What is your favorite part of being Latina?
It’s our personalities and how incredibly diverse we can be. We can be fun, playful, serious and nerdy, we can be goth, and we can be opera singers. There is no one way of being Latina. I also think there’s so much kindness and warmth inside of us, at the same time that there is incredible strength. We are unique and there’s a lot of love inside of us which is just beautiful.
What is your superpower?
I can be really supportive of others. I really enjoy it when I can be of service to others.
Tell us about a time you were underestimated.
There was a time in school- I was the only Latina in the master’s program at Juilliard- and someone asked me if I was always so nerdy because I was trying to prove that I wasn’t stupid because I had an accent. Another time at school, I was in the elevator speaking Spanish to my mom, and I was told I shouldn’t speak Spanish in the elevator. Then, I was asked by the host of a major opera festival whether I was “legally” here. All of this happened in a single year.
Tell us more about your journey.
I am from Caracas, Venezuela. I was born in a slum called Los Frailes de Catia. It is not a usual place for an opera singer, but that’s where I come from. It was challenging. Where I grew up there were tons of guns and drugs and other problems. You had to walk a lot to just throw away the trash, for example. My mom is a medical doctor, and my father is a music teacher, but social mobility in Venezuela is very challenging. Despite this, we were rich in education. My parents gave me the best education possible. My father always made sure that we had books and resources. Both he and my mom always made sure that we excelled, and that’s what made a difference for me.
You went from living in the slums of Caracas to a full ride at the Manhattan School of Music and later a prestigious fellowship at Julliard. What drives you? And how did you make that jump?
I felt a certain degree of responsibility because I was born in a challenging time in Venezuela. I was 8 years old when the country started to experience significant political changes. I have always been observant, perhaps because we had to be to survive in the slum. I could tell that there was something terrible happening around me, and I knew that I wouldn’t have opportunities to make art in Venezuela because so much of our time was spent surviving each day. I remember thinking this is not what I want for myself; I want something else. It was then that I started practicing for many hours a day — more than I practice now. I also began studying languages, the history of the composers, and the music, and I started saving. I would work different gigs with my dad and save every penny. When the time came, I knew I had money to apply to one school, so I did a lot of research before applying to the Manhattan School of Music. At 20 years old, I got on my first plane ride to the audition, and I felt a lot of pressure. I knew I had one chance, and when I got there, I took it very seriously.
You clearly have a deep love for music. What attracted you to opera specifically?
My dad is a music teacher, and music was always around us in the spirit of our home. But it was a project where everyone could pick a subject to research and present, and I picked Bach. My dad bought me a CD of Bach’s Cantatas so I could attach the music to my presentation. I listened to it and thought it was beautiful. I had never heard opera sung before. I was 11 years old, and I knew I was going to be an opera singer at that moment.
What does it feel like to sing opera in front of hundreds of people?
Every theater has a different spirit to it. Just yesterday, I sang at the David Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. I’m also very privileged to have worked in the best places for opera; Carnegie Hall, the Latvian National Opera, The Barcelona Opera, and others. Sometimes you are nervous, sometimes you’re confident, sometimes you perform with dancers, which adds a different element. Every audience has a different vibe, and you can almost hear their breath with you. They’re experiencing art in different ways with you, and I feed off of that.
You have accomplished so much Maria. Where will we see you in the next few years?
I’m pleased with the projects I have coming up. I do want to continue to work mainly in opera houses, and I’m recording this year as well. I would love to work in Europe more, but balance is essential to me right now. I am also a mom to almost 3-year-old twin boys, and it’s hard to be away.
Who is someone else we should feature on Informada?
Zuly Inirio is Afro-Dominican and is doing so much work advocating for Afro-Latinos in the world of opera and outside of opera. She just got a master’s in social work and is just a wonderful, eloquent, incredibly talented person who I really look up to and respect deeply