Sergio Cabrera debuts as stage director in opera ‘Elíxir del amor’

A staging that will take place in a Wayúu indigenous village, as a tribute to the department of La Guajira.
The Colombian filmmaker Sergio Cabrera, appointed by President Gustavo Petro as ambassador to China, debuts as stage director in the opera “Elíxir de amor”, a staging that will take place in a Wayúu indigenous village, as a tribute to the department of La Guajira, which contains beautiful landscapes in its drought.

“This is something that I had not imagined,” Cabrera said at a press conference in Bogotá, where he recalled that his love for opera had to wait because part of his childhood and youth was spent in China, where it was prohibited.

“I grew up in China, in the middle of the cultural revolution where Mozart was synonymous with the devil and where listening to opera or classical music was really forbidden,” recalled the director of films such as “Losing is a question of method,” “Stadium Coup.” and “The snail strategy.”

With this production, he temporarily says goodbye to the performing arts for the next few years due to his appointment as Colombia’s ambassador to China.

“I still have a meeting pending with President Petro to receive instructions for my work in China, but culture will have a special place,” Cabrera explained to EFE.

When he made another remembrance about his taste for classical music and opera, he explained that when he was a member of the guerrilla he was sanctioned: “One night I was with the small radio (…) they caught me listening to opera. “It was considered a ‘small crime’ to be using the bus’s (transistor) batteries to indulge in the petite bourgeois pleasure of listening to music.”

Cabrera joined the guerrilla of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) at the age of 19 and after four years of being in the jungle, he left the ranks.

Cabrera’s bet

“The Elixir of Love”, by Gaetano Donizetti, is one of the most popular operas due to its story, its music, and libretto. It tells the story of Nemorino, a young man who does everything possible to win over Adina, before she marries the vain Sergeant Belcore.

Seeking to reach Adina’s heart, Nemorino finds a “solution” among the goods of Dulcamara, a trickster who guarantees to have an elixir to solve all his ills, as long as he has the money to pay.

This story is developed by Cabrera in a Wayúu ranch, indigenous people who mostly live in the Colombian department of La Guajira, bordering Venezuela.

“The idea of ​​the opera is to pay tribute to La Guajira, its people and the Wayúu culture,” explained the filmmaker, who will have in the musical part the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra and the direction of the Venezuelan maestro Manuel Lopez-Gomez.

Cabrera takes care of every detail and that is why he surrounded himself with designers and artisans from the Wayúu community, who accompany the development of art concepts applied to the scenography, setting, costumes and makeup, “because each one has a meaning for that culture.”

This production by the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo and the Colombian Opera will have its first performance on October 26, the second will be two days later and a third will close on the 30th.

EFE

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