The cast of Florida Grand Opera's “I Pagliacci,” seated Kearstin Piper Brown (Nedda) and Limmie Pulliam (Canio). In back from left, Eleomar Cuello (Silvio), Joseph McBrayer (Beppe), and Robert Mellon (Tonio). (Photo by Eric Joannes)
When Eleomar Cuello was growing up in Cuba he remembers tuning in to a television program broadcast every week that would feature everything from Broadway musicals like “The Phantom of the Opera” to performances by opera singers such as Luciano Pavarotti.
Eleomar Cuello, baritone, has already made a big impression on the opera world at the age of 30. (Photo by Victor Muniz)
“I was about four or five years old and there was this program, ‘De la Gran Escena.’ And I was watching and they put on a baritone like me singing ‘Figaro, figaro, figaro.’ I became obsessed and I kept singing it and telling my mother, ‘I want to do that. It is so fun. I want to be an opera singer.’ I think she just said OK to me so I would stop singing ‘figaro, figaro, figaro.”
Now, at only 30 years old, he’s being called a young singer of “immense promise.” He’s already established himself internationally on the opera stage. He’s performed at Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, and, in Chile as Guglielmo (“Cosi fan tutte”), Masetto (“Don Giovanni”), Valentin (“Faust”), and many others with the prestigious Municipal Theatre of Santiago; and a variety of performances in Uruguay, Ecuador, France, Nicaragua, and Cuba.
Last season, he appeared with Florida Grand Opera as Marco in “Gianni Schicchi and Buoso’s Ghost.” He returns to perform in FGO’s “Pagliacci” in the role of Silvio, the lover of Nedda who is already married to Canio.
After hearing the baritone singing “Figaro,” he didn’t want to think of anything else. Cuello says he performed with in children’s theater and in other musical theater programs. Then, when he was 15 years old, he was accepted to the Academy of the National Lyric Theater of Cuba, where he graduated in 2013.
"Pagliacci" was the first opera ever performed by what is now Florida Grand Opera, now it's back in the 82nd season. (Photo by Eric Joannes)
Cuello says he’s living a dream. “Really, it’s only 15 years after I started my career, and only three years in the United States, and I am in New York City and with the Metropolitan Opera. It is unbelievable,” he says.
He is at the Met in his first year in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program after being one of 10 national finalist in the Met's Laffont Competition.
“I was one of the 10 finalists from 1,300 singers. And they asked me, ‘Do you want to be part of the program?’ “ He says it took him only a few seconds to “think about it” and answer an enthusiastic “yes.”
Eleomar Cuello as Silvio and Kearstin Piper Brown as Nedda in rehearsal for Florida Grand Opera's 82nd anniversary production of “I Pagliacci.” (Photo by Eric Joannes)
When he was 20 years old, he moved from Cuba to Chile because, as he says, he already had work there singing with the prestigious Municipal Theatre of Santiago.
As far as studying at a university, he says the last 10 years of his life as a professional have been the best teacher.
“I think the thing with opera singing is if you want to teach, then maybe you need a university. But to be a professional, I feel that you have to show that you can speak three or four languages and have command of them, as well as having command of the music and the voice technique. That to me is most important,” he says.
In addition to the finalist's position in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Competition, he also earned a place in San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola program, and made his debut at the Stuttgart State Opera in Germany in the title role of Don Giovanni.
As part of a younger generation who isn’t usually drawn to opera, Cuello says that despite operas being written some centuries ago, he says they still are telling stories that are relevant today.
“The thing about the stories is that as (humans) we don’t change a lot. We still have the same problems. We just have technology right now.”
Florida Grand Opera’s “I Pagliacci” is at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27; 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28; 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30 and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, and Saturday, Feb. 10 Tickets: $22 - $240 depending on performance and venue.
For more information call 800-741-1010 or click fgo.org
