Federico García Lorca, Spain’s flamboyant poet-playwright of the early 20th century, is long dead, executed by the fascist Nationalists for his politics and “deviant” sexuality. Margarita Xirgu, who was once his muse, now drifts in memories of the life they led together decades before. Swirling, phantasmagorical, shot through with flamenco and much, much more, Osvaldo Golijov’s Grammy-winning first opera, set to a libretto by David Henry Hwang, returns after nearly two decades. The staging is by Deborah Colker, whose choreography for Cirque du Soleil and the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil clearly proclaims her the right person for the job. Not that she’ll have the same dollars, but isn’t imagination the true coin of art? —Matthew Gurewitsch