Twenty-five years ago, a small group of opera lovers brought the centuries-old Renaissance art form to Tijuana. The company, Ópera de Tijuana, has since had a significant impact on Mexico’s second-largest city.
In the street, jugglers entertain drivers. Beneath the din of traffic, a piano and voices drift from the second floor of an office building above a furniture store just off southbound Mexico 1.
Inside, Ópera de Tijuana is rehearsing. For a quarter of a century, the company has brought the beauty and power of opera to local audiences. Soprano Norma Navarette discovered opera in college at age 20 and joined the Tijuana company in 2004.
“Opera is everything,” she said. “When I found this genre, I felt at home.”
José Medina co-founded Ópera de Tijuana in 2000.
“We converted the school choirs into opera choirs," Medina said. "It was a really effervescent.”
Looking back, Medina describes 25 years of music with both pride and pain.
“It's a lot of work — a lot of enjoying and suffering at the same time,” he said.
For Medina, opera belongs to everyone.
“I love Tijuana because you can eat tacos to the more sophisticated meal you can think of. That's what I want for the culture,” he said.
Tenor Gerardo Gaytán began singing with friends.
“We would sing for hours with a mariachi or sing for hours with our norteño,” he said.
Those mariachi days taught him how to project his voice against trumpets — a skill he now uses on the opera stage.
As Opera de Tijuana celebrates its 25th anniversary, members acknowledge the struggles of sustaining the art form.
“Sometimes it even feels that people are not interested anymore," Navarette said. "We feel like we're alone. I mean, a vast ocean, but we carry on. We have no choice but to carry on.”
For Medina, the mission remains simple.
“Like Gershwin said, this is music, it is good music. You choose it. It's the only one choice to have,” he said.
Ópera de Tijuana will perform a free community concert Friday, Aug. 29, at the Casa de Cultura Playas de Tijuana. In October, the company will stage the classic one-act opera Cavalleria Rusticana.
