Opera San Jose setting sail into new waters with ‘Florencia’
When Elizabeth Caballero got the call, she says she could hardly believe it.
The Havana-born, Florida-based soprano wasn’t originally scheduled to sing the title role in Opera San Jose’s new production of Daniel Catán’s “Florencia en el Amazonas.”
But anything can happen in the world of opera, and when she learned that the original Florencia, citing personal reasons, had bowed out of OSJ’s production, Caballero gathered her strength — and her music charts — and headed for the West Coast.
Now she’s in the South Bay, deep in rehearsals for this gorgeous Spanish-language opera opening April 20 at the California Theatre.
Caballero is well-prepared for the task: Since 2015, she’s sung the title role of Florencia many times, including performances at Nashville Opera, New York City Opera, Pensacola Opera, and Madison Opera. In a recent call from her home in Fort Lauderdale, she said it’s a role she loves.
“Florencia is the ultimate hopeless romantic,” she said. “I really resonate with that, and I love her. What I love most about her is her final aria — it’s not Wagner, but it’s like the Liebestod. Catán’s music is so cinematic, so beautiful — and singing in Spanish is such a gift.”
Caballero isn’t new to the Bay Area — she trained in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program in 2001-02 and was an Adler Fellow in 2003 — but says she’s never been to the California Theatre. She joins a cast that includes soprano Alexa Anderson, mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz, and baritone Efraín Solis; company music director Joseph Marcheso conducts the production, which runs through May 5. It marks the opera’s Bay Area premiere, and Opera San Jose’s first-ever Spanish-language work.
That pleases Caballero. “It makes me happy to see more Spanish operas done,” she said. “Most people know Zarzuela, but this is something very different.”
If “Florencia” represents several landmarks for Opera San Jose, it’s one that company general director Shawna Lucey has had on her wish list since she became general director. Catán’s opera, inspired by the magical realism of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is one of her top-of-the-list favorites.
Now, she says, “it’s finally taking its place. This is a brand-new production, with really gorgeous visuals and a truly lush musical footprint.”
Aside from her personal love for the work, Lucey said it fulfills some of her essential goals for Opera San Jose.
“We have an amazing Latin culture in San Jose,” she explained, “the culture of LatinX communities. I really felt that making it live for our community was a great choice.”
With a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, Catán’s opera is the story of an opera singer traveling by steamboat on the Amazon River in search of lost love. It’s an epic quest for Florencia, one that Lucey says was ripe for the stage.
She adds that she first started reading Marquez in college, and his work made a lasting impression. “I’m such a fan,” she said. “The story of this opera singer is so moving — so operatic. And the way Catán builds his soundscape, it’s like one of the masterpieces of Puccini. It’s a score of auditory lusciousness.”
Caballero agrees. “It’s gorgeous,” she said, adding that she’s loved the character from her first performance of the role. “I think Florencia’s at a moment in her career that’s changing,” she said. “She’s done it all, but there’s still something missing – it’s love, that first love. It’s so romantic.”
Crystal Manich, who directed Opera San Jose’s hit revival of “West Side Story” in 2022, returns to helm the new production. She’s thrilled to be returning for “Florencia.” “It’s very special because I’ve been directing a lot of Catán’s work, including ‘Il Postino’ and ‘Rappaccini’s Daughter,’ she said. “I feel very close to his work, and I feel very lucky that I get to direct ‘Florencia.’”
“It’s such a heartfelt opera,” she added. “All of his work is like that, but there’s something about ‘Florencia’ that everyone can connect to. It’s a beautiful example of Latin American magical realism. Aside from its beauty, I think the Spanish language repertoire is so important to have in the American pulse.”
‘FLORENCIA EN AL AMAZONAS’
Music by Daniel Catán, libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, presented by Opera San Jose
When: April 20-May 5
Where: California Theatre, 345 S. First St., San Jose
Tickets: $50-$195; www.operasj.org