a space, how we listen, and what we notice when we slow down and follow the story,” says  Felix.

WHAT: “Mirrors,” Immersive Opera by Composer Nathan Felix

WHEN:  7 p.m., Thursday, May 15

WHERE: The Bass Museum of Art, 2100 Collins Ave., Miami Beach

COST: Free

INFORMATION: (305) 673-7530 and thebass.org

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