The capital city of the state of Sinaloa, Culiacan, lies a 12 hour drive (not including the extraordinary stupidities that may cause added traveling hours to the haggard motorist at the border), south of Tucson, Arizona. Culiacan is the seat of the state government, and along with it the states government funded Arts Center (Difocur) . It’s a hellishly hot place, never under 70 degrees in sunlight during the deepest winter, and 95+ the rest of the year. The closest beaches are about an hour away in Altata. I can safely say that Culiacan does not benefit from sea breezes. Temperatures regularly reach 100 degrees between the months of May and October. Its dry most of the time and very dusty. When it rains, it pours…literally. From July to October, almost daily thunderstorms pelt the dusty streets at or around 5pm. I know this schedule very well, because the transmission of my Met games (7pm starts in NY and 5pm local time) were interrupted on a regular basis by the deluges, always causing me agita. Nine months a year, in a dust bowl, long suffering Culichis, (cool leechees) the natives of the city, now switch to their storm gear, with almost daily floods in the streets, sometimes reaching one to two feet. My little calle, for example, would turn into a raging river every single time it rained hard for more than five minutes. There were numerous power failures as well. Speaking of that, I haven’t experienced one of California’s famous brownouts yet.

I don’t find it surprising that the insufferable heat exacerbates bad behavior in people. Maybe that’s why over 400 Sinaloenses are murdered each year in Sinful Sinaloa.

Mazatlan, a city two hours south of Culiacan is the main tourist attraction of the state. There are some OK beaches, which seem, most unfortunately to get narrower each year. (Attention Al Gore). There are many hotels, ranging from super-seedy….to …it may have been deluxe 20 years ago….to…super-deluxe. (Only a couple of places qualify for this personal high rating.) I know the hotels fairly well, because we had quite a few cultural visits to Mazatlan during my tenure as head of the opera company, which included short free hotel stays. The food in the city is also in the OK category, and I have known quite a few to get sick on the famous shrimp. (let alone, the water.)

Antonio Gonzalez

In the old center of the town, lies a jewel. A small European style opera house, courteously built by those noble Spanish in the early 1870s. It’s named for the great soprano Angela Peralta, the "Nightingale of Mexico" who arrived by schooner from Europe, along with her opera company, to present the 1883 summer opera season. Seems that the local folk were so impressed by her grand entrance at the harbor, that they carried her like a queen to the theater. The diva, wishing to thank her adoring fans, sang the Spanish song La Paloma to the crowd from her hotel balcony at the side of the theater. This event is recreated each year in the old city. Sadly, Peralta never got a chance to enjoy the fruits of her labor. She had caught yellow fever, along with many members of the company, and promptly died. Her manager married her on her death bed, so that he could take over the company. Speaking of opportunists...Maybe he urged her to eat the shrimp as well. Later, the theater burned down, and actually had a tree growing from the stage floor through the burned out roof. It was reopened in 1992, and is used for local, national, and international performances. All of these performances fall under the local government administration, funded in part by the state and federal government.

The most important person in town, culturally speaking is Mexican conductor Enrique Patron. Mazatlan is his native city. I will amplify my thoughts on Patron, whom I love to think of as the musical Anti-Christ, in a later post.

Not officially working for Patron, but certainly part of his Artistic team for years in projects in Mazatlan is Maestro Antonio Gonzalez. He is the director of the Angela Peralta Chorus, as well as a voice coach, an accompanist of note, and one of the most evil men it has ever been my misfortune to know.

http://www.coroangelaperalta.com/directivos.php

This is a man who controls people lives, exhibiting not one ounce of decency toward those he wishes to screw. I know very well that these are strong allegations and I am perfectly willing to back them up. I discussed in my letter to the music critics sent the day before I left Mexico, the brutal treatment of a baritone and soprano who felt the brunt of Gonzalez’s wrath (and still continue to do so, by the way.) Here we have a perfectly respectful pair of artists. The baritone has a well produced voice, is reaching his forties, is a good actor, and should have a fine career in Mexico. The soprano, his partner, is a dear lady, with a potent voice who has suffered from nightmares since Gonzalez made a public spectacle of her private life. She suffered from a lack of confidence, a condition that greatly improved, when both she and her partner relocated from Mazatlan to Culiacan to join our opera company.

