It premiered on 2 October 2003 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans conducted by Robert Lyall with Yali-Marie Williams in the title role. In 2001 New Orleans Opera commissioned Thea Musgrave to compose a new opera for the 2003 celebrations of the Louisiana Purchase bicentennial. On the suggestion of the company's General Director Robert Lyall, Musgrave chose Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba as _her_ subject. <sep>, Pronoun: her