S.D. OPERA’S ‘LA BOHÈME’ HAS NEW CONDUCTOR, SINGER
Symphony’s Payare, soprano Martínez join drive-in staging
With less than three weeks to go before San Diego Opera’s drive-in production of Puccini’s “La bohème” opens in a sports arena parking lot, the company announced a casting change and new conductor today.
Soprano Ana María Martínez will step into the lead role of Mimi to replace singer Angel Blue, who is unable to perform. And San Diego Symphony music director Rafael Payare will conduct the opera’s 24member orchestra of San Diego Symphony musicians. Payare replaces the previously announced Italian conductor Valerio Galli, who couldn’t come to San Diego due to travel restrictions related to COVID-19.
Blue, who has played the role of Mimi at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, said she was excited to perform in the production and grateful for the extensive safety measures the company was undertaking for the show, but she has private personal reasons for having to withdraw
Martínez, a Grammywinning international opera star based in Houston, will be making her San Diego Opera debut opposite Los Angeles tenor Joshua Guerrero, who will play Mimi’s lover, the poet Rodolfo. With the new additions to the artistic team, this “La bohème” will have a distinctively Latin f lavor. Martinez was born in Puerto Rico, Guerrero is Mexican-American, and Payare is from Venezuela.
Martínez has had a long and fruitful opera career, having performed at many of the world’s top houses. She has specialized in premiering the works of Latin American opera composers and sang the role of Alessandra in the third season of Amazon Prime Video’s “Mozart in the Jungle” series. She also serves as an artistic adviser for Houston Grand Opera and is artistin-residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston.
Payare is best known for his symphonic conducting work, but he has extensive experience in the opera world. He made his debut at England’s Glyndebourne Festival in 2019 conducting Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.” He has conducted “Madama Butterf ly” and “La bohème” for Royal Swedish Opera and also conducted a new production of “La traviata” at Malmö Opera. In 2015, he was appointed principal conductor of the Castleton
Festival in Virginia, where he has conducted performances of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette.”
Tickets to the 90-minute opera will be sold by the carload, at $200 for as many people as there are seat belts per vehicle. For premium parking, car tickets are $300. Performances of “La bohème” are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24, 27, 30 and Nov. 1 in the Pechanga Arena San Diego parking lot at 3500 Sports Arena Blvd. in San Diego. For tickets, go to sdopera.org.