For years, , I have watched the cruel, inhuman way that young opera singers are treated here. There are many victims out there, as well as those who took the path in which they played within the system, and were propelled. Singers such as Ronaldo Villazon, for instance.

I´m going to tell you now, how I have broken the system. The announcement of this is going to create a very great scandal here…one which not only has to do with music, opera in particular…but with CORRUPTION.

There are extremely serious allegations here. Let me quickly prove to you that what I am saying is true. This is a scandal that will involve every singer who knows about what is going on here. People like Placido Domingo, Ramon Vargas, Gilda Cruz Romo, Fernando de la Mora. Why is that? Well… they are going to have to answer the very simple question …DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS? I can just imagine YOU asking Placido Domingo about…why did you take Operalia out of Mexico? The answer is simple. He knew the system was corrupt. He has helped wonderful singers from here all throughout his career. You know that very well… Singers like Eugenia Garza, a great example of how to play in the system…have sung at the LA OPERA. He has helped so many…but… he cannot explain why he saw this system in place and did nothing about it, except help singers LEAVE!

Now… here is how this already proven…if you connect the dots….

The producer for Difocur, the government cultural institution of the state for which I work, as the head of the State Opera Company…is Ricardo Rodriguez… a long time associate of Enrique Patron de Rueda, Mexico´s most famous conductor. A production of Carmen has been planned for May, to be presented in Culiacan, sponsored by the government and an institution called Sociedad Artistica Sinaloa, which is supported by corporate money…in particular Agustin Koppel… who owns the huge chain of department stores in Mexico. Patron is scheduled to conduct.

Rodriguez did something very horrible to the children in my chorus which has led to a mini scandal here. I have sued him for ¨abuso de poder¨ (abuse of power)…which is a very serious crime in Mexico. I sued him because I was ordered to split my chorus in half and send the rest of the kids home. I was very hurt. How could he do this to my poor children, who had just completed excellent concerts with the orchestra in December, and a production of Charlie Brown in February. Ricardo Rodriguez has a son who shot a kid in the head with a bee bee gun during one of my rehearsals. Instead of disciplining his child, he told him that he was NOT responsible because he was a minor. He put him in the school chorus, and took him out of my professional chorus. His son was far more important to him, than the 17 kids I had to send home and tell they couldn't be in Carmen. The parents complained. There was a meeting here, where difocur explained that this was an artistic decision. Only half could be used.. and the other half… would come from the school chorus, which Rodriguez´s child was in. The stories about all this have been printed in the Friday edition of NOROESTE.COM, the leading paper here. They report that I resigned from the children's chorus, and sued Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has no defense. Patron has worked with Rodriguez for many years. He knows how he operates and seems to admire it. On Monday (today) I will be signing to formal papers of complaint. This will lead directly to PATRON, who is a great hero here. They have schools named for him. He is a man known for making and breaking careers. He lives in Mazatlan, which is a center of operatic activity (TEATRO ANGELA PERALTA) The chorus director there is a totally horrible man named Antonio Gonzalez. He is a corrupt human being. Here is an example…A baritone who is now in my company was his lover. He made the mistake of marrying a woman. That infuriated Gonzalez, who went about ruining the baritone's career. This has been going on for four years. The man called other opera companies in Mexico.. and told them that the baritone was a terrible singer, and shouldn't be hired for ANYTHING. This man has suffered. He sings in the chorus here. He is paid 500 dollars a month. He has lead a sad life for the last years and it has taken its terrible toll on him. The poor wife has suffered from horrible headaches and panic attacks, etc…All because of the horrible unprofessional and criminal behavior of Gonzalez. Patron is Gonzalez´s biggest fan. He has watched all of this going on.. and obviously approves. There are many singers in Mazatlan who have been thrown out.. just because of horrible Gonzalez. There is absolutely no question that PATRON KNOWS ALL ABOUT THIS AND SUPPORTED IT!!!

I am very scared, I have set off a scandal that will lead to PATRON; DOMINGO; BELLAS ARTES; GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF THE ARTS ETC ETC ETC CORRUPTION CORRUPTION.

I don't know if you were following the Mexican Presidential elections.. but the principal candidate who lost by a fraction of the vote to Felipe Calderon…and man known here as AMLO… is a champion of the poor. He tied up Mexico City for months with demonstrations before and after the election. He would make an announcement and thousands of people.. would demonstrate. He had his supporters living in tents in the center of the city for months…blocking traffice, making a huge mess….saying things like…YOUR GOVERNMENT IS SPENDING TONS OF MONEY ON ART AND CULTURE AND CORRUPTION…instead of supporting you, the poor peasants who need a dollar a day to EAT. If he had had this information before the election.. HE CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE WON. He only lost by half a percentage point! Now he has the corruption story of the century. If I were to call him now, he would have thousands on the street in 10 minutes.

Not only that, … I worked in the city of Monterrey. A city where great millionaires live. I will now be able to talk about all of the corruption there as well. Stories which include Sr. Barragan…the owner of COCA COLA in MEXICO.. who has a theater called FORO PRO CULTURA in Monterrey. I worked there, with the very same RODRIGUEZ for years. He was the producer there.. I the music director. I can tie Barragan in. I can tie Yolanda Santos de la Garza Laguera.. a billionaire…who is the principal patron of the Ballet de Monterrey. I can tell stories about how she not only treated me unprofessionally.. but the late FERNANDO BUJONES as well, who was the artistic director of the company. I can tie in RODRIGUEZ with huge productions in many other states…ITS GOING TO BE AN ENORMOUS SCANDAL: MISUSE OF MONEY IN A COUNTRY WHERE THE AVERAGE WORKER MAKES LESS THAN TEN DOLLARS A DAY!

I am very very very scared. I am in a hotel in Culiacan . I am sitting on a story that will break very quickly…. I need to get out of here FAST! My life, literally is in danger. I say this not out of panic… but reality. I can bring them all down.

PLEASE HELP ME. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THIS.

GOOGLE… Patron, Difocur, Steinman, Sociedad Artistica Sinaloa, Gordon Campbell…any of these… will help you confirm this story. It leads not only to the CORRUPTION.. the way singers are treated… the unethical, unprincipaled, absolutely torturous system that ruins lives every single day. I can talk about ALL OF THIS:

I am at the Hotel Lucerna in Culiacan Mexico.

The phone number here is

011 52 6677590000

Thank you

Eric Steinman