A love-ly pursuit

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This article was published 09/02/2023 (1152 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Karen Santos is on a mission to be the link between women immortalized in centuries-old songs and the composers who wrote about them, but are long-gone.

Santos, a soprano and visual artist, together with pianist Megan Dufrat are bringing their show, To Love and To Be Loved, to Steinbach Arts Council for their latest installment of the SAC Studio Series this weekend.

The performance, toured across Manitoba last summer and making its way to the southeast corner on Friday, is a showcase of classical music with a modern twist.

Songs by legendary composers such as Mozart, Turina, Dvorak, Ponce, Emery and Heggie are accompanied by conversation with Santos to contextualize the music and provide visual cues in the form of hyper-realistic portraits of women portrayed in the music.

“They’re sort of vignettes of portraits of women that want to love and to be loved,” Santos said. Some stories tell the tale of mistresses, or lovers quarrels or two that wish to be together but simply cannot.

“This love story is so juicy, and I get to tell the audience all about, you know, the gossip that happened behind the scenes.”

Santos, a Mexico City expat who moved to Winnipeg after living in Vancouver for 15 years, came to the prairie province to pursue a masters in opera at the University of Manitoba after finishing her degree in visual arts in BC.

Santos and Dufrat met in Edmonton during a summer music program where they eventually became roommates and comrades. They reconnected later through their schooling in Manitoba.

Now, the two are partners in their artistic pursuits.

“I always say when I’m cooking up a project it’s always with Megan in mind,” Santos said of the partnership.

Dufrat brings the musical aspect to the show while Santos brings her voice and visual art, each complementing one another to make a cohesive show.

Santos thought to combine her talents when a vocal injury put her on a strict rest period of one year. As a result, she found herself painting what she couldn’t say.

“I was so young that I didn’t have anything to say. But then suddenly, I couldn’t talk. So I had a lot to say. And I could only say it from my visual art,” she said.

Usually an abstract artist, Santos felt the need to create lifelike portraits for her performance to give the audience a better visual representation of the women she sings about, adding most modern musicians can contextualize their songs in real-time at their performances or through social media.

As classical musician, the artists of the songs she performs can’t explain themselves.

“It’s just a matter of connecting with people on a very human level and talking to them about what we’re singing about,” she said.

“The rest the music does it on its own.”

The immersive experience will play out on Feb. 10 at SAC’s SCU Studio at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30.

“People think classical music and symphony can be boring, but it’s not,” Santos said, adding audiences should expect to laugh at the “delightful little show.”