Dec. 13, 2024

Every Last Fibra

Soprano Yaritza Véliz, making her HGO debut as Mimì in La bohème, on life and Puccini.
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Yaritza Véliz as Mimì at London's Royal Ballet and Opera. Photo Credit: Camila Greenwell

When I reach soprano Yaritza Véliz for our conversation ahead of her HGO debut as Mimì, she tells me about all the things she loves. Her hometown of Coquimbo, in northern Chile. The beach. Her dogs. Her mother, a kindergarten teacher, and father, a truck driver. Her fiancé, a double-bass player in the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago, where the couple is based. Her uncles, younger brother, and granny. Singing, always—even though her beloved family wasn’t a musical one.  

 

When, I want to know, did opera come into her heart?   

 

“I think, in 2016, when I sang, for the first time, a Puccini opera,” Yaritza says, remembering her experience at theTeatro Municipal de Santiago – Opéra Nacional de Chile. “That was La bohème, when I sang Musetta. That was my debut with Puccini. And in that moment, I thought, I really want someday to sing the role of Mimì, because it has everything. Mimì is very honest. It’s beautiful.  

 

“Puccini has something that takes my heart. It’s very strong, you know? And Verdi has also that, but I think it’s mostly with Puccini to me. I think he’s my favorite composer. His music moves all my emotions. When I am singing Mimì, or I hear the music, it’s impossible not being in tears, you know? I start to cry. I start to feel something. The music moves me—moves every fibra—I don’t know how to say fibra. Fiber? From my body.” 

 

Yaritza sang her first Mimì in 2022, at the Glyndebourne Festival, and caused a sensation. She performed the role again in early 2024 at London’s Royal Ballet and Opera, leading a reviewer at Opera Now to write: “I will stick my neck out and say that soprano Yaritza Véliz will become a star.” Of course, by then, it was already written. And now, HGO audiences have the extraordinary opportunity to experience Yaritza’s glorious voice when she performs her favorite role, Mimì, in her company debut. 

 

Yaritza’s path to opera stardom can be traced back to when she was 6 years old, singing with her school chorus. From the beginning, she knew her voice was different. “This weird voice that I had, it was special,” she remembers. “It was like an old voice.”  

 

When she was 12, her family traveled to her father’s hometown, a religious town called Andacollo, and heard a tenor singing at the church. “I thought, that man sings like me. And I never heard before an opera singer.” She introduced herself to him and sang something. “He started to scream,” Yaritza remembers. “He goes out. He starts to scream, she’s a miracle! The miracle of Andacollo!” Her journey in opera had officially begun. 

 

The next year, Yaritza got a scholarship from Amigos del Municipal de Santiago, part of Opéra Nacional de Chile. From then on, every weekend, she traveled six hours by bus from Coquimbo to Santiago, and six hours back, to train with her voice teacher. Her family was proud of her, but nervous, unsure about opera as a career choice. Still, they supported her, with Yaritza’s mom joining her on her long trips to Santiago until she was able to navigate the city by herself.  

 

Yaritza continued her music studies at the Universidad de Chile. Then, in 2018, she applied for the two-year Young Artists Programme at the Royal Ballet and Opera and was accepted. At 26, she moved to London, not yet knowing English. “It was a shock for my family,” she says. “Mostly for my granny, because she was always more protective with me. But she was always very, very happy for what I did, and my parents also.”  

 

Now in demand at the world’s great houses, Yaritza loves her job, although, she admits, it’s not without sacrifice. Life on the road can be lonely. “I like to be with my family,” she says, “I like to be with my fiancé all the time. I really like to have friends. After the claps, when you finish, you take off everything, and then you’re alone.” She goes home to Chile whenever she can.  

 

The conversation returns to La bohème, and Yaritza’s favorite role. Her second Mimì, she confides, was very different from her first. “The difference was, my granny passed away last December,” she says. “I was with my granny when she died. I was holding her hand and telling her, everything will be okay 

 

“And at the Royal Opera, when I sang the last words that Mimì said, I really understood what she wanted to say. I knew the meaning of, it’s your last time to talk to someone you really love. And I saw that in the eyes of my granny.  

 

“And when I sang Mimì, I was in tears. But then I really feel it, what Mimì wants, because she really wants to be alive for someone she loves. You know, the love is very important in this opera. And when you are trying to be alive, it’s sometimes more hard when you love someone, and you don’t want to leave that person. I think that’s the meaning of this opera. It’s the real love.”  

about the author
Khori Dastoor
General Director and CEO