Inside the Miami Lyric Opera
It’s been a busy season for the Miami Lyric Opera, presenting the likes of I Puritani, L’Elisir D’Amore and Marina. The company is currently preparing to present Carmen this fall at the Colony Theater. General and artistic director Raffaele Cardone passed along some insight into the season…
“We have experienced different challenges this season such as the presentation for the first time in Miami of the opera I Puritani by Bellini and most recently a Spanish opera Marina by Emilio Arrieta. In the first case, we had to put together a group of highly qualified singers able to sing Belcanto and tackle the extensive high notes particularly for the tenor. There was a lot of work and dedication in preparing singers and chorus, but the result was beautiful. Public and press were very positive. Few, if anybody, would have thought that a small opera company like MLO would present such a difficult work and succeed.
In the case of Marina (presented on July 30 and August 1), we faced a different challenge. First, bringing a Spanish opera to Miami Beach for the first time and further, finding singers who would learn a Spanish opera and also who would interpret such a work. We had to bring a tenor from Spain Aurelio Gabaldon and use the talented singer and musician Beverly Coulter for the title role. The chorus had to learn music completely out of the normal repertoire. There were also difficulties obtaining the music for the orchestra from Spain with some bureaucratic procedures. The end result was great, standing ovations. I personally felt very proud to include in our repertoire those two works and honor a brilliant Spanish composer in bringing to Miami public his work of Marina.”
– Raffaele Cardone, General and Artistic Director the Miami Lyric Opera