“Sor Juana the Younger and the Elder,” digital photograph by Alma Lopez @2019
(models: Alicia Gaspar de Alba as the Elder, and Alicia Billalobos, UCLA Chicana/o Studies alumna, as the Younger)
When: February 26, 2026
Where: Northwest Campus Auditorium, UCLA
Organized by the UCLA Center for Musical Humanities in partnership with the Dean of Social Sciences and the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies
Co-sponsored by The Center for 17th & 18th Century Studies, the Chicano Studies Research Center, and the Center for the Study of Women/Barbara Streisand Center
Free and open to the public, but all attendees, including participants and audience members, must register online. Lunch and reception will be provided for registered guests only.
“Otro Corazón 3: Queering Sor Juana” builds on past symposia organized by Alicia Gaspar de Alba in her “Corazón” series,1 and is offered as part of a year-long celebration of her 32-year academic career at UCLA, focusing on her lifetime of research and creative engagement with Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the 17th-century Mexican nun/poet/scholar who is hailed all over the world as the “first feminist of the Americas” and the Mexican “Tenth Muse.”
OTRO CORAZON 3: QUEERING SOR JUANA
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM
9 am: Registration
9:30 am: Welcome and Introductory Remarks by Professor Raymond Knapp and Dean Abel Valenzuela
10:30-12 noon: Panel 1. La Décima Musa: Classic Sor Juana
Speaker: Cesar Favila, UCLA
Speaker: Charlene Villaseñor Black, Oxford University
Speaker: Emilie Bergman, UC Berkeley
Moderator: Gabriela Rodriguez Gomez (UCLA Chicana/o Studies PhD)
12-1 pm: Boxed Lunch
1:30-3 pm: Panel 2. “La Peor de Todas”: Sapphic Sor Juana
Speaker: Emma Perez, University of Arizona
Speaker: Alma López, UCLA
Speaker: Carla Lucero, Independent Opera Composer
Moderator: Ariel Hernandez (UCLA Chicana/o Studies grad student)
Coffee Break
4-5:30 pm: Performances
4 Arias from “JUANA”– A Spanish-language chamber opera based on the historical novel, Sor Juana’s Second Dream3 by Alicia Gaspar de Alba. Music by Carla Lucero.
Libretto by Carla Lucero and Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Showcase Program
“Fili”, performed by Meagan Martin (Mezzo-Soprano) as Sor Juana
“Hombres necios” performed by Meagan Martin and Maria Valdes-Gomez (Soprano) as la Condesa
“Sin vos” (abbreviated version) performed by Maria Valdes-Gomez
“Amor eterno” performed by Meagan Martin and Maria Valdes-Gomez
Accompanied by pianist, Peter Walsh
Screening of “Sin Vos” video (opera on film, recorded at the Ebell of Los Angeles, sung by Michelle Allie Drever as la Condesa. María Dominique Lopez portrays Sor Juana. Film created by Carson Gilmore of Vox Visceralis. Music recorded in Prague with BNO Chamber Orchestra through PARMA Recordings and is available on Navona Records)
Q&A: Carla Lucero and Alicia Gaspar de Alba
6 pm: Reception
