Betty Garcés

Singers


“The two concerts we saw with Colombian musicians were just as remarkable. April 7th Opera Gala, Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, led by the Swedish conductor Joachim Gustafsson, in arias and excerpts from French operas. The extraordinary voice of soprano Betty Garcés surprised and moved us: what brightness, what color, what power!(Hérodiade, Louise). Festival Música Clásica de Bogotá, Belle Époque, April 2023” ConcertoNet por Santiago Martín Bermúdez

Biography

Considered one of the most prominent Colombian Sopranos, Betty Garcés is the first Afro-Colombian classical singer developing a growing career at international level. With extraordinary talent and versatility, Based in German Soprano Betty Garcés is a passionate interpreter of Opera, Chamber Music, Lied and Concert works ranging from the Classicism to the contemporary. She focuses currently on the operatic lyric-dramatic Soprano repertoire, and is emerging as a promising interpreter of some of the Wagnerian, Strauss, Puccini, and Verdian repertoire.

Venues such as Kennedy Center in Washington, Parco della Musica in Rome, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gulbenkian Hall in Lisbon, The Cairo Opera House, Prince Marisol Hall in Bangkok, Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Teatro Colon and Luis Angel Arango Hall in Bogota, the Melba Hall in Melbourne, and the iconic Churches of Saint Eustache in Paris and Saint Patrick in New York, have witnesses her in concerts, Recitals and Opera productions.

 

Highlights of recent sessions include Strauss Vier letzte Lieder and Wagner Prelude and Isolde’s Liebestod with Sylvain Gasançon and The OFUNAM Symphony orchestra of Mexico, at the Morelia Music Festival, Verdi Requiem with Gábor Hollerung and the Colombian Symphony orchestra, and with the Symphony orchestra of Minas Gerais in Brasil conducted by Ligia Amadio. Beethoven’s 9th with Josė Maria Moreno and with the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, a Viena Operetta Night with Niels Muus and the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, and the new Recital Programs with pianist Sophia Muñoz,“Nanas y Habaneras”, a wonderful program of Latin-American and Spain lullaby’s and Habaneras, premiered at the Fundación March in Madrid and subsequently presented by the Ferrol Philharmonic Society in Spain.

Highlights from another season’s include her debut in the title role of the opera Ariadne auf Naxos, and in the Zarzuela Cecilia Valdés at the Teatro Colon in Bogota, as soloist of the Latin American Gala with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, her participation in the Opera Three thousand Rivers with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Beethoven’s 9th with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Villa-Lobos Floresta do Amazonas with the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra and Britten’s War Requiem with the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra.

Betty holds with highest honors a Bachelor in Music from the Antonio Maria Valencia Conservatory in Cali-Colombia, followed by a Master of Arts from the Cologne Musikhochschule focused on Opera and Lied and a pre-doctorate level Diploma as Soloist (Solo-Konzertexamen) from the Hannover Musikhochschule focused on Oratorio, Symphonic and Chamber music.

Honored in 2021 with the High Artistic recognition to cultural merit from the Colombian President and the Ministry of Culture. She is one of the Forbes Creative 2020 and has owned the RWLE Möller Stiftung special Emerging Artist Residence Scholarship in Germany. Finally she was One of the Opera for Peace Emerging Artist 2023-2024.

Betty seeks to approach international Art Song and Chamber repertoire from a fresh and original angle, through the exploration of color, fantasy and fresh interpretation. She is a passionate curator and exponent of Colombian and South American classical song repertoire.

With works by classical, romantic and contemporary composers like R. Strauss, R. Wagner, E. Korngold, A. Schönberg, A. Berg, A. Zemlinski, J. Marx, O. Respighi, C. Debussy, L. Boulanger, H. Duparc, Ch. Koechlin, A. Caplet, S. Rachmaninov, U. S. Moore, R. Clarke, A. Previn, X, S. Barber, Kaija Saariaho, Montsalvatge, H. Villa-Lobos, Helza Camêuo, Modesta Bor, A. M. Valencia, Jaime León, O. Golijov, among others.

Currently Betty is adding to her operatic repertoire the roles of Brunhilde from Die Walküre and Isolde, from Tristan und Isolde from R. Wagner, Ariadne, from Ariadne auf Naxos and Chrysothemis from Elektra from R. Strauss, Suor Angelica, Manon Lescaut and Turandot from G. Puccini, Abigaile from Nabucco and Amelia from Ballo in Maschera from G. Verdi.

She is the founder of the Activist, Artistic and Creative emerging Collective "Point of Difference”, a voice of social consciousness, equity and inclusion, trying to engage with local communities in each city she visits, empowering people of the community’s.

Betty is considered by many as Ambassador of hope. Her story is full of events, anecdotes and valuable experiences which she wants to share specially with people in disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions, hoping it can help generations, their public and also young artists being filled with inspiration, hope, strength, worth and the certainty that it is possible to move forward and achieve dreams in spite of the adverse conditions.

 


  • Betty Garcés
  • Betty Garcés
  • Betty Garcés