Opening night at the Mexican Cultural Institute buzzed with excitement and anticipation. The grand staircase, lined with towering wall murals, invites you into Pan-American history. It’s a great venue for the charismatic baritone Josę Sacin, who is well-known locally in the Latino community as an opera singer with the stage presence of a lion and an impressive vocal range. In mid-April, his voice of liquid gold was heard soloing in the Papal mass at the Nationals Stadium. If that credit, among his many, doesn’t impress you, then take note of his talent as a dynamic, local leader in the music world. He’s the Artistic Director of Zarzuela Di Si which is behind this pared-to-the-core staging of Federico Moreno Torroba’s musically gorgeous drama Luisa Fernanda. Along with a large cast of blossoming Latino performers from all over, Sacin sings the Vidal Hernando role from his soul. The experience is uniformly glorious.
Equally impressive tenor Alvaro Rodriguez takes on the complex Colonel Javier Moreno, the “soldier of fortune,” the charming rake. Instead of eliciting hisses from the audience, Rodriguez’s refreshing portrayal of Javier matches the power of Sacin’s Vidal. Javier, blinded by the dowry and the social position of Duchess Carolina, sung exquisitely with haughty, coquettish sophistication by Adriana Balzan, jilts the heroine, Luisa Fernanda. The title role is sung by silky-toned soprano Laura Virella, with a sweet innocence that evolves into the fiery indignation of the rejected woman.
(...)
