Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Davis and Bodhi Tree announce 2026 World Premiere of Bilingual ‘Pancho Rabbit’ Opera
After a seven-year gestation, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis and San Diego’s Bodhi Tree Concerts have announced that Davis’ bilingual chamber-opera adaptation of the children’s book “Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale” will receive its world premiere in January 2026 in both San Diego and Tijuana.
Combining elements of allegory, fable and social commentary, the chamber-opera is based on author Duncan Tonatiuh’s award-winning 2013 children’s book of the same name, which addresses current immigration issues and is set at the U.S.-Mexico border.
It will be sung in English, Spanish and a “border slang” combination of the two languages. The characters include the titular rabbit, a coyote, a snake, and monarch butterflies that freely migrate each year between the U.S. and Mexico.