I prefer not to be out of the country for more than six or seven months at a time. I think the politics of the Colon are not sympathetic to this movement, this popular interest in good music. Our local singers are not supported so they all go to Europe. Recently the house has been starting to encourage local singers a bit more. But more often than not it is inadequate. . . .
American singers go to Europe but they are also supported at home.
There are only two in Argentina. So singers must leave to look for success abroad. Yes, my first paid performance was in November 1994 in a zarzuela called Luisa Fernanda in the Avenida Theatre in Buenos Aires. At that time I got in touch with the Opera of Buenos Aires Foundation - it sounds rather grand in English but in fact it is a very small organization. Two Spanish gentlemen of the Foundation with a deep love for opera, Carlos Gusmerotti and Gui Gallardo, paid for my trip to Europe at the end of 1997 and supported my family when I was in Italy.