Gonzalez had been the lover of the baritone in times past. At first, he accompanied the baritone in concerts, calling his contacts all over Mexico to have them offer work. Things looked promising. That is, until the baritone decided that he would rather have a warm relationship with an honest woman, than whatever he had with the beast. Gonzalez took his revenge. He removed both the baritone and the soprano from the Peralta chorus, threatened to remove others who took their side, and then went on a campaign, which included many calls to his contacts to screw the baritone. Literally.

I met the baritone and soprano on my first day of work as the director of the Opera Company. They were considering moving to Culiacan if they were offered a sufficient amount of money to stay as part of both the opera company and the chorus. More on that later.

Picture this. There are two choruses in the state. Gonzalez’s work in Mazatlan, is funded by the government, both state and city. In Culiacan, the government supports 20 members of the chorus with 475 dollar a month scholarships, as well as paying the salary of Sergio Martinez, the young conductor in Culiacan, who will play an important, sad role in this story. Difocur, Sinaloa’s government Arts bureau, has long wanted to combine the activities of the separate government choruses in certain performances in both Culiacan and Mazatlan. Needless to say, it doesn’t happen. How is this possible when large quantities of government money is funding these projects?? You know the answer. Gonzalez. No one wants to offend the Maestro...so it's far easier to keep the two choruses apart. That, alone, is enough to send the guy into oblivion. Instead, he is treated as a hero. He went to Tijuana for a while to bring his own personal outlook to the opera scene, and after he got through causing havoc there, he was sent for in a panic by the Mazatlan government, given a raise, a new paint job for his house, and god knows what else.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador….(Hugo Chavez like president of the alternate government in Mexico)….

Want some more examples??

There are many singers in Mazatlan, who have been made exiles from the cultural scene in their own hometown. They have formed their own group in an attempt to recover their artistic dignities.

Gonzalez is in charge, of who, and who does not receive a degree in singing in Mazatlan. The singing program is government funded. He is a one man decision committee. If you can't get past him, you simply aren't going to receive your degree. He also has the power to propel artists who comply to his greasy standards. I assure you that there isn't a bad looking singer in the bunch. That goes for ladies as well. Having his way with the baritone does not at all indicate that the respected and well-funded Maestro doesn't do his best to control women as well.

A wonderful singer, who was on the staff of the school, had the temerity to disagree with Gonzalez about his methods, and was fired on the spot.

Gonzalez has threatened members of his chorus with immediate removal, if they attend a performance of said baritone and/or soprano, or for that matter any performance in which the Opera Company was involved. We welcomed his castaways....certainly an unforgivable sin in his eyes.

I myself, was witness to some of his chorus members hiding behind seats during a rehearsal so that they wouldn’t get caught by the Maestro.

If you don’t kiss Gonzalez’s butt in Mazatlan, and you are a person who wishes to have a serious vocal career from that culture-filled city, you can Fugghedaboutit.

One last tale, on this subject…My final Christmas in Culiacan, the orchestra performed a special concert at the Peralta theater which was supposed to feature the combined choruses for the first time. The day before the concert, Gordon Campbell, conductor and Artistic Director of the orchestra, was informed that the Mazatlan chorus wouldn’t participate. I bet you can guess why. I wonder how much was spent on food, transportation and hotels, for the orchestra, chorus from Culiacan, and soloists. The program was planned for a chorus of 90. Big pieces had been chosen. Now it was for a chorus of less than 40. The performance was at best mediocre. Thanks Antonio...for that marvelous display of humanity and Christmas spirit.

POSTING 2 Sunday, July 15th, 2007 "A scream for help"

POSTING 3 Friday, July 27th, 2007 "The Highway to Corruption and Tears, Starts in Mexico City"

POSTING 5 Wednesday, August 7th, 2007 "Speaking of corruption? Try the National Singing Contest. PART 1 - Once it really WAS fair…sometimes. ( in Non-Patron Years)"

POSTING 6 Sunday, August 19th, 2007 "Speaking of corruption? Try the National Singing Contest. PART 2 - Morelli 2005...Day One…The Fix is IN

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