Jorge Parodi and Opera Hispánica – Celebrating Latin American and Spanish Opera and Song
Internationally acclaimed conductor and esteemed pedagogue Jorge Parodi is currently at the helm of Opera Hispánica, a New York City-based performing arts organization that presents exclusively Latin American and Spanish opera as well as zarzuela. I am thankful that he took the time from his busy schedule to speak to us about his work, his mission in presenting the Hispanic perspective in opera as well as promoting Latin American artists and music, and the extraordinary richness of Latin American and Spanish operatic and song repertoire. A detailed biography and additional information about Maestro Parodi can be found on his website, mentioned at the end of this interview.
Please tell us about Opera Hispánica, its mission and your plans as its general and artistic director.
The mission of Opera Hispánica is to present opera and classical vocal repertoire from the Hispanic perspective. Its goal is more than just repertoire oriented, it’s more of a cultural approach. That includes repertoire sung in English and by American-born composers interested in our heritage or part of our heritage. We are also interested in the performance of Hispanic artists, of any repertoire. Of course, we are trying to gear it towards the Latin American and Spanish or Iberian repertoire, which includes Portugal. Last year I was in a talk with Catalina Cuervo, sponsored by Long Beach Opera, a forum on Hispanic opera. One of the guests was Andrea Puente-Catán, who is Daniel Catán’s widow. She mentioned that the scene was ready in the States for repertoire that represents the Hispanic community on stage, and that opera companies are eager to diversify their repertoire and there should be someone helping that mission. So, I thought, I know exactly what company that is!
Since I took over as the general and artistic director of Opera Hispánica last year, we have been doing a lot of activities. Our first event on December 4th, online and available to view on our YouTube channel was “Las Majas de Opera Hispánica.” It was a star-studded event, with guests Isabel Leonard, Veronica Villaroel, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, the general director and CEO of Florida Grand Opera, Susan Danis, and others. We had wonderful conversations and also performances by Ricky Garcia, Catalina Cuervo, Nancy Herrera, and Isabel Leonard. I also created a segment called “Your Opera Hispánica Hour” that airs every Monday at 6 p.m. on Instagram and our IGTV channel. I interview Hispanic artists of all things related to opera; we have already done seventeen talks with experienced as well as young singers and they are fascinating. We’re also going to do a segment at Americas Society’s “En Casa” series with songs by unknown Latin American composers, with Patricia Caicedo who is an expert in Latin American and Iberian art song. We also did a co-production with Teatro Grattacielo, the Canciones y Poemas concert.
Certainly, our main goal is to create productions that are very appealing, modern, and flexible so companies throughout the States could present these productions to their audiences. We are very conscious about the budgetary and resources limitations, so we want to start with operas that have reduced orchestras and small casts, with smart use of sets, lighting, and costuming, so they are easily presented by other companies. Our first production will be a co-production with Teatro Grattacielo on November 13 at Ellen Stewart Theatre, a double bill that we called “Cuando el fuego abrasa” (when the fire burns). In the first half there are songs by Astor Piazzolla put together with a little narrative, they are very much in his style, psychologically oriented. The second half is a star of our season, El amor brujo, by Manuel de Falla in the original version, which was an unusual proposition. It’s a strong mix, equally, of opera, dance, and theatre. It’s originally written for a chamber orchestra and features mostly one character. We are fortunate to have Nancy Fabiola Herrera as our Candelas; she is currently the most famous Spanish mezzo in the world. This is a production that I hope to show around in the U.S. Right now, we are focusing on presenting our season in New York, but we are already talking with several companies in the States that want to either co-produce with us or bring our productions to them.
Would you give us a brief introduction to the vast Latin American and Spanish operatic repertoire?
There are three big groups of repertoire. First, it is opera in Spanish; the most popular are Manuel de Falla’s La vida breve (The Brief Life), the most famous opera in Spanish, and El amor brujo (The Bewitching Love), a very unusual piece. A few other examples are Goyescas by Enrique Granados and the very prestigious but not often-performed operas by Alberto Ginastera: Bomarzo, Beatrix Cenci, and Don Rodrigo. This group also includes all new operas by contemporary composers from everywhere in South America and in Spain. They are not yet part of the canon, with the big exception of Daniel Catán, whose work has been extremely successful both musically and dramatically. He wrote four operas: Florencia en el Amazonas, Salsipuedes, Il Postino (The Postman), and La hija de Rappaccini (Rappaccini’s Daughter). They are done quite a bit.
In the second group, we have the zarzuela, which is a genre in itself. Zarzuela is lighter in character, incorporates speaking as well, and has a heavy Spanish flavor. It’s independent in style and quite different from the operettas of Franz Lehár or Josef Strauss or Gilbert & Sullivan. Zarzuela was very widespread not just in Spain but in all South America; there are very wonderful Cuban, Chilean, Argentinian zarzuelas, very popular in the first half of the 20th century, but it’s hard to come by some of the scores these days. There are several zarzuelas in the standard repertoire, and we are very fortunate that Madrid has the Teatro de la Zarzuela, which is offering constantly very successful productions of this repertoire. I’m glad that now, in this century, we are presenting more zarzuelas in more modern perspectives and attracting new audiences. In fact, one of Opera Hispánica’s future goals, when we’ll be able to do larger productions, will be to produce regularly zarzuelas with modern production values to give new life to the zarzuela world. They are very worthy of attention.
Then, we have the more recent Hispanic opera, which includes operas by American composers inspired by the Hispanic heritage or culture. The one being done the most is Frida by Robert Xavier Rodriguez, a Texan composer of Mexican heritage. This opera is based on the life of Frida Kahlo and is written originally in English. There is another recent one, Bel Canto by Peruvian composer Jimmy López, commissioned by and done at Chicago Lyric Opera.
