MSU presented first bilingual zarzuela in the United States

WITH TWO FUNCTIONS IN THE KING CENTER

Newsroom El Comercio de Colorado 

Haga click aquí para leer la versión en español

The Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) presented the first bilingual assembly of a zarzuela in the US. All zarzuela pieces were sung by students in Spanish. The zarzuela “Luisa Fernanda” was performed by the music and opera students of MSU Denver. “We thought it would be fitting to celebrate our Hispanic Community by performing ‘Luisa Fernanda’”, said Gene Roberts, director of Opera Theatre at MSU Denver.

Can you elaborate on this motivation to perform a zarzuela?

Gene Roberts: Every fall for MSU Denver’s opera production, I search for a piece which will encourage great growth in our music students. I also want to program a good variety for them from year to year. The Zarzuela is a form of opera which is not widely known in North America, but greatly loved in Spanish speaking countries throughout the world. I’ve wanted to do a Zarzuela for years.

Why did you choose “Luisa Fernanda?”

GR: When MSU Denver officially received Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS) status this last year, I knew the time was right. We thought it would be fitting to celebrate our Hispanic community with performance of this work.  Of the hundreds of Zarzuelas performed around the world, Luis Fernanda is among the most popular.

Was it difficult to interpret this piece in Spanish?

GR:  In thinking whether or not we should perform the work in Spanish or English, it occurred to me that I have so many students who have grown up in bi-lingual households, and I decided that we would honor them by doing Luisa Fernanda in Spanish AND English – with all of the music sung in Spanish, and many of the spoken scenes in English. We designed the projected supertitles to be in both languages as well, to be inclusive of our Spanish and English-speaking audience members.

In retrospect, how would you sum up the whole experience? 

GR: I feel as though the project was a great success. I certainly hope the audience enjoyed Luisa. Cast members who previously only spoke English were helped tremendously by their Spanish speaking colleagues. Soon our rehearsal process became to a great extent a bilingual space, in which people felt comfortable trying to express themselves in a language they didn’t grow up with.