WHEN TENOR Javier Camarena appeared at the Metropolitan Opera last February, as Tonio in Laurent Pelly’s Fille du Régiment staging, he was met with rapturous cheers. When he hit eighteen thrilling high Cs in “Ah! mes amis,” those cheers exploded into roars. With equal parts breathtaking technique and radiant energy, Camarena doesn’t merely light up a house; he imbues it with warmth. His infectious smile, which can be seen wooing onstage lovers—and offstage fans and friends—is a defining element, conveying an authenticity and a joy that few artists can match.
Born in Xalapa, Veracruz, Camarena grew up listening to ABBA and the Bee Gees. He sang in church choirs, in rock bands and at weddings. At nineteen, while studying to be an engineer in electrical mechanics, he changed his career path; his first interest was piano, but “My best chances were with singing,” he told NPR in 2016. His parents were not immediately supportive of the switch to music; his mother warned that he could end up sweeping streets. “Maybe I will,” replied the young Camarena, “but I will be happy.”
Now a celebrated bel cantist, Camarena dazzles audiences with his generous and confident stage presence. But the path wasn’t a straight shot: “It was a looong process in learning the technique, in discovering the sound of my voice,” he admitted in January, in an opera news cover story. It wasn’t until 2001, six years after beginning his studies, that he began to consider the true potential of his voice. Three years later, after taking first prize in Mexico’s Carlo Morelli competition, Camarena made his professional debut as Tonio in a 2004 Fille du Régiment at the Palacio de Bellas Artes; in 2007, he joined the ensemble at Zurich Opera. Since then, the tenor’s star has blazed ever brighter, his name inciting frenzied cries across opera’s biggest international stages, from Madrid, where he sang Lucia’s Edgardo in 2018, and Zurich, where he sang Don Ramiro to Cecilia Bartoli’s Angelina last December, to Paris, Salzburg, Munich, Los Angeles, San Francisco and more.
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- Πηγή: operanews.com
- Ετικέτες: Camarena, Javier, όπερα