Certainly, opera sung in Spanish exists from as early as the 1600s. For example, there’s a wonderful baroque opera, the first opera composed and performed in the Americas, La púrpura de la rosa by Tomás de Torrejón. The style of Spanish operas differs; it depends on which century we are talking about. When we go into the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, we start getting into a very Spanish flavor with some folk music into it. I believe that often the ones that have more Spanish flavor are more favored. There’s a wonderful opera called El gato montés (The Wild Cat) by Manuel Penella; it’s not a zarzuela because it’s sung throughout, and dramatically, it’s very heavy. But it has a lot of dances and musical quotes of typical Spanish folk music.
Also, Spanish as a language is a little different than Italian. That is not so noticeable in the Spanish operas, but it is very obvious in zarzuela. Like Italian, Spanish also has long and clear vowels, but it’s essentially more choppy. The writing has a little more of a rhythmical element to it and there’s a different relationship with length in Spanish. The music and the text will guide you in that direction.
You have a special relationship with Astor Piazzolla’s tango opera “María de Buenos Aires.” What is it about this work that you love so much?
Ástor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires is the most famous tango opera. There’s also another opera by Robert Xavier Rodriguez called Tango. But María de Buenos Aires is unique in every possible way. It was the first opera using exclusively tango music. Tango-inspired music is not just tango but also waltzes and milongas, which are like a fast tango, and songs that can be more lyrical, not necessarily meant to be danced. The singing is also very unique: the role of María is in a low tessitura; it’s written for what in opera would be a contralto. But, for example, the most successful María in the States is Catalina Cuervo, and Catalina is a full lyric soprano. She manages to sing in a chest voice, and belt very successfully. The other role is a male tango singer, usually what would be a baritone in opera. So, the singing is very much a mix of some opera and some tango. I like when María is done with an operatic projection, but it could be done totally tango, with more of a pop approach with a different kind of resonance. You can’t do it totally operatically.
Piazzolla’s music is so successful that you fall in love with it. The poetry of Horacio Ferrer, who wrote the libretto, is incredibly complex, beautiful, and colorful. It’s very hard to understand; he doesn’t try to be totally clear, at that time he was very surrealistic. The point of surrealism is not to explain anything but to trigger reactions, so Ferrer triggers emotions and reactions by sharing these amazing ideas and unusual combinations of words and images. That’s part of the value of the piece; it’s not your typical story. You don’t get María de Buenos Aires in one sitting. I did the piece several times and I’m still discovering things. A lot of people try to grasp it and simplify it to make it understood, but then they miss the point of it, which is how they react to the information, the stimuli: the poetry, the music, and the story, even if they cannot explain it. I think the best way to prepare to see María is to know that it’s going to be a surprise and to be open to react.
You are the Music Director of the Senior Opera Theatre at Manhattan School of Music. What does it mean for you to work with young singers?
I work with the undergraduate senior class at Manhattan School of Music and I’m also a coach at the Juilliard Pre-College division where I work with very talented singers in their late teens. Often people say that opera is a dying art form, and I tell them, actually no, opera is not dying at all because we cannot keep young people away from it. Like any art form, opera is fueled by the artists. There’s a constant flow of singers and musicians that want to do opera, so no matter how we do it and what they throw at the art form, opera will continue. And this year could not have been a better example of that. You could have never imagined a more difficult situation in which to do opera like the pandemic, and yet we managed to inundate our TVs and computers with opera performances. It is very encouraging to know that artists are eager to keep it alive.
Like anything in the classical world, there is always this reverence for the past, and in opera, our relationship with the past is probably quite stronger than in other art forms. One of the goals of classical music is to protect the score and the will of the composer, to respect as much as possible what the composer had in mind. At the same time, in opera it is possible to do productions that have a newer take. So, education is very important because we want to share our experience to the new generation. I am very happy to be able to share my love for the art form and also my opinions on how to respect the art form and the wishes of the composer but at the same time, bring the score back to life with your own voice and personality. As a conductor I have the luxury to have all of these moving parts—the singers and the instrumentalists—to bring a work to life. We love big productions, but also small productions are successful and fun. Even if some of our students decide that they’re not able to continue performing, they will find other ways to channel their creativity and be valuable to the art form they love. They will figure out ways to continue enriching the world with their relationship with opera.
What is next for your conducting career?
I am about to start rehearsals for I Pagliacci with the Opera in Williamsburg of which I am Music Director. Then I go to Mexico for the International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia of which I am also the Music Director; I’m conducting four performances of Le Nozze di Figaro with young professionals. Then I hope to go to Japan, I have another program there; afterwards, I’m in Savannah for the Savannah Voice Festival run by Sherill Milnes and Maria Zouves. In late August I’m doing a new workshop at Seagle Music Colony produced by The American Opera Project of a piece called House of Legendary, about the love story of a drag queen, based on a real story. Then, I’m back to Williamsburg for The Elixir of Love and then there’s our production of El amor brujo and Piazzolla in November. The season continues: I’m going back to Tampa in January 2022 for The Tales of Hoffmann and to El Paso to do Frida in March. The more things are allowed to be done safely, the more we want to do. As I said, nothing can stop the artists, because we love it and we want to do it, and we make it happen.
Discover more about Jorge Parodi and Opera Hispánica.
Top photo: Jorge Parodi with Buenos Aires Lírica, Teatro Avenida in Buenos Aires, Argentina, conducting Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Photo by Liliana Morsia.
