Frida Kahlo opera dazzles audiences in the U.S.

The Colombian soprano Catalina Cuervo will play Frida Kahlo for the third time as the protagonist of an opera called “ Frida ,” a musical biography of the Mexican painter written by Xavier Rodríguez, a Texan from Mexican origin .

The play was premiered in Philadelphia in 1991 , and will be presented this Saturday in Miramar to continue its tour through Miami and Fort Lauderdale , in southern Florida.

Rodríguez, born in San Antonio, Texas , and author of eight operas and several musical compositions stated that, in the early 1990s, a theater in Philadelphia commissioned him to write the music of an opera on the life of Frida.

The composer considers himself lucky, since 17 productions have been made of the musical piece since , which is unusual in contemporary opera.

Rodríguez worked with two scripts by Hilary Blecher and Migdalia Cruz .

“The great power of this play lies in its dramatism,” stated the Colombian soprano and Ricardo Herrera, the American baritone who plays the muralist Diego Rivera.

“Frida is a shocking character,” stated Herrera in an interview with EFE , pointing out that the couple “had a symmetry to them, they both had their ups and downs” and that theirs was a “very troubled relationships,” but in the end “they loved each other, and couldn’t live without one another.”

Cuervo added that the play was a contemporary opera with “beautiful” music reminiscent of classic and romantic works, as well as jazz, ragtime, samba, salsa, and obviously “the sounds and traditional dances of Mexico.”

The soprano played Frida Kahlo for the first time in Detroit, Michigan , which is home to a quite large Mexican community, and then in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now, she will perform in Miramar, which has the largest Mexican population in the Broward county, near Miami.

“We are expecting a very large crowd,” Cuervo stressed, adding that her Mexican audience has accepted her role as Frida very well, despite the fact that she is Colombian.

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