Young soprano joins ‘Carmen’ in Singapore
At 27, youthful soprano Nerissa de Juan bagged the role of Micaëla in the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) international production of Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” scheduled for April 25 and April 26 at the Victoria Theater, Singapore.
In the story, Micaëla is the childhood love interest of Don José, the exact opposite of Carmen. As De Juan put it, “She represents the life Don José had before he became obsessed with Carmen—his home, his mother, and his former values. Micaëla is a short role, appearing only in Acts 1 and 3, but she has a special aria in Act 3 called “Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante.” In this aria, she goes on a journey to find Don José and tries to convince him to return to his mother. “Despite the danger of entering the smugglers’ hideout, she pushes through with courage and love.”
The auditions for “Carmen” were held in January. De Juan had doubts about going due to financial concerns.
She said, “Preparing for the audition was a significant investment on my part. I had to pay application fees and cover travel expenses to Singapore, all without any assurance that I would be accepted. The first round involved submitting video recordings for initial screening. The results were released only a week before the live audition. That left me with little time to make arrangements. By then, airfare had become quite expensive. It was a financial risk, and I questioned whether it was a practical decision. But at the same time, there was a strong pull in my heart urging me to go through with it. I already had a deep connection with Micaëla’s aria. Something told me I owed it to myself to try. Despite the uncertainty, I chose to take the leap.”
Live audition
For the live audition, the applicant singers were asked to prepare two arias from “Carmen.” However, since Micaëla only has one aria, De Juan, who has a degree in vocal performance from the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music, chose a scene with a lot of her singing—the duet with Don José in Act I.
She felt confident because Micaëla’s aria has been in her repertoire for a while. “I’ve used it for master classes and coaching so I just reviewed what I had worked on before as well as the text and character background to help with the interpretation. I also read more about the opera and its history. I looked into the original dialogues since ‘Carmen’ was first performed with spoken lines instead of recitatives. I found that some important details were left out in the recitatives, so reading the original helped me understand the story better.”
She also thought of how she would present herself through what she wore. After doing research, she decided to wear a blue dress. Even though Bizet didn’t say Micaëla should wear blue, many productions use this color to contrast her with Carmen, who is usually dressed in red. De Juan said, “I thought showing this visually would be an interesting way to help tell the story.”
She arrived in Singapore without booking any accommodation, staying at Changi airport to save money. She said, “Singapore is an expensive country to visit so I did whatever I could to cut costs…That meant sacrificing comfort. I tried to sleep on the airport floor and did all my preparations there as well. It wasn’t ideal. I felt the exhaustion kick in before the audition. But I trusted in everything I had prepared. I believed that the muscle memory would take over and do its job.”
The audition went by quickly. The panel only asked her to sing the Micaëla aria. She said, “It was pretty straightforward, with not many questions asked, and the panel seemed nice. After that, I left for the Philippines right away since I had a performance the next day. It was a short trip, but I felt happy that I went through with it despite all the risks.”
Two days later, she got the good news through an email from SLO: She had been cast as Micaëla.
Firsts
It is her first time to be cast in “Carmen” and to be in an international opera production. The rest of the cast includes Mathilde Ortscheidt of France as Carmen; Samy Camps of France as Don Jose; Edwin Fardini of France as Escamillo; Cherie Tse of Singapore as Frasquita; Priscilla Fong of Singapore as Mercedes; Kee Chun Kiat of Malaysia as Remendado; Edward Kim of Korea as Dancaïre; Jermyn Leong of Singapore as Captain Zuniga; and Li Yizhe of China as Moralés. De Juan is the only Filipino in the main cast.
De Juan described Bizet’s music in “Carmen” as “beautiful,” adding, “I believe that’s why it remains one of the most performed operas in history. It’s sad that he never lived to see the immense success of his opera. The melodies are so memorable and accessible, even for those without a musical background. Personally, I find that his writing for Micaëla suits my voice very well. I feel at ease when performing it.”
A first prize winner in the senior voice category of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists, De Juan is a member of the Pasipo Vocal Ensemble and a founding member of the Manila Symphony Orchestra Chorus. She is under the tutelage of internationally acclaimed tenor Arthur Espiritu.
On May 3, she will perform in a concert entitled “Operatic Heroines” with other sopranos, Marielle Tuason and Angeli Benipayo, with Gabriel Paguirigan on the piano, at the Manila Pianos Showroom on Paseo de Magallanes, Makati Cty.
This concert will showcase rarely performed opera arias and ensembles that highlight female characters in opera. De Juan is excited about the repertoire “as most—if not all—of the pieces are rarely heard in the country. Some of the arias I will perform are long-time dreams of mine. I’m thrilled to finally have the opportunity to present them in a public setting.”
She nurses other dream roles such as Mimì in “La Bohème,” Leonora in “Il Trovatore,” and Tatiana in “Eugene Onegin.” She said, “These are at the top of my list, but there are many other fascinating opera roles that I would love to perform in the future. For now, I’m focusing on exploring Mozart roles such as Fiordiligi in ‘Così fan tutte’ and Donna Elvira in ‘Don Giovanni.’ Besides being exquisitely written, I feel these roles are a great fit for my voice at this stage in my career.”
For ticket inquiries to “Operatic Heroines,” contact Cultural Arts Events Organizer at tel. no. (0918) 347-3027 or (0920) 954-0053. For “Carmen,” visit the website https://sistic.com.sg/events/slocarmen042025.
