Opera San José's Zorro
April 20, 2025
* Notes *
The Bay Area premiere of Héctor Armienta's Zorro (Eugene Brancoveanu and Xavier Prado pictured, photograph by David Allen) opened last night at Opera San José in a crowd pleasing production with beautiful playing and singing. The orchestra sounded splendid under Maestro Jorge Parodi.
The opera is earnest and heartfelt, the music quite pleasant and unchallenging. Mariachi, flamenco, and corrido were well integrated in the score and the plot kept moving at a good pace. The two love triangles (love rhombus, perhaps) that anchor the narrative certainly held one's attention. The libretto is in Spanish and English, which could be confusing, I felt like I had to keep my eyes on the supertitles more often than I usually do.
The orchestra was very together, the strings sounded particularly good, as did the harp, guitar, and percussion. All the transitions seemed to go smoothly, I didn't notice any false starts or lack of cohesion whatsoever. It was impressive for a prima, especially of a new opera like this one. Parodi clearly prepared well.
The singers are always the highlight of any performance at this opera house, and this was no exception. From top to bottom it was a fine cast. I liked soprano Arianna Rodriguez in the small role of Luisa and her buffoonish love interest bass-baritone Jesús Vicente Murillo (Sergeant José Maria Gomez). It was interesting to hear mezzo-soprano Deborah Martínez Rosengaus (Toypurina) in a new work, as I've only heard her sing obscure Baroque operas in tiny venues.
Baritone Eugene Brancoveanu is always so beautiful to hear, his voice is so consistent and robust. His role of Octavio Rivera y Moncada was unremittingly evil, and he was booed by the audience at the end. Mezzo-soprano Melisa Bonetti Luna was the incredibly noble and self-sacrificing Carlota de Obragón, she had a gorgeous Act II aria about the pain of her unrequited love.
Soprano Maria Brea was lovely and fiery as Ana Maria Soza, the mestiza beloved of the title character. Her high notes were incisive and soaring. Tenor Xavier Prado (Diego de la Vega / Zorro) also sang well, he's plaintive and strong throughout his range. He also was able to effortlessly jump up on a table and was convincing as a swashbuckler.
* Tattling *
The audience enjoyed the performance very much, the patrons of this opera company are devoted and quite warm.
There was some light talking at the start of Act II, but it died down fairly quickly.