Operachera por Fernanda Santoyo

Óperachera seeks to take beloved ópera and ranchera art forms to new levels of innovation and inclusivity to reach and inspire a larger audience that transcends borders and links contrasting cultures.

As a multi-lingual, multi-cultural adventure in musical innovation, Óperachera is dedicated to sharing this new musical form to elevate the human spirit across borders and cultures.

A reimagining of our shared musical history

Although she is steeped in ópera history and the classical canon, Fernanda has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of, and deep passion for, Mexican history, cultural folklore and traditional music, especially ranchera.

Based on her love for both art forms, Fernanda has partnered with world renowned concert violinist & composer William Harvey, lead violinist and guest conductor with the Mexican National Symphony Orchestra, to work with her in combining her unique appreciation and ardor for both opera and ranchera in a completely new art form called Óperachera.

Fernanda and William are creating pathbreaking compositions, arrangements and vocal stylings that expand both repertoires while growing their audience worldwide. 

Fernanda and William have both traveled widely in Europe, the US and México and are passionate about both traditional Mexican and European musical cultures. They are equally passionate about preserving, expanding and sharing the vibrant music of both cultures with the widest possible audience in new and more inclusive ways worldwide.

When Fernanda approached William about creating Óperachera, he agreed to join the project without hesitation, and they are already working on a premier album and concert tour.

FERNANDA SANTOYO, FOUNDER

Fernanda has a BA in Operatic Singing from the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City under the chair of world renowned tenor Octavio Arevalo. She also received an MA in operatic singing from the College of Chinese and Asean Arts (2020-2022) under a Chinese government scholarship as one of the winners of a global competition and search for talented new opera singers.

As an emerging mezzo-soprano opera star, Fernanda has participated in concerts across Mexico, ranging from Ponce Hall of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, to the Vasconcelos Library, El Bosque Cultural Center, Literary Encounters at UNAM, the Silvestre Revueltas Auditorium, and she gave a commemorative concert at the Palacio de Bellas Artes celebrating 150 years of the National Conservatory of Music.

Fernanda is Founder of Acappella Music Academy, offering mentorship and voice training to students of all ages across México. She has attended courses such as Opera History at the Herberger Institute for Design and Arts, School of Music; Arizona State University; Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh); and San Miguel Institute of Bel Canto, among others. Fernanda also received a six month residency scholarship to perform with the Taller de Ópera de Sinaloa. She served the nation as a singer participating in concerts across Mexico with the national choir of the Mexican Navy Secretariat from 2018 to 2021.

Fernanda’s Master’s Thesis on the history of castrati singers used by the Roman Catholic Church during the late medieval and early renaissance periods as the forebears of the modern mezzo-soprano voice has received accolades worldwide and will be expanded and published as a book in 2023.

Fernanda grew up in rural San Luis Potosí and was mentored from infancy by her grandmother and grandfather, educators who shared their deep love for, and knowledge of, Mexican history and culture. She continued her studies of Mexican history in private prepatory schools and has traveled the length and breadth of Mexico. Her exuberant passion for, and in-depth knowledge of, both popular and formal Mexican culture and ópera is infectious.

Fernanda is launching the Óperachera project with a new album and her own unique óperachera compositions combining the stories and music of classic opera and ranchera with a national tour to follow.

Óperachera is organized under the umbrella of Fernanda Santoyo Enterprises, which is a Mexican business founded by Fernanda.

WILLIAM HARVEY, LEAD VIOLINIST, COMPOSER & ARRANGER

Concertmaster of Mexico’s premier orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, and violin faculty at the Universidad Panamericana, violinist, conductor, and composer William has appeared as violin soloist at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony and has performed concerti with orchestras in Argentina, the Philippines, Mexico, and USA. His recording of the violin concerto by Hector Infanzón received two nominations to the Latin Grammys in 2021.

For 4 years, he served as the Violin and Viola Teacher at Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM). At the request of ANIM founder, Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, he founded the Afghan Youth Orchestra, which he conducted 8 times for President Hamid Karzai and led on a historic tour of the USA that he also coordinated and for which he raised the funding. On that tour, he conducted AYO in his own arrangements at sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. The tour was featured extensively in major media including the New York Times, CNN, ABC, and NBC.

In March 2012, Harvey conducted AYO on the season finale of Afghan Star, which was the most-watched TV event in Afghan history, with 15 million viewers; he did so again for the season finale in March 2013. He subsequently conducted AYO at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman, in February 2014. In 2011, he was a guest judge and performer on Afghan Star. His guest appearances on this show and on the popular interview program Bamdad-e Khosh made him instantly recognizable on the street to most residents of Kabul. He also edited and arranged the Anthologies of Afghan Songs for Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass, intended to supplement the pedagogy of all of those string instruments. As an experiment in audience perception, he recorded all four solo violin pieces by Elliott Carter for live audiences in Afghanistan in a project called “Playing Carter in Afghanistan.”

He has previously served as concertmaster of the Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa Las Artes (Mexico), Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Argentina) and the Spokane Symphony (USA), faculty at Indiana University’s Summer String Academy, a Fellow at Carnegie Hall’s Academy, and a guest artist at the Myanmar Music Festival (where he performed for Aung San Suu Kyi), Mehli Mehta Music Foundation (to which he was invited by Zubin Mehta), and Iguazu en Concierto (where he conducted an orchestra of hundreds of children from around the world in front of Iguazu Falls). William plays on a violin made by Joseph Curtin in 2001.

As a conductor, he has led youth orchestras in Argentina, Qatar, Mexico, Tunisia, the Philippines, and the USA. William’s compositions have received over a hundred performances. In 2006, his Cuerpo Garrido won Columbia University’s Bearns Prize. Mr. Harvey earned his M.M. from The Juilliard School, where he studied violin with Ronald Copes and composition with Samuel Adler, and B.M. from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied violin with Mimi Zweig and composition with Sven-David Sandström.

In 2005, Mr. Harvey founded Cultures in Harmony (CiH). In 2010, CiH was named a Best Practice in International Cultural Engagement (along with the Kennedy Center & Library of Congress) by the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy. CiH workshops in Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt, the Philippines, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, and Mexico have benefited thousands of young musicians. Mr. Harvey has lectured about CiH at the British Parliament; at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, Germany; at the Escuela Superior de Música in Mexico; at Boston University, Georgetown University, and Oberlin Conservatory in the USA; and at Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. In 2017, he gave the keynote speech at the ASTA convention in Pittsburgh.

Board of Advisors

Before launching Óperachera, Fernanda spent many months in consultation with a close group of friends and professional associates with diverse skills and backgrounds who are successful leaders in their fields.

The Óperachera Board of Advisors is shared with Fernanda’s parent company, Fernanda Santoyo Enterprises. It includes successful venture entrepreneurs, business executives, environmental experts, music professionals and professors, marketing executives, theater and television actors and executives, and financial and legal specialists.

The common thread among Boardmembers is their passion for México, ópera and ranchera and a shared commitment with Fernanda to excellence, inclusivity and social responsibility in service to an elevated vision of our common heritage and future.

To obtain a prospectus including Board bios for both Óperachera and Fernanda Santoyo Enterprises, please use the Contact form below.

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