KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Lee Hartman: Welcome to Kansas City! How are you finding the new space at the Kauffman Center?

Elizabeth Caballero: Well I haven’t seen the actual theatre yet except from the outside, but the new rehearsal space is fantastic!

LH: This is not your first time singing Liù. What about the character do you find so appealing?

EC: First of all it’s some of the most beautiful music Puccini wrote, especially the second aria that she sings right before she kills herself. Not the “Tu che di gel sei cinta” but the “Tanto amore segreto.” That aria, that music, is just so beautiful. I like to think of it as a gift that Puccini gave to lyric sopranos before he passed away. The character is very selfless and it’s all in the music.

LH: Is there anything new your bringing to Liù for this production?

EC: I think in this production I’m making her a little ballsier. […] She’s still very timid, young, and naïve, but this time I’m try to […] give her a little bit more in-your-face courage.

LH: Well she definitely needs that as Liù is the only person in the opera brave enough to stand up to Turandot.

EC: Oh, absolutely! Most definitely! Before when I’ve [played] her, she’s always been timid, but our director Garnett Bruce is actually letting me stand up to her. I love that and I love that he’s allowing me to do so.

LH: What preparations do you go through in order make Liù come alive?

EC: The good thing about tackling a role you’ve performed in the past is that there isn’t as much work to be done as when you’re singing a role for the very first time. You have to make sure it feels good in the voice, although every year your voice does change. I sing through the role again making sure everything is in working order. I definitely go through the Italian again to make sure that not only do I know my part and what I’m saying exactly, but that I know everyone else’s part they are saying around me so that I’m as prepared as I can be for the staging. One thing I really appreciated that our director picked up on was when Calaf [Arnold Rawls] sang one of his lines and he appreciated how I reacted. It was a nice little pat on the back; it made me feel good that he knew that I knew what he was saying. I always like to make sure that singers really know how important it is to realize that it’s not only just what your singing that you need to know but also what everyone else around you is saying.

LH: How does knowing that Liù’s story somewhat parallels Puccini’s life in that his servant Doria committed suicide after being accused of having an affair with him?

EC: I know that story! […] What I love about Puccini is that he really knew the ladies; he knew them inside and out. You can tell with every opera that he wrote that he really understood women. When I say that, I think it’s great that Turandot finally understood what love is about, not because of a man loving her or wanting her to love him, but because of a selfless act of another woman. I think that’s how most women learn about what love is; because of how selfless and loving our mothers are, we can understand how to be more nurturing and loving towards the one we choose to love. That’s what happens in Turandot. Turandot doesn’t understand, at all, what love is until she sees it. It’s tragic and sad what happened to Doria but she was loyal to Puccini and her cousin. […] It's interesting that Puccini portrays his wife as this ice princess; she must have had a handful dealing with [him].

LH: You were born in Cuba. Could you talk about your family and emigrating from Cuba to the US?

EC: I came [to the US] in 1980 Mariel boatlift as a baby, so I don’t remember much about Cuba. I was really young and I’ve never been back. But growing up in Miami, which is where I call the Second Cuba, I’ve been set in my roots and my culture. […] I appreciate and thank my parents for making sure that my sister and I spoke Spanish at home and at school we’d learn English. So I’m truly bilingual. I’m pretty Cuban but I call myself a hybrid. Although I was born in Cuba, I’m not really Cuban, and although I was raised in the United States, I’m not really American either. I’m this weird hybrid. It’s like I’m a flower without roots. A lot of people who immigrated to the United States when they were young, when we talk, we feel the same way. We’re not from there; we’re not from here. We’re orchids! […]

LH: Do you have a favorite role and a dream role you’d love to tackle?

EC: Well that’s hard because my favorite role is always the one I’m singing at the moment. I always find something new to do with it. […] I do have a couple dream roles and it’s funny that they are all Puccini heroines. I guess it’s that Puccini heart in me. But I’d love to do Manon Lescaut, Suor Angelica, and most especially, Tosca. It’s something about those women that just go for it! Even though Liù is more timid and virginal than those other three women… well… well… [laughes] Suor Angelica is nun… but still there’s just something about sexy women that I’m really attracted to. Maybe it’s the Cubanita in me that I’m going to go out and get it. That’s what I love about these women. Nothing will stop them. They will do anything to go out and get [what they want].

LH: I recently wrote in my fall preview that Turandot will be the artistic production of the season not only because it’s the first time Kansas City will get to experience Grand Opera but just by sheer spectacle and the singers involved.

 EC: I’ve been looking forward to this production since I found out that I was going to be singing. I’ve sang with Lise [Lindstrom] before and I’ve also sung with Arnold [Rawls] before, our Calaf. They’re just wonderful singers and I’m looking forward to singing with them again. [Giggles] But [what] I’m really looking forward to is walking around the entire time I’m on stage holding hands with Sam Ramey! [Full-on laughs] That’s what I’ve been looking forward to most all season, is that I get to hold hands with Mr. Ramey! I’m hoping some of his talent will rub off on me through osmosis or something.

LH: I read you’re going to reprise this role down in Austin in April. Is that correct?

EC: Yes! Lise and I are going down to Austin. I don’t think Arnold is in that one at least he hasn’t mentioned it when we’ve talked. […] But I’m just so happy to be here and honored to be opening the new theatre with this opera.

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s production of Turandot runs October 1–9 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Muriel Kauffman Theatre. For tickets call 877-673-7252 or visit http://www.kcopera.org 

Top Photo: Elizabeth Caballero (Photo by Elsa Roberto)

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com

More Featured Articles