Last night Cuban state television announced Fidel Castro passed away at the age of 90. Not a surprise, really. But the fact of it startles.

Moments later, in ironic timing, I received an email from Havana. The composer of Cubanacan, Roberto Valera, wrote to me. But not about Fidel’s death.

Instead, Valera told me had met with Placido Domingo earlier on Friday. Valera gave him a DVD with the film of our 2015 Havana performance. Domingo is in Havana for a concert this coming Sunday.

As some of you may know Domingo was helpful with the opera during an early stage of its development, having hosted two workshops at the Los Angeles Opera, where he is General Director. He and I had useful, inspiring and pleasant discussions as he heard the work-in-progress and offered suggestions.

At one point Domingo mused about the idea of playing Fidel Castro on-stage — performing a monologue which had been recommended to him.

I don’t know how these confluence of events might develop. I will, in the coming days, do my part to see if there are opportunities and openings to get the opera presented and performed outside Cuba.