Without a doubt, one of the most memorable interviews was with Mexican tenor, David Lomeli, who was here to perform in a one off series of five performances Mozart’s Don Giovanni.  Born in Mexico City and raised in Monterrey, MX, Lomeli is now based out of San Francisco.  His schedule takes him all around the world.  As a matter of fact, after October 22nd, he will be booked solid for the next two years.  As we took around Lomeli and castmate, Sarah Jane McMahon, on a tour of Detroit, they not only learned about Detroit but we also learned about their world.

We began the evening when we picked up them up at the Detroit Opera House.  Although I had previously had lunch with him, this proved to be my best chance to get to know him.  I was interested to hear what they would think about our tour.

We took the long way to Mexicantown along Michigan Avenue toward Rosa Park, while pointing out sites, such as the former Tiger Stadium and Slows BBQ.  As it turned out, they’d already been to Slows and raved about its great barbeque.  

As we approached Michigan Ave and Rosa Park I told them about Corktown—its Irish origins and its current evolution.  A quick turn down Bagley took us into the heart of Mexicantown.  Beginning with Honeybee Market, we went all the way down and pointed out restaurants like Mexican Village that are familiar to locals like us.  In our own Americanized way, he could see touches of Mexico in the neighborhood.

After stopping by St. Anne’s and taking some pictures, we ended up at our ultimate destination: Taqueria Mi Pueblo.  This was a place that, when I mentioned at our first meeting, his eyes lit up.  The mere mention of taqueria-style tacos and a nice glass of horchata was like heaven.

At this point, I began to learn about Lomeli’s history.  He has been performing professionally for about four years.  His big break came in 2006 when he became the first Mexican to win Placido Domingo’s opera competition, Operalia in both the opera and zarzuela divisions.

“Many competitions are judged by singers.  However, this one was judged by directors of the main opera houses in Europe,” Lomeli said, as he explained how opera competitions work.

Our dinner was a bit surreal in how music and food mixed together.  Now, I have been to Mi Pueblo a number of times.  However, this was the first instance when Guns N’ Roses playing.  It wasn’t just GNR but the live version of “Sweet Child O’ Mine”—a song that both Lomeli and I both instantly recognized.  He reminisced briefly how he used to perform this same song with bands during his youth.  Throughout dinner, Lomeli peppered us with snippets of songs in Spanish that were playing.

One of the things that he shared was how different opera is than popular music.  While popular groups use relatively the same set list, there are more variables in opera—among them, with each performance using different orchestras and learning new scores for them.

“In opera, you have 500 pages of music to learn for five shows (i.e Don Giovanni).  You’re always learning a new score.”

While Lomeli spoke about opera, he also talked about what it took to get there.  Part of it involves sacrifice, which for some performers, means giving up relationships.

“It hurts like hell, but I’m used to it.  It’s my job.  It’s my passion.  It’s my life.  You could do it for fun and be mediocre.  However, if you want to be the best, you need to do what it takes.”

Lomeli gave credit to his parents.  Besides the fact that he was raised by a lot of women (his mother and grandmother were both singers), his parents instilled a sense of tenacity that would prove valuable.

“My parents had a saying.  You get only one day to whine and say how you hate the world.  On the next day, you have to find a solution.  They would ask me, ‘So what are you going to do next?’ ”

As our evening unfortunately came to an end, we were all able to learn from each other.  Lomeli and McMahon were able to see some of the sites, especially in Mexicantown, that they may not have otherwise seen.  For him, he was literally able to get a taste of home. However, this wasn’t really about food or sites, but about peering into other worlds.  In the same way that they left with an insider’s look into Detroit, we were able to do the same with opera.

Author: José A. Rodríguez