24/3/23, 12:09 Colombia's Betty Garcés: A voice from heaven 24/3/23, 12:09 Colombia's Betty Garcés: A voice from

24/3/23, 12:09 Colombia's Betty Garcés: A voice from heaven

Soprano Betty Garcés: Colombia’s cities, the port of Buenaventura. The audience erupts in a
spontaneous standing ovation.
leading lady of song
By Richard Emblin - March 8, 2023
Betty’s path to leading lady of opera began with ocean gazing and
sunset watching, as she recalls. Like so many other young women in
this predominantly Afro-Colombian enclave, the Pacific is always
present, but few can afford a journey across the estuary from
Buenaventura to see the majestic humpbacks at play, or visit pristine
destinations popular on the national tourism circuit. “I loved the sea
with all my heart, and I could sit for hours on a stone looking at the
exuberant nature,” said Garcés.
Growing up in city that spun to vinyl, Betty fell in love with the sound
of gospel, the uplifting soul of American-African churches that
continue a musical tradition dating back to slavery and the cotton
plantations of the southern United States. Raised in a musical
household of educators and a salsomano father with a great
collection of records, Betty recalls how she “learned the solos of the
instruments.” She used to sit in a corner of her home “very calmly,
taping away at the music inside my head.”
The audience inside Colombia’s iconic Teatro Colón falls into a deep
silence when soprano Betty Garcés begins to sing an Aria from
With great financial effort from her parents, Betty finished high
Francesco Cilea’s opera Adriana Lecouveur. For many in attendance it
school in Cali, the largest metropolis near Buenaventura. Her parents
is the first time they are seening a live performance of the
took the decision to send her to the capital of Valle del Cauca to
Buenaventura-born singer whose voice has been called one of the
“protect her” as the security situation in Buenaventura began to
most promising to emerge from the country in recent history.
deteriorate.

The repertoire of the Colón’s “Noche Lírica” with Garcés, and

The guitar was her childhood instrument, and she was given one by
Colombian baritone Valeriano Lanchas, includes works that span the
her parents. She jokingly confesses that it was “archived for many
musical timeline, from Mozart to Cole Porter and Gershwin’s
years and I only managed to learn only three songs.” But it was her
“Summertime.” When Betty unfurls her full operatic voice there is a
voice that got her an audition at the prestigious Antonio Maria
transformation in the audience, spellbound by a talent who emerged
Valencia Conservatory of Music in 1999. She didn’t sing an opera aria
from precarious conditions in one of Colombia’s most impoverished
or European ballad, but the contemporary song from the Spanish pop

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24/3/23, 12:09 Colombia's Betty Garcés: A voice from heaven

band Mecano, “Hijo de la Luna.” One could state that Betty’s

illuminating voice was first touched by the rays of “Son of the Moon.”

She had no vocal repertoire, let alone contact with the European song
tradition. Her teachers took her under their wings and began to train
this student “from zero.” Her “diamond in the rough” talent seemed
undeniable; all she need were dedicated mentors. During her third
semester she realized she could produce sounds that others couldn’t.
“I never had grand aspirations while studying in Cali.

I wanted to sing and do concerts in and around Cali, maybe even

Colombia.” Before graduating from the conservatory in 2007, Betty
walked on to the stage for the first time and gave a concert that
consolidated her dream of being an opera singer. It was an intimate
event hosted by the Casa ProArtes. The young Afro-Colombian singer
was introduced as “Betty Garcés.”

Despite all the earthly talent, Betty believes divine intervention was
also responsible in determining a greater life plan, guiding her
through “critical moments” in Buenaventura, to success on the world
stage. Germany would be her foray into professional opera, thanks to
Francisco Vergara, a Colombian baritone with the Cologne Opera –
Kölner Oper. Vergara set out to raise important funds to sponsor
Betty’s trip and get her enrolled in a music specialization course at the
Musik Hochchule Ko?ln, one of Europe’s largest academies of music.

The year was 2009, and the aspiring opera singer arrived in the middle
of winter not speaking a word of German. She had landed far from
home. “I only knew Buenaventura, Cali, Buga and Palmira,” recalls
Betty.

“Bogotá because I needed my visa.” But hard work and determination

got her through the first months in Germany. “Vergara was always
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