La Sierra orchestra concert to feature West Coast premiere of recovered Tabasco opera

On Sat., Jan. 24, guest conductor Paul Mauffray will lead the La Sierra University Orchestra in a performance of two instrumental excerpts from “Tabasco,” a comedic operetta first penned in 1894 by esteemed Boston composer George Whitefield Chadwick. The opera was subsequently produced as a national tour upon permission of Tabasco maker, the McIlhenny Company, before a dispute between producer and composer shelved the work. The La Sierra University Orchestra concert will serve as the West Coast premiere for one of the “Tabasco” orchestral excerpts, “Dance of the Harem,” which has not been performed in nearly 120 years. 

The La Sierra orchestra will also perform “March of the Pasha’s Guard,” the only portion of the “Tabasco” opera that has received any regular performances during the last century. After one yearlong U.S. tour 120 years ago, most of the full opera was lost, or more specifically hidden by its composer until its resurrection last March when Mauffray, who discovered the lost original autograph score, conducted a special performance of approximately half of the witty, light-hearted production in New Orleans. The program, called “A Taste of Tabasco,” was held in partnership with the McIlhenny Company and performed with an operatic cast and members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

It was only after the March performance that Mauffray came across the excerpt, “Dance of the Harem,” he said, making the La Sierra concert a first performance for this portion of the work since 1894. Since last year’s inaugural production, called “A Taste of Tabasco,” Mauffray has directed “March of the Pasha’s Guard” in Austria and Slovakia.

Mauffray, a Louisiana native and international conductor of symphony and opera, discovered old programs for the 1894 tour production in the New Orleans Opera archives while researching the history of opera in that region. A subsequent search led to the original penned composition which Mauffray set about carefully re-constructing over several years, completing 40 minutes of the approximate 90-minute production.

The “Tabasco” opera is set in Tangiers. It tells the tale of a shipwrecked Irish sailor as he searches for an acceptable spicy ingredient for an Ottoman ruler’s lunch, according to a release from the McIlhenny Company. The score is written in the style of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan and other like composers of the era. 

The La Sierra University Orchestra will also perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Overture to ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio,’” Edvard Grieg’s “Suite, Op. 40 ‘From Holberg's Time,’” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36.”

Mauffray began his music studies at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and Louisiana State University. He studied conducting in Germany with Sergiu Celibedache, at Indiana University with Arthur Fagen and David Effron, was a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He has conducted in 16 countries on three continents and developed his symphonic repertoire with regular engagements predominantly with Czech orchestras since 1994. He has conducted Mozart’s two-act opera, “Così fan tutte” at the Schleswig-Holstein Landestheater, and subscription concerts with the Augsburg Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic, and Orchestre National de Lyon.

Mauffray said last week he intends to bring along 200 mini bottles of Tabasco to hand out during Saturday night’s concert, provided airport security allows him to transport the products. The glass bottles were first created in 1894, specifically to be handed out to the audience at performances of the “Tabasco” opera. They now bear a special new label which feature an image from an original 1890s poster of the “Tabasco” opera.

The La Sierra University Orchestra concert will be held at 7 p.m. in Hole Memorial Auditorium. Admission is free. For further information call 951-785-2036, email music@lasierra.edu, or visit https://lasierra.edu/music/. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside.