Aspiring opera singers in Mexico

Updated January 2020

Opera in Mexico

Recently, I was given the privilege - one I didn't deserve having never been to an opera performance - of being invited by a Mexican friend to attend the final exams of aspiring opera singers at the Angela Peralta Theater, Mazatlán’s opera house and fine arts academy.

If more people were able to hear opera singers when they were still giggly, insecure, hopeful, shy, eager, and adorable, a lot more people would go to the opera. Before a crowd of approximately hundred guests in a small adjacent art gallery salon, each student sang their chosen piece with either no music or no more than a few bare piano key notes as accompaniment, played by their instructor.

The pianist was Maestro Enrique Patron de la Rueda, who is considered the foremost director of opera of his generation in Mexico. The opera program in Mazatlán is of such renown that students come from all over Latin America for the opportunity to work with him. This night he gently corrected, encouraged, and cajoled them from stage right, at times breaking the fourth wall and joking directly with the spellbound audience.

The Mexican voice has fire, brilliance. But it also has this darkness.” said Joseph McCain, a former director of the Austin Lyric Opera who worked with opera singers in Miguel San Allende in an interview for the Washington Post.  “They have this connection, this access to their feelings. It is very intense. Very immediate. No apologies. That of course is the world of opera.”

Opera dramas are often set in tough urban or rural settings where the protagonists face hardship and tragedy. Mexico creates its own context of tragedy to inspire these singers. After seeing these young students and hearing them, I found myself creating back stories in my head of what these opera singers might have to overcome as young students to have the opportunity to sing.

One such back-story has been of of the young opera students from Mexico City who took to the streets as a form of protest after 43 Mexican students were killed in September, 2014. Opera students went out on street corners and sang, demonstrating a spirit for beauty that is never held hostage. Mexico's history, recent and ancient, makes it a perfect place for the genesis of great opera singers.

Mexico has contributed several opera super-stars since Placido Domingo, including tenor Rolando Villazon, tenor Jesus Leon, and the singer that’s getting all the attention, tenor Javier Camarena, who was compelled to give an encore at the New York Metropolitan Opera. To give you an idea of the magnitude of that, only two others have sung encores there in more than half a century

The high price of opera in the U.S.

By the time they make it to the venues where you might see them perform, large opera houses in major cities, these singer will be polished proud professionals, beyond our reach, just as opera was economically beyond mine. I certainly couldn’t afford tickets as a young professional. Even though relatively affluent by my 40’s,  I had never had enough exposure to develop the enthusiasm necessary to fork over $100 a ticket plus recruit a companion willing to do the same.

In researching the prices in the U.S for opera tickets recently, I could not even find prices for individual tickets on opera house websites, so set are they in selling season tickets. I saw very little in terms of an affordable point-of-entry for the person just being introduced to opera. The average person needs either a great deal of interest or a great deal of disposable income to buy a season ticket to the opera, actually two season tickets because who who wants to go alone? Tellingly, the only two people I know with season tickets are a couple, both doctors.  

Opera in Mexico: Affordable and exemplary

Now that I live in Mexico, I can expand my knowledge of all the fine arts, not just opera, without a major investment. Mexico has probably a dozen opera houses (Wikipedia inaccurately lists only four, the downside of crowd sourcing information). Most larger cities in Mexico have active performing arts centers.

It is a world I would like to know better. Now I can afford to. In Mexico one can attend a first-rate performance in a beautiful, intimate opera hall for about $35.  Ballet, opera and live theater are all available at reasonable price, giving everyone the opportunity expand their appreciation of the fine arts through events that were before out of reach.

Related Links:

Exploring the fine arts is only one of the many things you might be doing if you lived in Mexico right now. - Ventanas Mexico

Some of the most famous operas in Spanish.

Next up:  

Sooner or later, you will wish to reciprocate all the kindnesses you've been shown by hosting your first dinner party 

About the author:

Kerry Baker is a partner with Ventanas Mexico which provides insight and resources to those considering expat life in Mexico. 

"If Only I Had a Place,' tells you the things realtors don't want you to know about renting in Mexico. Avoid the pitfalls, take advantage of the opportunities of renting in Mexico as an expat. The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life” is her most recent book.