Placido Domingo Stars in South Pasadena Composer’s Latest Opera, Il Postino

Writing an opera can take years and no one knows that better than South Pasadena resident Daniel Catán. Catán spent a good part of the last four years writing the opera adaptation of the 1995 Academy Award nominated film, Il Postino. The opera Il Postino is enjoying its world premiere at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, opening the LA Opera season to rave reviews.

Opera is famous for attracting big voices and even bigger personalities. But Catán couldn't be further from the stereotype. The 61-year-old is soft spoken, often humorously self-effacing and seems never in a bad mood. As a writer, composer and teacher himself, it seems natural that he would focus on a story about love, self-expression and mentorship.

Catán and his wife, professional harpist Andrea Puente, maintain two small South Pasadena residences. One he shares with Puente, his teenage stepson and an occasional cat. Catán also keeps a studio a block away. There, his only roommate is his baby grand piano. "The house is our main residence," said Catán. "That is where my wife practices and we hold musical gatherings. The other is where I write. It satisfies my need for space and for silence."

While Catán has written several successful operas before, Il Postino is the first work where he composed the music and wrote the libretto. "Unfortunately, the art of writing libretti has pretty well disappeared," Catán said. "I'd worked with several librettists before and some had turned out better than others. I learned how to guide a librettist and I thought, 'Well, maybe this time, I could ask that of myself.'"

The original story has gone through many incarnations. Il Postino is based on Michael Radford's popular film, which was itself based on Antonio Skarmeta's 1985 novel Ardiente Paciencia.

Il Postino weaves the tale of friendship between a young Italian postman pining for love and the exiled poet who mentors the young deliveryman in wooing his beloved - and in finding himself. Of course, it helps if your romantic advisor happens to be Pablo Neruda, the Chilean writer still widely considered one of the greatest love poets of all time.

In the LA Opera's production, Placido Domingo inhabits the character of the august poet with a quiet and powerful veracity. Charles Castronovo portrays the eager young postman whose voice grows stronger as his character develops. Between them, we see several seasons of life lived and risked for romantic and political passions. The opera is a work of historical fiction featuring equal measures of each.

Starting the project with the celebrated work of Neruda meant the bar was already set high. Fortunately, Catán had worked previously with greats such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and was accustomed to working with illustrious material. "I knew the music had to come up to at least the level of the poetry. But Neruda's poetry is so rich and so resonant that I found it very easy to write music for those lines." For Catán, the challenge quickly turned to delight.

Catán's music is rich and expressive and often much more accessible than what most people associate with traditional opera. American audiences may even find themselves surprised by some of the scenes and lyrics. Early on in the piece, Neruda sings a lush aria to his discretely topless wife. It is a rare and moving glimpse of passion between mature adults, characters who have spent a lifetime together. It's an uncommon scene in a culture known for glorifying the romantic experiences of the young. "I saw a lot of elbows in the audience during that scene," Catán said with a smile.

Woven into the loving verses impeccably sung by Placido Domingo, are Neruda's lines such as "your face is blue" and "you are vast" - sentiments not commonly found endearing to women in western societies.

Catán explained the choice. "Those are lines straight from Neruda's poem. In straightforward translation it feels a bit strange, but Neruda was someone who wanted to get very close to ordinary feelings and he was not afraid of using the right word. He was not going to apologize for saying, 'You are beautiful, you are round like the sun,' - and his wife Matilde was not a fat or heavy woman. But the way he means it, it goes beyond what's fashionable now."

For Catán, choosing the right word is paramount. "We have become somewhat afraid of using words. We don't want to hurt people's sensibilities. We've become so narrow minded about the way we fit the mold that a woman, in order to be beautiful, must fit a certain size and weight and characteristics - and that's just nonsense."

If Catán shares a more embracing world view, he comes by it naturally. Catán was born in Mexico to Sephardic Jewish parents but left for England to study music when was he was just thirteen. "At first I thought I might be a pianist," he said. I was a good player but not more than that. I realized at 17 that opera was my passion."

Since then he has lived in Mexico City, across Europe, in New York and Tokyo but now happily calls South Pasadena home.

"I absolutely love the freedom that I enjoy in the States, but especially in California, and in South Pasadena," Catán said. "We're very lucky living here because it's very conducive to creating. L.A. used to be a bit of a backwater. 50 years ago, New York was the center of things - it was halfway between Europe and L.A. But L.A. is half way between Latin America and Asia, and now those cultures are intersecting in a way that's very exciting."

Catán teaches at The College of the Canyons, where besides teaching composition he carries the banner for opera among the Millennial Generation. "Young people are better suited now to enjoy opera because they are so accustomed to multimedia." Catán also teaches music appreciation. "I am teaching the audiences of the future." Catán said enthusiastically. "And that is no small thing."

Il Postino closes this Saturday, Oct. 16 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. In Spanish with English supertitiles. Visit www.laopera.com for more information.