We recently connected with Jose Simerilla Romero and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jose, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Understanding the technical aspects of the voice and singing is only one side of working as an international opera singer. That aspect of the craft is mainly taught in schools and is build slowly as you bloom into an artist. However there are other aspects that aren’t taught in school and qualities that are essential and important into building yourself up and being successful. From personal experience, there are many qualities that have helped me gain some success in my field of study and expertise. First and foremost a high level of confidence in yourself and your abilities/skills, which I believe is necessary in any career that one may be thinking of entering and specializing in, confidence says a lot about a persons character and there may be many times where you feel doubts about yourself or skillset and being able to summon that confidence at will can help get through those situations. A second quality is having an “entrepreneurship” mentality, in other words, thinking of yourselves and your skill set as a “product” or “company”, and you are the president or owner of said product/company. Therefore you have to be strong willed to put your foot forward when opportunities come knocking, always look presentable and professional, and you can’t shy away from taking risks. When something like an “interview” or “position” or “audition” opens up sometimes you have to just go for it! Dwelling on whether or not you are ready and accepting failure before even trying by telling yourself things like “I don’t think they’ll like me”, or “they’ll never hire someone like me” is unfortunately a perfect way to miss out on opportunities, experience and lose time, effort, and money put into what you specialize in. In the meantime, someone else who is in your same position and may be in the same situation as you but “went for it” takes the advantage. Sure, there were times when I had self doubts and wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue doing this or if I was good enough to make a living out of this profession. Thankfully having the two aforementioned qualities along with the love and passion that I have for for singing and opera helped me get out of that rough spot. I had family and friends that supported me and boosted my confidence in myself, and I “went for it” and took advantage of an opportunity that came to me and, now looking back, because I took a chance on myself and put myself up for consideration…I am where I am today.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Praised for his “powerful vocal presence” (NRC Netherlands) and “shimmering high notes” (Seen and Heard International), in the 2022/23 season, rising young Argentinian-Spanish-American tenor Jose Simerilla Romero joins the Nederlandse Reisopera as Rodolfo in La bohéme, makes his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as Jaquino in Fidelio under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, sings the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto in his Florida Grand Opera debut, makes his San Francisco Symphony debut singing the role of the Shepherd in Oedipus Rex led by Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen, joins Opera Festival of Chicago singing Corrado in Il Corsaro, and is stepping in last minute to sing the role of Rodolfo with the 2022 Grand Teton Music Festival in a semi-staged version of La bohème. In addition, Mr. Romero makes his Komische Oper Berlin debut as Laërte in Hamlet, and also joins the ensemble of Staatsoper Hannover where his roles will include Rodolfo in La bohéme, Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Prince Gwidon in Zar Saltan.
Last season he joined both Nederlandse Reisopera and First Coast Opera as Alfredo in their production of La traviata, and joined the studio of the Dutch National Opera & Ballet where his roles included Wagner and Nereo in Mefistofele, the Messenger in Aida, and Boy 1 in Trouble in Tahiti as part of the 2021 Opera Forward Festival, which were all unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also recently debuted the role of Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore in a coproduction with Opera Zuid, Nederlandse Reisopera, Dutch National Opera & Ballet, and was live-streamed through Opera Vision. He was also engaged as an Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera in their productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die Zauberflöte, and Tristan und Isolde, Rusalka, and Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly as well as engaged to sing concerts with soprano Kristin Opolais with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and the Polska Filharmonia, and sang performances of “Land and Sea” with Tampa Bay Symphony.
Mr. Simerilla Romero is an Award Winner from the Chicago International Music Competition, the Camerata Bardi International Vocal Competition, the Jensen Foundation International Vocal Competition, the Opera Foundation, Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions, the Manhattan International Music Competition, Kyrenia Opera Vocal Competition, Vienna International Music Competition, Berliner International Music Competition, the Vero Beach Opera’s “Rising Star” International Competition, the Orpheus Vocal Competition, and the Tampa Bay Symphony Jack Heller Competiton.
He has participated in Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, the LA Opera Young Artist Program, the Dutch National Opera & Ballet Studio, the Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute, and holds degrees from both Valencia College and Stetson University.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I believe it was 2018 when I received the call from Los Angeles Opera to audition for their Resident Studio Program. I was still very much in school and very much still trying to figure out my voice, and technical foundation as a young singer. I had applied for the grand international competition “Operalia” at that time and I honestly did not think that I would be accepted or that anything was going to come from it. To my shock I received news a couple weeks after applying for the competition that I was accepted, and shortly after I received the call from Dominic Domingo and Los Angeles Opera that they had heard the materials and videos that I submitted for the competition and that they where looking for a tenor to come and sing for their resident opera program. I was then invited to come audition to Los Angeles with Placido Domingo present since they wanted to hear me live. I was still doing theory homework and oral training at the time. So obviously it was amazing news for me at a very young age. However, it wasn’t without its challenges, being exposed to a prestigious program at a vulnerable and inexperienced time in my vocal and performance studies did not do well for my self esteem. There were many times I wanted to quit and lost my passion for singing. It was a very hard decision but I chose to leave the program and take my path, and future into my own hands. I made it my responsibility to continue my studies and build a functional voice my way and on my terms. Soon after that opportunities came knocking and doors opened and I haven’t looked back since.
There have been many challenges thus far and I am sure there are many more to come, but nothing worthwhile comes without challenges. Some of them have been internal challenges such as self doubts, insecurities, soul searching. Others are more intellectually based such as how to balance a profesional life and a social life. My job requires me to travel to different places very frequently so it can definitely at times become a lonely/isolated road. There have also been challenges that are more focused to the career itself, things like how do I bridge the gap from being a student in school to a professional in my field, what things can I do to make that “transition” happen, and also so I feel ready to take up the tasks and responsibilities of a working professional and know what is to be expected of me all the time. Many of these things you learn to overcome and conquer with time, experience and mainly through trial and error. Mistakes will be made and you will at times fail, and you have to allow yourself to be okay with that. As long as you learn from them and pick yourself back up you will grow stronger from those experiences. Those who are successful owe it to the sum of their failures, and let’s be honest…most things in life are learned in that manner.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Well I am happy to say that at the moment I am blessed to be working full time as an international opera singer and getting to travel and see the world and sing in so many beautiful countries, theaters, and audiences. I am contracted with a staatsoper in Germany and the plan is little by little begin to expand my network, build and secure my repertoire, continue auditioning, and increase work opportunities in both Europe and the United States. However, the main focus and driving force behind all this is my passion for the art form and love of singing and wanting to share that with an audience. Share opera with an audience that hasn’t been exposed to it, and help a new generation cultivate a live and taste for this style of music that is true to its original roots and traditional form of vocal technique. To show the wonders of what the human voice can do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.josesimerillaromero.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tenor_simerilla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoseSimerillaRomeroTenor
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-simerilla-romero-a65545153
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2IvVnoYghM-2HuJ6LBpiPw